Karabalykskiy, Kazakhstan - Polarsteps

Yesterday we slept in a hostel because of the cold. We found a natural park with an "Eco-park" which is actually not far from the biggest radio active dump place in the world. We didn't dare to try our newly fixed waterfilter in this area. And since we have seen a bear (in a small cage in this park, really sad) we are also getting a bit nervous to camp in this area. So we decided to leave and enter Kazachstan! The scenery changes immediately. No trees, only flat empty lands and friendly hardened Asian looking people who welcome us in their land. Unfortunately the weather stays cold, with clouds the colour of lead which adds to the dramatic emptiness of the place. When we see cities they always come with huge concrete grain silos. The villages look like a mess, every house seems to come with a scrapyard, building materials and some random animals roaming around.... Kazakhstan is a really weird place, far from "gezellig" but after a while I even start to like this empty and ugliness. It's totally Zen.