Charin Canyon to Almaty

We awoke with the knowledge that today was the day we would reach the leg 2 end point of Almaty. There were mixed feelings associated with this. We all enjoyed the driving and the opportunity to put the vehicles through their paces. Combine this with the many changes of scenery and the welcoming people we have encountered, in many ways we couldn't have improved our experience.

Charin Canyon however was lined with a layer of extremely fine dust. It got into everything and reminded us that we had been days without a hot shower. There were other modern conveniences that we were missing and of course our friends and families.

A reminder of one of our earliest impressions of Kazakhstan was present in the canyon. A local man and woman approached us in the morning for the opportunity to have pictures taken with a captive Golden Eagle. It was magnificent and seemed well cared for so we took them up on it. Ben was the only one brave enough to have pictures taken with it on his arm, wings extended. The canyon, eagle and Discovery 3 looked surprisingly right together.

It was dusk by the time we had got to camp the previous night, so we enjoyed the route out of the canyon in full daylight. The eerie forms carved out of millennia of water erosion rose around us. The Land Rovers made it an insignificant trip up the short steep exit to the canyon, despite the boulders and loose shale.

We resumed the journey on road and not too many miles had passed before we started seeming the signs of civilization. In Russia, we had used the in car radios to communicate within the convoy to highlight gaps in the oncoming traffic for safe overtaking maneuvers. In Kyrgyzstan, the even of an oncoming vehicle (that wasn't a cow, sheep or horse) was significant enough for us to announce that on the radio. Now the tide had turned again, back to relatively busy traffic. There were still sights to be seen though, smoking shashlick stands by the side of the road, bazaars under brightly coloured parasols, and of course the obligatory cow in a bus shelter!

What we hadn't expected, was for the vegetation to start getting noticeably greener. The barren desert around Charim was left far in the distance as we approached Almaty. We slipped easily (if not reluctantly) into urban convoy driving. Asking for directions as always yielded helpful instructions and we found the Mercur Land Rover dealership without much of a detour. We felt distinctly grubby as we entered the sparkling white floored showroom. The welcome we received was deserving of a far bigger expedition than our modest enterprise! Mercur had prepared Kazakhstani gift bags for us and Elanor received a huge bouquet of pink flowers. Yolan welcomed us to Almaty and to the dealership with a speech and we were ushered inside for cool refreshments and expertly prepared canapes. It was also good to put a face to the name of John from Guava, the Land Rover importer here. It was a happy coincidence that one of his business trips had put him in the right time and place to meet us.

It became clear that our every need would be cared for whilst hosted by Yolan and his team. They had arranged an evening meal near to our hotel and our vehicles would be checked over and prepared for the next leg while we relaxed. The staff ferried us to the hotel in their own cars and we checked in & headed for "wow" blissfully hot showers.

We hardly recognised each other when we met up again in the foyer. Clean faces, smart trousers and tops and Ian and Tom had received their luggage, lost in Cologne, so were wearing something other than an M&S or G4 Challenge T-shirt!

Bagdat escorted us to the restaurant, clearly with an Irish theme as highlighted by the large Guinness sign outside. The black stuff was off that night however, so we all continued the Kazakhstani experience by drinking the local lager, brewed on the premises.

Shots of extremely good quality Vodka were lined up, and as we knew we were not driving early the next day we asked Yolan what the Kaz equivalent of "Cheers!" was.

Yolan explained that there was no equivalent, instead however we relearned the extensive and enjoyable habit of toasting. Yolan started us off with a toast welcoming us to Kazakhstan, Ian reciprocated with a toast thanking him and Mercur for his hospitaility and there followed many others complimenting Kazakhstan for it's beauty, thanking all the GO60 members that weren't present who had helped to make this happen (Sam!), a toast to our friends and family at home, and of course a toast to celebrate Land Rover's 60th anniversary. A mixed grill (including horsemeat) accompanied the toasts and much conversation. The team made the most of the opportunity to find out more about Kazakhstan from our hosts who spoke excellent English. We discovered that Mercur owned much more than just car dealerships, they also had interests in restaurants, the leisure industry and they owned a fleet of camels! Elanor was interested to learn that Camels are difficult to milk as unlike horses, who tend to kick out with their back legs only, Camels can kick out in a 360 degree circle all round them and have to be fenced in on all 4 sides before milking.

Needless to say it was a very enjoyable evening. We retired relatively early having had another long day. The walk back to the hotel yielding the sights and sounds of Almaty at night. Vividly lit up. Even our hotel had a huge sign on it that flashed alternately between 2008 and 2030. We asked what the significance of this was an were answered that Kazakhstan had a business plan to be rolled out up to 2030. Team work on a national scale. Again GO60 were awed by an undertaking much bigger than our achievements.