This morning we headed promptly to Lake Kaindy to visit it before the rain set in. It wasn’t far away but even in our 4WD vehicle it took us over 30 minutes to traverse the 14 km: partly caused by the road (including fording a small river twice) but also because Mr M was a cautious driver and the rear suspension was shot. We had to wake the ticket officer up who took our money but didn’t provide a ticket. “Corruption,” sighed Mr M “no ticket issued, no evidence to their bosses they ever received your money…”
It was a short ~1.5 km walk to the lake. We declined the offer to ride a horse there - the tourist price being offered was equivalent to $20. I can't believe anyone would pay that much.
Lake Kaindy was formed after an earthquake in 1911 where a landslide made a natural dam, blocked the gorge and it filled with mountain river water. Its most amazing feature is in the southern end, which contains trunks of submerged spruce trees that rise above the surface of the lake which are preserved by the cold water.
The happy photographer.
The rain held off so we could enjoy the reflections. Shame the sun didn’t shine which would have shown its true glacial blue in all its glory.
Back to the car and a slow 14 km back to the main road then we were off back to Almaty. The area we were driving through, in the foothills of the Tien Shan Mountains, was alpine looking with green fields, goats, horses and cattle grazing freely. We saw both cow and horses eating cliffs which is apparently for salt. Horses are everywhere and the transport used by many.
We left the verdant pastures behind us and drove back to Almaty re-entering the more arid/less fertile steppe area. Flat and flat.
Nearing Almaty we detoured to see another glacial lake, Lake Issyk. "No ticket, corruption!" exclaimed Mr M.
We were able to drive within a km of this and hoped to catch it in the sun. The weather didn’t play ball but the clouds coming up the valley made it beautifully atmospheric.
We arrived back to our previous Almaty hotel at 1900 and as we had to reorganise our packing and buy food for travel the next few days we ate again in the hotel restaurant - the staff were starting to recognise us. Soup, rice and mushrooms today for me. For some reason I feel it's important to mention that I'm eating!
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