Kazakhstan 11/06/2005

Trip Journal From 11th June 2005 - 22th June 2005


On June 11th 2005 we cleared Chinese customs and proceeded towards the Kazakhstan border. 3 hours later all the paper work completed we were free to drive into Kazakhstan. Paul was leading us out of the gate accompanied by a guard who showed him the way out, very considerate or so he thought until the guard started making gestures and admiring glances at his CB Radio, GPS and anything else he could see!. At this point we were all in convoy following Paul wondering what the hold up was as we had been instructed by the guard to stop behind the barrier. Paul stuck to his guns and after some discussion between the guards while realizing that they couldn’t extract anything from Paul, the barrier was eventually put up and we were all free to go. A sign of things to come for Kazakhstan.

Straight away we noticed the houses were more European. Lace curtains adorned the windows and the yards were surrounded by fences and lots of flowers gardens. More open spaces, a lot less cropping, and an absence of people and blue trucks on the roads.

We found a camping spot beside the river half way between the border and Almaty. We collected firewood and cranked up the BBQ. We were at quite a high altitude which made having a fire great for warmth. Sitting around the fire we opened one of the 2 litres of water that we had stocked up on in China using up the last of our Yuan. As we went to have a drink we noticed a peculiar smell. On closer inspection we discovered we had purchased 10 litres of Rice Whiskey not water - very potent stuff! Amazing what happens when you are unable to read Chinese fluently.

The drive to Almaty was picturesque. Wild flowers as far as the eye could see and the colors were absolutely glorious despite the rain. We were stopped by the local police 3 times on our way into Almaty, seemed the motor homes were an obvious target for the police to try and extract some money from us. Papers in hand the guys were ushered into an office at one police check point. They just kept insisting that we had no “Tenge” (Local currency) as we had come straight from the border and were going to get some “Tenge” at an Almaty bank. They wanted 910 Tenge from us. When the going got tough we eventually offered them one of the 2 litres of Rice Whiskey. I knew we had bought it for something and I was quite glad we weren’t able to read fluent Chinese as water wouldn’t of been a very good bargaining tool! As we drove off, our last visual image was seeing the police ripping into the Rice whiskey, we could only imagine the sore heads the next morning from consuming the lethal brew.

Within 10 minutes of the last episode, Paul got pulled up for speeding. We tried to warn him via the CB, but at the last check point he had hurriedly hidden all his radio gear after the border guard incident and hadn’t turned it back on. He had got pinged for doing 64km in a 60km zone. There were no speed limit signs on the main highway and vehicles were whizzing past us so scratching our heads yet again, we realized it was yet another attempt to extract money from us ‘westerners’. By this stage Paul was getting pretty good at talking his way out of trouble and bribes and told them he would pay the fine at a bank in Alamty when he got some “Tenge” so of course he was eventually allowed to drive off without any payment

We camped at Medeu 15 kms from Almaty alongside the famous Ice Skating Rink where many of the Russian speed skaters train. Next day we met up with 6 Italian motor homers traveling overland via Russia. They had been waiting in Almaty for 22 days for their China paperwork to come through. Despite the language barrier and communicating with lots of expressions and hand waving we had a great time with them.

Paul and John continued to get stopped by the Police. From parking fines to insurance money, anything they could trump up they seemed to be easy targets for extortion. Thankfully we were much luckier.

In Alamty we met up with a retired English policeman from Hong Kong called Nigel Croft. Nigel had been planning to travel overland via Russia and those plans changed when he decided to team up with us. Lawrie and I had originally planned to enter Europe via Russia instead of the Stans, however after learning from Nigel that our visa’s would barely give us time to drive across Russia and do the sights on route – the three of us made a joint decision to travel together via Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and into Turkey. Sure beats waiting 2 days outside the Russian Embassy in 35 plus heat – Plan C came to fruition.

In the interim Lynda and John have had to fly to London so John could get a new passport issued as his current passport had almost run out of pages. Unlike New Zealand where you are issued with a small stamp. Most of these countries require a full page for each entry visa, so it turned out to be an expensive exercise for them . Almaty has been a great place to spend time while we organized our paper work for the next part of our trip. We required LOI’s (letters of introduction) for Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and employed Stan Tours to organize these on our behalf. Stan Tours provided an excellent service. We collected our visas on route in Bishkek and Tashkent respectively. Our visa for Kyrgyzstan was very easy to obtain and for an extra fee they did it while we waited. No LOI was required as we didn’t need to register as we did for Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

Almaty was a leafy city with many Ladas and Mercedes on the roads. It went from one extreme to the other and the drivers seemed to be very aggressive. Taxis were cheap (only NZ $2-$5 a ride) as were the buses and trams (NZ 0.30-0.50 cents a ride). The Green Market was excellent shopping. The range of items were extensive and well stocked with the department Stores appearing very modern. All the young girls and women dressed impeccably, adorned with fantastic accessories and colour co-ordinated from head to toe – totally stunning so much so that you couldn’t help but take a second glance.

Once again we were enjoying western food. The prices were much the same as NZ, but you certainly noticed the cost more after the cheapness of all the Asian countries that we had been traveling through. While using the internet cafe one evening we met up with a visiting rugby team from Guam and one of the players was a kiwi from Tauranga - the last kiwis we had met were in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Today Wednesday the 22nd of June we head towards Kegan where we cross over into Kyrgyzstan at Karkara Valley. We fueled up at Kegan and began the slow drive along the heavily potholed road to the checkpoint. The border crossing was in the middle of nowhere. The Kazakhstan border guards made no secret of the fact that Lawrie's fishing rod would be a welcome gift. There was NO way Lawrie was going to part with that and our vehicle was subsequently lightened by 5 pens, some cranberry juice, 1 beer and some peach tea - sparing the bottle of vodka and some cigarettes for further bribes along the way! After a half hearted search of the vehicle we were on our way into Kyrgyzstan.