6 of the 7 Continents For The Budget Traveler: Kazakhstan & The Nomadic Games

I've been fortunate enough now to have traveled all over the world. "Kazakhstan..." Where? Even 10 years ago when I would say I had traveled a good chunk of the world I would have said, Kazakhstan, where? I vaguely knew it was central Asia, I definitely knew it was big, and beyond that, I knew next to nothing about this magnificent country. Now it's neighbor Mongolia however, had been on my list for a long time. When I started planning Mongolia, the flight paths were going to be long and brutal, anytime this is the case, I take a look at where I am going, and what else is around it. I figure if it takes two days to get there, I should extend a trip and visit places nearby to not have to endure a 2 day flight and jet lag again. So of course, Kazakhstan popped up (a 3 day flight!).

It was time to research this big country in central Asia, and I would say within the first 10 minutes of research I decided it was going to have to be added as a stop over, 20 minutes thereafter, I decided it was going to be more of a two part trip, and in the end, I decided to spend more time in Kazakhstan than I was going to spend in Mongolia... Funny how travel research works sometimes...

Now it was also clear that since this was a giant country I was going to be able to get a taste of it, but seeing the whole country in 10 days or so would be like trying to see roughly half of my country in 10 days or so.

So I narrowed it down to two areas, Astana one of their most modern cities, and Almaty, one of their oldest cities and one of the most ancient cities in all of Asia. These are certainly the two most touristic cities, but I certainly wouldn't call them tourist cities! Now by shear coincidence I also learned after I had booked the trip that I would be traveling there during the Nomadic Games!

Kazakhstan is literally on the complete opposite end of the world from me, if it's 8pm here it's 8am there, the flight path was the most brutal flight path I ever took, leaving Phoenix 2pm on Thursday and arriving finally in Astana at 9am Saturday! And of course I couldn't check into my Airbnb until 2pm, but that being said, not only did I love Kazakhstan, but I told my friends when I got back, and I tell you now, maybe not the best country I have ever been to, but by far the most underrated country I have ever been to! Here's my list of highlights and travel tips on my journey to this amazing country!

ASTANA AND THE NOMADIC GAMES

Lets start with the flight. It is BRUTAL. At least if you are coming from the western hemisphere. I did Phoenix to LAX, LAX to Istanbul for a 6 hour layover in the middle of the night! From there on the map it looks close, but it was another roughly 7 hour flight to Astana. Thursday afternoon to Saturday morning, and of course on arrival I couldn't check into my Airbnb. I spent the first two days thinking I was going to need back surgery before finding a massage place that healed me 110% to enjoy the trip.
So lets make that flight easier, I had already been to Istanbul, and had no intention of visiting from midnight to 6am, so I opted for lounge access I had with my Chase Sapphire Card to the IGA Lounge (this is a whole other blog article that honestly a lot of people cover better than me), this helped a ton as the lounge included a shower, a good dinner, and multiple places to rest. While this has been my mode on other trips and did help a lot, I think the better option would have been...
A full day layover en route. I did this on the way back and had an amazing 24 hour experience in South Korea.
I was also lucky enough to get upgraded to business class for PHX to LAX and for Istanbul to Astana. Check out my articles on flying Gold or Silver Status with United.
Ok, welcome now to Astana! Stepping out of the gates myself and other passengers were greeted by people, athletes, musicians, and other visitors in preparation of the Nomadic Games!
Airport to my Airbnb was uber, cheap and easy. I used Airalo for an esim, also cheap and easy.
I stayed in the Left Bank of the city between the Baiterek Tower and Lovers Park. Perfect location!
Since I couldn't check into the Airbnb it was time to start exploring. I went on foot to the Khan Shatyr mall, this was no ordinary mall! Astonishing architecture with great views of the city and my first dip into the Kazakhastan culture. Also good place to have a coffee which was well needed with my body's time zone.
Lover's Park is directly across from it, so why not stop there as well.
I finally was able to shower and relax, some rooftop dining on horse meat that night before a very very long sleep.
Horse meat! Speaking of which, it's a popular food here, for some this is strange, but for me, as I am also an Italian citizen, I have eaten this meat in Italy several times, the Italians don't advertise it so much! Don't be too surprised if your meat sauce in Italy tasted a little different! Anyway, not my favorite meal there, but not terrible.
It was time to go to the West Bank, I wanted to start at the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan as I love history and they also had ancient history, dinosaurs! Which I have always loved since I was a child. I opted to take Uber which was so cheap I didn't even consider public transportation.
Speaking of Uber, this is the only place I have been to in the world besides where I live in Arizona that Uber was the click of a button and Uber was arriving, so don't order till you are ready, you won't be waiting long.
This corner of exploring was very walkable, I went from there to the Independence Square and Kazakh Eli Monument.
From there to the Hazrat Sultan Mosque
Another walk to the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation. This is where I was lucky, I hadn't booked a tour, which is needed to get passed the gate. Luckily tour was available and in English. I thought worst case scenario I would do the tour in a different language. I don't speak a word of Kazakh, but do speak a little Russian, which helped a lot. Speaking of which...
As with any trip, always good to learn some formalities in the language if you can. I used to also advocate learning numbers, and cost related words, luckily Uber alievates this in the taxis where it could be the worst thing.
I was hoping to see U2 in Kazakhstan but it's not the Sphere in Vegas, it's the Nur Alem museum! A super modern futuristic orb building built for the expo in 2017. Now a science museum, it was a great spot to spend a few hours.
I also spent some time down by the Ishim River, this was by far the most culturally immersive part as it was just a nice walk, and certainly not touristic, but there is nothing wrong with tourism, the epicenter of that was...
The Baiterek Tower, this beautiful tower is in the center of the city. I recommend seeing it by day and by night. The tour up to the top is easy, and there was no need to book in advance. I loved the area as well with countless shops and restaurants near by. This particular week, the tower also had a special exhibit of concerts, shops, and yurts for the Nomadic Games!!!
The Nomadic Games... The Superbowl, the World Cup, the World Series... But the oldest sport of all, the Nomadic Games! This to be honest was a sheer coincidence of awesomeness. I had no intention of attending the Nomadic Games, but as trip planning was in the works, it was clearly obvious that I was going to be in Astana for it. So I got to work instantly to make sure it happened!
Archery, horse racing, horse archery, horse wrestling, wrestling, strong man competitions and more! I attended 3 or 4 events, and the expo set up was incredible for experiencing the ancient traditions in a playful setting. Tickets were so cheap ($2-$5) I bought tickets for events that took place at the same time so if one of them was terrible or if I didn't wanna watch the whole event I'd move on to the next.
It's cold! What month are you going? It doesn't matter, its cold! Bring warm gear. During the day at the games in September I had no jacket and could have even rocked shorts, but night was cold. Dress appropriately.

Astana was amazing! A fairly new city, epic, and capitvating, and of course, extra special to attend the Nomadic Games. From there it was back to the airport for a flight to Almaty and the second leg of Kazakhstan.

ALMATY AND THE COUNTRY SIDE

Astana's older brother, an older city, the same country, the same warm people, but certainly different experiences, here's my take on Almaty...

It was clear from the begining that Almaty was going to be a bit more tour guide/tour group oriented to get around the middle of Asia. There were some great sights to see that public transportation or Uber wouldn't cut it, so I opted for two tours. But Almaty itself was a great city, more of the classic feel than the brand new Astana, both great in their own right.

There seemed to be a lot more traditionally Kazak restaurants when I was there. This could have been more the area I stayed in, but I thoroughly enjoyed the shashik, kuyrdak, soups, beers, and camel milk... Ok to be honest... I didn't enjoy the camel milk, but I was glad I tried it! Shout out to Sandyq Restaurant in the center, gourmet dining for a great price!
I stayed roughly at Paniflov and Gogol Street. This was a great area for nightlife, restaurants, and all around central location. I loved just walking around the neighborhood and taking in a bit of the Kazak culture.
Off to the tours! I always like to do the big ones first so I opted for the all day and into the evening tour Charyn Canyon, Kolsai, and Kaindy lakes tour. Countless sights between these spots as well during this 16 hour tour, long but well well worth it!

Cruising part of the trip in old Soviet vans
We started at Charyn Canyon, I spoke with my tour guide who knew I was from Arizona, he joked how it's not quite the Grand Canyon, which I agreed, but nevertheless, a beautiful spot.
We also made a quick stop to Black Canyon
Next stop is probably the must see of the country Lake Kaindy, the photos will explain better than I can... We did hit rough weather on arrival and it was quite the :Instagram vs Reality" experience, but then the weather cleared up and we saw the beauty of the fossilized trees in the lake.

Before the sun came
Kolsai Lake was a great finish for some quick hiking and a horse back ride tour.
Next it was time to see the city, there were some great roof top bars, Ascension Cathedral, and even an Arizona Coffee Shop I had to try!!!
Big Almaty Lake was a great half day tour, crystal blue water, super cold even at the end of summer when I was there, I kind of wish I cold plunged... Oh well...
The Kok Tobe Hill was a great way to end the sight seeing, riding a cable car up to the top of the hill, for some shops, coffee, a beer, souvenirs, tacky photo ops, and epic views of the city.

Kazakhstan is definitely not on the main stream of tourism, but I was astonished by this place, the beauty, the nature, the food, the people, the size, the culture... Captivating... And really how I was received... I wasn't sure if this was one of those places I should identify as Canadian... I didn't. The people in this country welcomed me as an American, I heard countless stories of what they loved about our culture and in turn they traded me stories of their culture. Some in my broken Russian, some of them in perfect probably better than mine English. The dollar went far, I thoroughly enjoyed the gourmet restaurants and roof top night clubs, but I also enjoyed the street food and dive bars. The flight path was at the time of writing the worst in my life... But the trip was no doubt one of the best.

большое спасибо казахстан, Қазақстанға үлкен рахмет, a big thank you Kazakhstan.