20th of August: We are following this river stream-upward already since we started in Omsk. The Jertis or Irtysch (Иртыш) has its spring in the Altai in Mongolia going through China, Kazakhstan, and finally Russia. The Altai is still almost 1000 km away and meanwhile we will follow the Jertis. In Omsk still Siberia, we are driving now on the Jertis plateau which is flat steppe. The river cuts itself into the sand of the steppe. In its "canyon" you can find a oasis in the middle of the steppe and villages along. In the afternoon we are stopping at a place where the "canyon" is quite wide. Searching half an hour; we find a way to go into the canyon; down the 15 m high sand cliffs. Now the Jertis has low water and we can make or camp in the canyon. In the sunsets it reminds me at the desert, the sand of the cliffs starts to get red. In the foreground there is a wide sandy beach with a few grass in between and bleached roots of big trees. We decide to stay one more day at this nice place; to write Blog for you (:), to read, to repair .......... In the afternoon kids coming and after them a big herd of sheep is almost rolling down the cliffs, running over the wide sand beach, and finally to jump into the water. (N 51.44919°, E 77.78976 °)
22th of August: we have a short stop in Semey to buy some food and then go on in the direction of Oeskemen still along the Jertis. Semey is famous for the nuclear bomb test in times of Soviet Union. 460 were tested until 1989.For the Russians this area was sparsely populated and they did not care about the Nomads living here in the steppe. We go on in the direction of Oeskemen (Ust Kamenogorsk). Here we want to get a special permission to enter Altai region in the border zone close to China. At the end of the day we are ca. 100 km away from Oeskemen and stop at some beautiful rock formation. (N 50.14946°, E 81.71493 °). When we stopped there to make pictures we met our first tourist in Kazakhstan. He is Russian but lives in west Kazakhstan. He came here in 4 days with a 125 cm3 Suzuki motorcycle. He started in Aktau, which is 4000 km away at the Caspian Sea. He is sleeping 3 hours the day and driving the remaining time. He looked quite tired but still happy about his journey. He just want to visit his friends all over Kazakhstan. We made some pictures together and exchanged the phone numbers since we will cross the Caspian Sea later, starting in Aktau. He still needs to drive but we made our camp below the rock formation in the steppe. The smell of this steppe you will never forget. It smells like an herb shop. The smell of the flowers and grass are very intense. That is the food of the sheep and will give its meat the nice flavour.
23th of August: we go to Oeskemen in the hope that the travel agencies which may organise us the permission for the border zone are open. Unfortunately the one guy just left and the other agency is closed. Eating some Samsa, getting some food and find a sleeping place outside the town. (N 50.04802°, E 82.34258 °)
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