kazakhstan
The September 2024 loop out of Almaty, one flat tire in: Charyn from the rim, the striped mountains of Altyn-Emel, a dune that sings a note you feel in the sternum. Also a drained reservoir you can walk like a seabed, an empty pool with a white ladder in the steppe, and two tanks northbound on a low-loader. Navigation by paper map and a barakholka laptop that boots like a tractor.
10 entries, newest first.
2024
The Little Airfield
· Last evening of the loop at a small airfield: one white Cessna, golden haze on the range, and the pull of doors that lead up.
Two Tanks, Northbound
· Steppe traffic: a low-loader with two armored vehicles, a long patient overtake, and history sharing the road again.
The Dune That Sings
· The Singing Dune at Altyn-Emel: barefoot on the crest, a note you feel in the sternum, and sand as an instrument.
The Pool With No Water
· An empty basin in the steppe, a white ladder, and the high board ceremony performed entirely without water.
The Striped Mountains
· Aktau in Altyn-Emel: geology wearing its entire wardrobe at once, and a person for scale who forgot to be small.
Ready to Navigate
· Guesthouse night: paper maps, a barakholka survey laptop that boots like a tractor, and route-making as evening prayer.
Horses Before the Storm
· Golden grass, five unbothered horses, rain curtains on the range, and the ten minutes before weather becomes news.
Charyn, Looking Down
· The canyon from the rim: red towers, patient geometry, and the vertigo you keep instead of curing.
The Shore That Left
· A reservoir drawn down to gravel: walking a seabed that was water in spring, toward the strip that remains.
Vulkanizatsiya
· Day one of the Kazakh loop: a flat tire in Almaty, a courtyard workshop, and the fastest sixty minutes of applied hospitality.