out of shape

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It’s always the same:

Whenever I am about to embark on a journey, I feel nervous. This time was no exception. I hadn’t walked in more than a month, a new country lay ahead, winter was coming. I hated it.

But there is always an upside: it can feel pretty nice to just do things anyway.

Also, I didn’t want to look like a coward in front of the Caboose.

So we left Shymkent on a snowy road:

On time there was a dedication to German music on a wall:

Another time there was a colorful house:

And I remembered what people had been telling me about Shymkent before. That there would be colorful houses.

The road out of Shymkent was busy and a bit tough:

One time there was a large car market:

Used vehicles from Europe and Japan mostly.

We knew we were still in Kazakhstan because there was a big monument of some dude on a horse:

And then it was just road, road, road:

One time these two dudes stopped for a chat:

They were much nicer than what you would expect from the picture.

Here’s the Let’s Walk of the day:

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It turned out to be a rather long walk because I was hopelessly out of shape.

There was some snow:

And then, just as I was about to enter the village of Rabat, this guy called Nurzhan appeared:

“Where are you going to sleep?” he wanted to know. Soon it was decided that I should go to his house for the night.

So I walked a little more:

Then this gentleman appeared and asked me the exact same question as Nurzhan had before:

I told him I was staying at Nurzhan’s place, and he approved, so we just took a few pictures:

Then I was on my way to Nurzhan’s house:

His little kid was there:

As well as his parents and two other kids:

I really liked his dad:

But they were all fun:

Especially the little one:

And just like that, walking didn’t feel that scary any more.