KMII
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Once upon a time in the East - a road trip Kazakh style around Semipalatinsk ☢️🇰🇿
As Mary Anny asked for more seldomly seen road trip locations I decided to dig into the archives for another intriguing one - this time from Kazakhstan. The trip took place around the city of Semei, known as Semipalatinsk during Soviet times (up until 2007). The area used to be closed off for decades, as it was one of the main testing sites for nuclear weapons, in operation from 1949 to 1991. 496 nuclear weapons were exploded / tested here, up to 1962 in the air / ground and from 1963 onwards below the surface. When we were driving into the steppe surrounding the city a local quipped that if we saw a rabbit with two heads outside, it's most likely not from consuming too much vodka - quite possibly the rabbit really has two heads 😉
Nowadays it's a nice little city of just over 300.000 inhabitants. One can of course reach it by road or railway but a flight from Astana is probably the quickest way to get there.
The trip shown is from early winter - meaning a light splattering of snow (the flatness of the terrain and the wind ensure you do not get much even at the height of winter) and temperatures around -35 Degrees Celsius.
With -35 I was given a change of clothes, since my own were immediately deemed inadequate to the weather (there's no bad weather, just bad clothing - goes the saying)...
The local architecture is largely similar to what you would expect to find in Siberia, with lots of wooden construction. The buildings tend to be warm and cozy in winter, too.
The main highway out of Semei was quite snowy but that's the advantage of the vehicle chosen - none of it is an issue. Old school low range activation, too. And a minimalist interior, with only physical buttons (no touch screens or inductive ones in sight 😉).
It seems a local custom to take a short break every 30km or so for a little enroute snack. 100 or 200 grams of libation later the journey can continue. Here the second advantage of a Bukhanka became obvious - you can fit around 10 people (at a very tight squeeze) around the table in the back of the vehicle, for whatever social occasion is at hand 😉
As 10 is a squeeze for a more extended meal, another vehicle joined the fray, which was going to be the home base for the off-road part of the journey. The hospitality of the locals was impeccable and they truly took care of all the details to ensure one was fully comfortable.
Veering off the main highway, the rest of the journey took place on the steppes, of which there are plenty throughout Kazakhstan. We were on the lookout for Saigak, the local antelope but I admit to not spotting a single one that day... C'est la vie...
At some point the 'Home Base' was parked and we continued the exploration with the vehicles we arrived with.
We occassionally even managed to find a track to follow, otherwise one could drive across plowed fields just as well (a tad bumpier, though).
The nature around had a serene, stark beauty and it seemed as most color was sucked out of the Earth in the area.
Fortunately the Bukhankas also sported large sunroofs, for when the temperature became to warm. Gave one a 360 degree view of the surroundings, too.
While we took the scenic route, some local gentlemen ensured that there was food for the main course - pickles are nice but one does get hungry eventually in those temperatures (especially with the sunroof open) 🥩
In addition to the steaks there was a wonderful antelope stew to warm oneself up with.
And something to toast new friendships with. Heard a new toast for the first time there, too, namely, 'A toast needs to be short, just like making love to your own wife' 😂 Well, one learns a lot while travelling 😁🌏
I unfortunately missed the two headed rabbit and still it was a truly memorable trip. I guess Semei might not be part of the most frequently chosen travel itineraries but if you enjoy the more exotic, I can certainly recommend giving places like it a try. A road trip covering all of Kazakhstan (almost the size of India but with only around 18 million inhabitants) is still on the cards but might take some years before I manage that.
Hope you enjoyed the ride!
Once upon a time in the East - a road trip Kazakh style around Semipalatinsk ☢️🇰🇿
As Mary Anny asked for more seldomly seen road trip locations I decided to dig into the archives for another intriguing one - this time from Kazakhstan. The trip took place around the city of Semei, known as Semipalatinsk during Soviet times (up until 200...
Thank you for this wonderful story
and for this rather fascinating glimpse into Kazakhstan! What a change of scenery! Best, Emmanuel
A bit of a cool-off for those suffering from a hot summer at the moment 😁❄️
Glad you enjoyed the trip 😊👍🏻🙏🏻
Given that my current travels…
Are fairly repetitive and uninspiring, it’s the archive that needs to be utilized. Hopefully fresh adventures will join in shortly 😉👍🏻 Glad if you enjoyed this 👍🏻🙏🏻
Sometimes I seek them out…
Sometimes they find me 😉 Glad if you enjoyed the ride 👍🏻🙏🏻 Btw. hoping to make the next relocation to a more ‘exciting’ region again, which allows more such adventures in the spare time 😊🤞🏻
So to speak 😉🦾
The Ural especially was pretty impressive. And had a lovely kitchen and dining area inside, too 👌🏻
Funny story there…
When they were talking on the radio (co-ordinating the directions) they were constantly referring to Ural. I at first thought why do they orient themselves according to a mountain range thousands of miles away - took me a while to figure that it was in re...
It’s a truly fascinating place 👌🏻👍🏻
Left the HDD at home but can post some pictures from Almaty or Astana later on. Definitely a place worth a visit. A part of the original Silk Route also passes through it (for instance through Shimkent), so a big variety of things to see 🌏
The size obviously helps with having a broad range of things to see 👍🏻
It’s more than 3.000 km across, so you have everything from deserts, to steppes, mountains almost 7.000m tall, a newly built capital city that went from 30.000 inhabitants to 2 million in around 30 years (including the largest single roof structure in the...
Let me know if you intend to go at some point 😊👍🏻
Have some good and very hospitable friends locally 👍🏻 And I forgot to mention that it’s one of the countries with the most authentic Korean food outside of Korea. Like mentioned in the post on Sakhalin, tens of thousands of Koreans were relocated to Kazak...
I am sure many members here do more exotic 😊👍🏻
But it probably isn’t the first tourist destination ChatGPT would suggest 😁😂
This is not me getting ready for…
The Summer Travel WS theme 😂 Glad you enjoyed the cool off ❄️ I always felt the land was perfect for a GR Yaris. Unfortunately they are not sold locally, so it would take a drive from Europe. Now there’s a fun prospect 😁🤞🏻
There’s a thought 😁👍🏻
That would make perfect sense but best attempted with full LR technical support. There are parts of the country that are far away from anything if you break down 🤷🏻♂️ You can always try the Siberian approach of burning the tires in succession to warm you...
Glad you enjoyed it - it was a fun adventure indeed 😊👍🏻
I was told to watch ‘The peculiarities of national hunting’ on YouTube before embarking on the trip so as not to be shocked by anything. It wasn’t quite like in the movie but it’s a fun comedy I can highly recommend irrespective 😂😂😂