2018 Tian Shan travel: Part 14

Commentary from 2021

This is a mashup of three different posts from August 2018. The original posts did not do justice to my thoughts, being just a cheap gallery of very poor quality photos. Truth be told, I was very cold and kind of angry back then at terrible weather I saw in there – it was very cold with a strong wind and a downpour. Not to extend the weathertalk, I wasn’t the only person complaining about back luck back then.

But I was on a train that would get me across the legendary grand Central Asian steppes south to the city of Almaty, which was my main stay. From the train’s window, I would then see the steppe. Which was part of the goal. I would spend there 24 hours.

How is the train, you ask? I was familiar with it from my transsiberian and trans-Amur train voyages from a decade ago. The train cars are the КП (pronunciation: koo-PEH) type, which means they are divided into four-bedded compartments. Old, but very clean, warm, solid. Conductor will check not only your ticket, but your passport too. At the end of the car, you have a boiler from which you can get hot water on demand. You see the device on a blurry phone-captured photo near the end of the post.

Original blog post links:
– https://2018tianshan.tumblr.com/private/177224611086/tumblr_pdsm7wFjrk1u6ucs2
– https://2018tianshan.tumblr.com/post/177265801541
– https://2018tianshan.tumblr.com/post/177271441751/leaving-rainy-astana-in-the-mid-photos-from

Original posts from 21 and 22.08.2018 are copied below.