The Kolsai Lakes are a chain of three alpine lakes strung up a valley in the Kungey Alatau, a range on the border with Kyrgyzstan. The lowest lake sits at roughly 1,800 metres, the middle at about 2,250 and the top at around 2,700, and each is smaller and colder than the last. They are often called the Pearls of the Tian Shan, which is the sort of name that sounds like marketing until you see the water, a cold, deep blue-green framed in dark spruce forest and sharp ridgelines.
A few kilometres away lies Kaindy, a lake with a weird and wonderful feature: the trunks of drowned spruce trees stand upright in the water, a ghostly forest preserved by the cold. It formed in a major earthquake in the early twentieth century, when a landslide dammed the valley and flooded the trees. The road to Kaindy is rough in places, and many visitors go by jeep, but riders on suitable bikes can reach it, with care, in dry conditions.
The ride up to Kolsai passes through the village of Saty, one of the last settlements before the mountains, and from there the road rises through green meadows and spruce woods. Surface varies from decent tarmac to gravel, with potholes and stream crossings, and horses and cattle wander freely. This is border country, so foreigners may need a permit for the national park and the border zone, and it makes sense to organise that in advance, through a guesthouse or in Almaty, rather than at a checkpoint. Summer is the main season; snow lingers on the upper trails into June.
Saty has homestays and small guesthouses that cook simple, hearty meals, with fresh bread, local honey, mutton soup and tea. Nights are cold even in summer, and mornings are the best time for the lakes, when the water is still and the light slants through the spruce. If you have time, walking the trail to the second lake is worth doing, a few hours of quiet forest and sound of water.