A Day Trip to Borovoya, Kazakhstan - 18 May 2009

After catching up on a few things this week, we decided, with the help of our friend, Frank Tetreault, that we needed to take a day trip to Borovoya, which is about 2 and a half hours from Astana. Borovoya is the nearest mountain resort to Astana and many people go there for rest and relaxation during the summer. People always ask us if we have been to Borovoya yet. We decided that we can't go home without seeing this wonderful place, so we decided to hire a taxi and away we went!!

When we got to Borovoya we found a small town, with lots of hotels and resorts and several sanatoriums. They all surround Lake Borovoya which is nestled in the trees among large rock formations.

Sergei, our driver, took us to a huge cropping of rocks and told us that we should climb to the top. When we got to the there, we took these beautiful pictures!!

It was amazing to drive from the steppe into this mountain region and see all of this beauty which seems to be out in the middle of nowhere!!

The rock formations are just amazing!!

This is beautiful Lake Borovoya!! This was taken on the very top of the huge rocks. You can see the road down below.

This rock is one of many with a unique formation that was eroded away by the effects of nature. We saw this all over the area.These are the exhausted hikers (well maybe just two)!! Roy, Anne, Sergei and Mira. This is the trail up to the top of the rocks!! It's a good thing we did this first or we probably wouldn't have had the energy to do it later in the day!!

Out in Lake Borovoya is a large cropping of rocks that look like a sphinx. Any picture that we have seen of Borovoya has this huge rock in it. The rock is called Zhumbaktas cliff or "Riddle-stone".

This is the "Riddle-stone" taken from the other side of the lake.

Roy and Anne with the Zhumbaktas cliff in the background!! (We got caught in a couple of thunder showers; hence, the wind blown and rained-on look!!) As you can see in the background, the area surrounding the lake is covered in pine trees.

Out in this clearing is a monument to Ablay-khan, one of the rulers during the 1700's. He is famous for uniting the early Kazakh people against the Djungars, which were from China and Mongolia. This is a very impressive monument!

This huge eagle is at the top of the monument! Of course, the eagle is one of the symbols of Kazakhstan. There are carvings and symbols of Kazakhstan on the monument as well.

Sergei took us to another area in the forest where there is a waterfall. This rock formation is on the way to the waterfall and looks like camel. Of course Mira and Anne had to have their picture taken on it!

When we got to the waterfall, this is what we found, a large layer of snow among the birch trees!! It was amazing! You can see how thick the snow in this area is. The waterfall is running underneath the snow!! Mira, Sergei and Roy

Mira, Frank Tetreault and Anne and Roy on the bridge over the stream where the waterfall is. You can see the snow in the background!!

Then Sergei took us to another area where there is a small lake called Bolshoe Chebachye. It has a lot of beach area with huge rocks everywhere. There is also a land mass that stretches out to the middle of the lake and has birch trees growing there and another sandy beach area. Roy is resting on one of the large rocks that are along the beach.

On the way back from the beach, Roy took this picture of this rock formation which is called the Okzhetpes cliff ("Inaccessible by Arrow") and on the top of the cliff it looks like a baby elephant lying down on it's knees!!This is a closer picture of the elephant. Pretty cool, wouldn't you say!!

We had a wonderful day and to top it off we ate at one of the cafes in town...and had "Shashlek" which is kabobs - chicken, pork and lamb. It was wonderful and very tasty!! Anne, Roy and Frank Tetreault.

We had a great day we had!! Sergei was a great guide and knew just where to go and we appreciate all he did for us. We are glad that we took the time to go. It would have been a shame to leave Kazakhstan and never have seen this beautiful area!!

As far as projects, we are still waiting for Moscow to give us the go-ahead on the new computer program. We are also still dealing with getting customs clearance that we thought we had for the NRT equipment. The fun never ends!!

Thanks to all of you for your love and support!! We are so blessed and have felt the "tender mercies" of the Lord constantly on this mission!

Love,

Elder and Sister Welling