Because our Russian visas were running out, we had to leave Russia within 6 days. So there was only little time to explore the world's biggest country. The nigthts we spent in trains riding through more than 1000km of flat and flooded lands. Russian trains are made for long distances: Hot water for tea and soup is available and if you don't have a banquet with you (most russians take food for one week with them), you can buy cheap piroshki. But the biggest advantage over DB trains are stowable seats, which allow 6 sleeping or 8 sitting persons in one compartment. Matress and blankets are inclusive. We met two kinds of people in the trains: The ones who stared at us making jokes we didn't understand and those who invited us to join their meal (we prefer the second kind). By day, while waiting for the next train, we visited the cities of Volgograd, Astrakhan and Atyrau, Kazakhstan, primarely the huge bazars.

After crossing the Kazakh border, the landscape outside the train changed as well as the people's faces. The population consists of two groups: The Asiatic-looking people with nomadic background (mostly Muslimic) and the people with Russian background (mostly Christian).

Seeing a region called "the Kazakh depression", dry steppe and desert for 2 days, we almost got a Kazakh depression ourselves. Sometimes camel herds enriched the desolate view. Our first destination in Kazakhstan was Aralsk. When we left the train, heat and sand was blowing in our faces. No green. No shadows. No water. 

In the past, Aralsk was the Kazakh center of fishing in the Aral Sea. Most inhabitants worked as fishermen or at the port, bringing money to this region. Then it was decided to grow rice, cotton and wheat in the Soviet Union's desert. Therefor, up to 80% of the water of the 2 big rivers flowing in the Aral Sea was taken. Now Aralsk is a town in the desert. Between the port and the Aral Sea spread 35km of salty desert. The loss of jobs makes Aralsk nowadays the poorest region of Kazakhstan. To improve their situation, many people try to sell goods to transients by walking through trains. 

We entered the city with no good plan what to do in the next time. The idea to start travelling by foot here didn't seem good, facing steppe and desert. It was also not possible to buy a map in Aralsk. So we stood around unoriented, the only Europeans within 100km. An Muslim Hallow seemed to feel our helplessness and invited us to be his family's guests- a positive experience. He lived with his wife and 3 little boys in a small flat without furniture and flowing water. According to their former nomadic tradition, they should have butchered a sheep for their unexpected guests - but they didn't have one. Sitting on selfmade carpets drinking tea and playing with the children, we had a really nice evening, learned about Kazakh tribe rules avoiding incest (7 generations), made funny experiences going to toilet (shithouse outside the house) and got the hint to go to the region around Shymkent. Everything in Russian! Of course in their eyes we were married. 

Shymkent, third biggest city in Kazakhstan calls itself the country's greenest city. Lying near the mountains, they don't have water-problems. Nevertheless it's really hot here. Last night we stayed in a cheap hotel directly at the train platform and in 1 hour we will leave for Temirnalovka, a small village, where we want to start walking east. Perhaps a donkey will soon follow our footsteps. 

Please note: Because internet is not available everywhere in Kazakhstan, we may not write for some time.