Experiencing nomadic Live, culture, and hospitality during an Off-road trip through the steppe

Let’s start with the night before we started to this amazing trip. After the Баня we went together with Арман, his wife, a friend and her daughter to his house. The house is one of this concrete living blocks but just one year old. From the balcony you can see the river which comes together with the Йертис (Jertis). The rooms are big and decorated with wall carpets where in the living room a huge flat screen is mounted at the wall. The rooms are nice decorated but not as full as in Germany or Japan, all necessary things are there. Since we were guests we were not allowed to help preparing the food, which is the job of the woman Арман got a big round table which was place in the middle of the room. The table is 20 cm high and maybe 2 m in diameter. You are sitting at thee floor on some kind of warm mat which is decorated with ornaments and symbols of Kazakhstan. Later on we experienced this style also in the villages of the steppe. For me it is amazing that this culture did not get lost in the cities. After some time a big round plate (50 cm) with self-made noodles of quadratic shape (5x5 cm) and a lot of meat are placed in the middle of the table. Cut horse sausage, horse meat, sheep meat, and meat of the cow. Арман told us that a family normally eats one horse over the winter. The guy from the Кафе and another friend Канат also joined this “party”.

 

Even so my Russian got better it was nice that the girl could translate when I was running out of words or they could not explain it with hands and feet (:). She just went for a language course of the Goethe Institute to Oppurg, which is very close to my place in Germany. She won this trip in a contest being one of the best. She started to learn German because she likes the German band Tokyo Hotel so much, which I do not know so much.

 

Now we could drink first time kumis (fermented mare’s milk). It taste a little bit like yogurt is just a little bit more sour, thinner, and has gas in it. After the main dish always sweets and white bread butter, marmalade, and tea is served. When your tea is empty you normally give it to the youngest woman which is filling it with milk and tea again. If you do not ask for it will be their responsibility to ask you if you want to have more when they see it is finished. After everybody is finished, the oldest or a respected person makes a pray where everybody hold up his two hands together like a bowl. The prayer thanks for the food and when finished everybody slides with the two hands over the face. Everybody stands up to wash its hands. Although the Kazakh are not that strong Muslims there is a strong respect for the older and the mother earth. You hardly find rubbish along the streets; the cities are really clean, also the cars look as they were washed just some minutes ago. The villages seem to be in much better condition than in Russia. All in all we feel more “light” in Kazakhstan compared to Russia.

 

Since Арман and Канат know the steppe around Павлодар very well, they suggested to go together to Баянаул, which is like an Oasis of mountains and beautiful rock formations in the middle of the steppe. Канат’s home village and his family lives in that area and they could show us the traditional live of the Kazakh “cowboys”. That sounded interesting but there was still one problem that our car had just two seats and they did not want to go with there “city cars” since they are not appropriate for the steppe. Anyway it sounds like a good idea and we postponed the decision to the next day.

 

17^th of August: In the morning we exchanged our last rubbles and tried to get a registration that is actually just a further stamp in our registration card. The guys at the border said we have to doo it otherwise we will get problems if we want to go out of the country. They also said just go to town to the police get the stamp and that is it. Well in the immigration office they said it is not necessary and did not want to give us. Or again some citizen of Kazakhstan had to sign some papers and bring some documents. The guide book says the same, nobody knows about the exact rules, sometimes it is ok without, sometimes you get a problem and sometimes the immigration offices in the cities even refuse to give the registration. However we decided to try it together with Арман in Баянаул the next day. The problem of the missing seats was solved by just taking out our additional diesel tanks at Канат’s home, placing a tool box as one seat and putting a mat as another seat. Арман got one of his riffle and we got ready to go to the 210 km fare away Баянаул. Almost all the way we were driving through steppe on a quite good asphalt road. Along the way you could see salt lakes, a lot of cow, horses, and sheep. Fare away we could see something which looked like a huge castle in the middle of the flat steppe. These are the mountains around Баянаул. We approached there around sunset, where the setting sun was going down between the mountains and the steppe over a salt lake. To enter the mountains you have to pass a post that stops you. Арман and Канат just talked with them and we could pass. A second post close to the lake in the middle of the mountains did not want to let us through. But fortunately Канат knows the people there and convinced him to let us through which is normally only possible with a special permission of some tour operator. It was getting dark and Арман and Канат were thinking what to do. We took a dirt road into the mountain which leads us to a small village Торайгиров where Канат was living when he was a small kid. But his friend was not there, so searched for a place to stay in several houses. Finally we found the house of the family of Канат’s teacher. The first step is always to go in the house and ask, all other people waiting outside. After some while Канат comes out we wait some more minutes and then everybody goes in. Again the big round table where already food is served. Nice wall carpets and mats to sit. The grandmother (Канат’s teacher), her daughter and husband, and 3 kids are living there. We get a Боршт, self-made bread, marmalade, and tea. This whole procedure we experience in the following days several times also at places where even Канат does not know the people. This kind of hospitality is strongly related to the nomadic culture, where the people help each other to survive. On the way through the steppe even hundreds of kilometer you do not need to take everything with you since you will be always treated as a guest. Of course in the other way around if they travel they will receive the same hospitality from the others. This culture is in strong contrast to our so called “civilized” world where you can not find this open hospitality so often. (N 50.86432°, E 75.62885 °)

 

18^th of August: We start very early in the morning since Арман want to show us a lot of interesting place. The village is just in front of a mountain close to a lake and the morning light serves us a nice view. We drive through a beautiful rock formations that look like in a picture of Dali, visiting the stone of the witch (Hexenstein) and climbing up to a cave. Have a bath in the lake and going on to Баянаул to solve the registration problem. Канат knows the police and after one hour a lot of discussions and phone calls we get that stupid stamp. Nobody wants to make that stamp but the border wants to have it. I wonder how to do without the help of Канат and Араман. However we have it now. We were visiting one Cousin of Канат got again food and Kumis from him in his Кафе. In there one guy looks at us and asks if we are the couple from Irkutsk with the stolen car. That is really amazing but TV is everywhere even in the small village. The people just saw our report in the Russian federal TV which they also receive there.

 

During the meal the Cousin decided to come with us since he knows the ways through the steppe better than the “city cowboys”. We improvised one more seat and the adventure through the steppe and the mountains was starting. Арман was always looking for something to shoot and finally we saw some wild goat (not sure if it is really a goat, looks like big dear with spiral horns). Unfortunately (for Арман) that he just took his small riffle. With the big one he could shot it even on a distance of 500 m. We often used no way as way, and sometimes you could only guess something like a track from a car in the grass. This was called an old bad “road”. We stopped at every 20 to 50 km at a families farming house. Always the same procedure; one goes in after some while the others, Kumis, bread & butter, and tea is served. In the end the prayer of the oldest, often the grandfather, and then we are on our way to Канат’s family again. We also make a stop in a valley with an Islamic cemetery with a relaxing silence, soft wind blowing over our skin and fare away mountain scenery. Канат makes a prayer and we stay their for some while in respect for his ancestors. In the evening we arrive in the village of his family Жуаитобе. Since we made already 150 Off-road km we decide to stay there over night. The family has 60 goats, 40 horses and 10 cows. Арман  explains me that the horses are not for riding. Most of them are sold in the winter for around 1000 USD for eating. After the dinner I am quite tired and I just fall asleep. (N 50.55114°, E 76.27285 °)

 

19^th of August: Арман got the permission from his wife for one more day, so we decide to go through the steppe back to Павлодар not taking the road and having one more chance for hunting. I am shooting my first time and can hardly hit the bottle (:). We are driving along salt lakes, farming houses, again with the same procedure. There we always make sure that we are on the right way. Often we just drive trough the pure steppe without a way. We also visit a deserted Kolchose from the old Sowjet Union times. Most of them were closed and the people left the places. Smaller farming houses or villages are preferred in a more traditional way of living. Normally each family is like its own company. In the evening we arrive in Павлодар we stay this time at Канат’s house. We have a Баня and food, Kotomi plays guitar and drum, and we also have some beer. Арман wants to get some more for us and drives with the car, gets stopped in the middle of the night, but thanks to Канат’s connection to the boss of the police he get his driving license back. (N 52.24652°, E 76.9775  °)