For the final leg of our journey across Kazakhstan, we needed to get from Karagandy to Astana. The driver who had brought us from Balkhash the previous day mentioned that there were no buses running between Karagandy and Astana that day. It seemed odd, given the proximity and size of the cities, but I had no reason to doubt him. He wasn’t a taxi driver, just an honest local dude doing carpooling.
Moreover, since the transport he offered to arrange for us was inexpensive—5,000 KZT per person with home pickup—I saw no reason to bother looking into other options.
The car was waiting in front of our lovely downtown apartment at the prearranged time, along with one other passenger. The driver was a bit nutty, handling the car like a first-day roller coaster operator and darting through corner gas stations to bypass traffic lights. Despite his antics, he got us to our destination safely in under three hours.
He dropped us off in a parking lot next to the pyramidal Palace of Peace and Reconciliation on the southern outskirts of the city, where we had to call a Yandex taxi to reach our hotel on the northern side.
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Accommodation and activities in Kazakhstan
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