Plan of the day: meeting up with my German friends at noon so that we can head to the Music Ecofest Festival, somewhere near Almaty. I was given GPS coordinates where we should meet, and was told it’s near a Yves Rocher. Unfortunately once I arrived at the GPS coordinates, Yves Rocher cannot be found. I was probably 5 mins behind already, and my friends didn’t not have a local number for further contacts.
When you walk down and up the street, at all possible directions, when googling the nearest Yves Rocher, it’s miles away, you get a sense of hopelessness. Seems like I might not be able to meet up with them after all. Knowing I have done what I can, I decided to give up and walk back to the hostel. Sometimes, things just aren’t meant to be.
As I was walking back towards in the opposite direction, all of a sudden there is a Yves Rocher next to me. This is not on Google Map. It’s more than 15mins pass, I gave my friend’s German number (expensive roaming) a ring with the hopes they haven’t left yet. The deal was to ring their number, and they will come and meet up.
Sat there and waited, might have felt eternity as not knowing if they are still here, or have left already. They did not have wifi where they are, no way to communicate, no whatsapp, no facebook. When suddently seeing your friends show up, this is the 1st part of feeling lucky!
As the Ecofest is about music, camping, open area, just enjoy the moment, we went to stock up on some food and vodka. Was really intrigued by this label.
Possibly bad translation? Harmful Impurities? We were curious how harmful??
After we gathered food, drinks, belongings, we headed towards the bus station with the hopes on catching the 2 buses that are head far out of town toward Ecofest. But among our group, there are many experienced hitchhikers. So it seems the paying for a bus will be the backup, hitchhiking will be our main objective. Will be interesting as I’ve never hitch hike before.
As there are 6 of us, a few carrying huge backpacks, it’s obvious we are strangers in foreign land. As we were near where the bus station but without being able to find it, a fellow with a empty Japanese import passenger van passed by and asked some questions in Russian. We brushed it off at first, as most of us don’t speak Russian. After a few seconds, Maurius (the experience hitch hiker) ran towards the van, after realizing the driver might be asking if we are headed towards the Ecofest. A van that has room to fit us all. Looks like lucky number 2!
At the Ecofest, there were many local crafts for sale, live music throughout the day, and just beautiful next to a lake. Although we went there hoping to rent tents as describe on the website, it turns out nothing goes according to plan.
We chilled, relax, drank our impurities, and enjoyed our evening next to a camp fire. We end up sleeping next to a fire by the campers that was next to us. It’s a strange feeling to be woken up by the warmth of the sun when feeling cold. We were really ill-prepare, too cool to get some deep sleep.
Throughout the night, have met many wonderful people. Some are young and kind, while others are wise and experienced. As some might be interested as to where I will go next, you learn the local culture here. It’s been suggested that Kazakhstan has 3 separate parts. As the wast side of the country is modern and advance, the west part of the country still has it culture root very strong. With nomads riding along the living the old fashion way. Interesting insight from locals.
From the advise I’ve been getting, it seems going toward west of Kazakhstan will be more interesting than heading north to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Just love to see more of the old culture, than the new cities.
Although I was wearing jean, it was good to be trying out some yoga. Surrounded by nature, it felt harmonious . The yoga instructor is from India, it was one of the best yoga session I ever had. The level is so diverse that it accommodates all levels, without feeling overwhelming.
Just as how we got there, we manage to hitchhike back, in two seperate cars. Seems like hitch hiking can be an adventurous way to travel
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