Wednesday 3rd July 2013
Almaty to ????
Realise we are one country, Russia, away from Mongolia, our original destination. We have a lie in, and meet for breakfast at 9. Atle points out that Norway is also one country away from Mongolia – Russia!!!!!.Then the luxury of a morning off. Tim and Atle go out to buy insurance, £5 for two cars, and get local currency, the tenge. Thought HSBC were the Listening Bank. They must be suffering a temporary hearing loss. Anyway, Hilde and I do the washing, and put clothes on towels in the back of car. See how that works. My mislaid glasses turn up at the first hotel, handed in by someone. Thank you. We stroll down the main drag, and go into a few shops. Buy nothing. Check out and have drinks on the terrace. Talk that the enormity of what we have achieved so far comes home when we hear from family.
Tim and Atle join us. Atle has just read there will be elections in Mongolia soon. Should be peaceful, as the president should be re elected. Send emails to the British and Chinese Embassies in Ulan Baataarar, asking for help with visas. Tim now looks very dapper in his new sandals, after I drag him to ONE shoe shop.
Almaty is a very western city, we can recognize shops and all the hoardings are in English. This is the financial centre for Kazakhstan. KZ has an oil source which will produce more oil than America has already. They have every known natural resource and are the richest of the Stans. However, it will take time for this wealth to filter down to all the people, especially in rural areas. The random bus stops will have been part of the Soviet plan – we need buses to go here, we will build bus stops here. But the buses never run. We now realise the reason for the extortionate bill last night, and the price of the hotel.
Got hold of all the Gardners last night, good to see you Will. Esme had been cycling, so very tired. Just a quick catch up. She is visiting her new school today. Hope she enjoys it. Couldn’t get hold of Rachel, will try again soon. Had lovely emails from Martin and Collette. Thanks, it’s great to know you are thinking about us. Oh, by the way. The bird we saw was an Egyptian Vulture. Thanks Martin.
Disaster. Think we have over – soaked our neck scarves, some crystals are oozing out. Hope not toxic. Have fun getting out of city. Atle and Hilde were leading, their sat nav was not showing the streets and they were on the wrong channel for the CB. Eventually, Tim has a brainwave and their sat nav now works. Well done geek. Heading north. Need fuel, get the cars washed, buy some bread and a kettle. Will do all that out of town.
Get stopped by police. Tim tries to say we were not speeding. We weren’t. But we did not have our lights on. $50 down. Atle has his side lights on, but not head lights. Another $50 dollars down. And no receipt. Oh well. At least we got service with a smile.
Atle lent me the menu he purloined in Osh. Here are a few more offerings:-
Liver of Chinese
Herring undera a fur coat
Vegetable all sorts
Cheese cutting
Friend tongue
A borsh an Ukranian
Soup hen
And my favourite – The mutton baldribs ( in an environment of vegetables).
There, now someone can laugh at my Russian any time they like.
Lots of people being stopped by police, even locals. Roadside stalls cooking kebabs, delicious aromas. Bird poohed on woman’s head as she stood in shade under a tree. 2.30 pm and very hot. Need to check weather reports for Mongolia, don’t want to get stuck in monsoon mud. Locals slow down, so do we. Four huge casinos with expensive shiny cars outside. Car doing the towing broken down. Holiday resort on huge man made lake, only a dozen people there.
Crystals seem to be being re-absorbed. Good. The scarves don’t resemble a neck brace so much. People seem to be more sophisticated here, less waving at us and saying welcome. Maybe they couldn’t be bothered that we are there, or maybe they have more foreign visitors. Well we are glad to be here. Man hitching with his dog. Not David. A lot of broken down cars, but all drivers seemed to have mobiles to summon help. Wind screen strip on lorry declares the driver to be “King of Road”.
Talking to Hilde earlier, we were saying how well we were all getting on. It is important too, that each couple is getting along with their partner. She said it was good that nobody had strong opinions. WHAT. We all have very strong opinions, but listen to each other and will change ideas and plans to suit the group. Hilde said that was what she meant. When one of us is having a wobble, someone else will sense it and make decisions, take control or just say everything is fine. We both admitted to feeling sick to the bottom of our stomachs about certain situations or the thought of what was to come. That goes for the men too. We didn’t head off all gung-ho, we were quite innocent. But we have learnt a lot, and won’t make certain mistakes again. Next trip that is.
Infrastructure improvements = road works. Loads of stretches of dusty, bumpy surfaces. Bet clean clothes drying in the back are coated. Will feel like emery boards when we put them on. Lovely.
Tim downloaded KZ last night, and I can see three borders on map – to our East is China, North is Russia and sandwiched in between is MONGOLIA. Can’t really get the sense of scale. I know it will probably take us a week to cross into Mongolia.
Tim says his new sandals make his feet sweat more. The car already smells like a monkey house. Atle admitted theirs smelt like a camel, and they have air con. Sorry if I offended the aforementioned animals. Stop for fuel. Have to go inside whilst pump attendant fills four cars at once. Man with semi-automatic slung over shoulder watches everybody. Toilets? Cashier points outside. Independently Hilde and I walk all round the building. Nothing. Atle asks. Apparently, there is no water to the toilet inside, so we literally have to go outside. We do, away from gaze of armed man. Two German vans with trailers turn up. Open back door and dozens of plastic bags escape. They are all re captured. PUT OUR LIGHTS ON. Granola bar and Coke Zero for late lunch. 5pm.
Not made much progress, very windy and bad roads. Would like to wild camp tonight, but no where to hide. Contact in Mongolia emailed Atle. Seen on out blogs that we will be sleeping in roof tents. That is good, as several people have been run over in their tents by drunk drivers. We may also stay with them in their rental yurts. Hilde has heard from someone who has interviews set up. Hilde is thrilled. Bit of Madge to keep us awake.
Not many photos taken today. Bit overcast and same old same old. How did that woman get into that Lada with that enormous hat on, bit like getting a ship into a bottle. Paul from France had been watching Glastonbury. The Stones in particular. Said at least they didn’t fall asleep on stage. Need to send him details of the blogs. Tim notices we are seeing coaches again. Haven’t seen any in the last few countries. Must be evening, it’s raining with the obligatory rainbow.
Holes in road mean we have to drive through petrol station fore courts. Traffic lights tell you exactly how many seconds there are left until they change. Useful. Someone beeps, thumbs up. Someone’s flashing. Police round every corner and down every incline. Several times get caught at lights, Atle waits for us ahead. Some planes at the airport, must be why the road is smooth for 100m. Bunkers to hide rockets in? Where we cross into Russia, nuclear waste was dumped.
Rachel and Matt, be ready for days of endless flat plains on your journey. Have some good music or audio books at hand. Also, make sure you don’t go over the speed limit!!!!
How will we settle into our old life back home? Will we be the same people? Will we get itchy feet again?
Only one bum hug left. Will save it. People don’t seem to wear crash helmets here. Hills on one side, endless flatness on the other. Bit of variety then. Hear a loud bang as a car drives past us. Stop to investigate, but can see no damage on the outside of the car. Hope it wasn’t the water melon exploding on the inside, all over my washing!!!!
Arrive at small town, looking for campsite, or hotel. Atle spots a Police car patrolling without lights. Drive around, doesn’t look hopeful. Find the Kazahk word for hotel – meymankhana. Will ask the next local. Would you believe it, the policeman driving the car with no lights stops to help. No hotel here, but he draws a map with directions to the next town, 30km away. On the way out the roundabout is bigger than the town. Delusions of grandeur.
Plod on. We will take Central Asian phrase book in with us, and my glasses to read it with. Must have fallen off my lap when I got out of the car last night. Hilde needs a stop. Pull up at the already mentioned defunct bus stop. Just as she finishes, two people are dropped off to wait for a bus. This next town has a bus station. I ask a local, round the corner and straight on, she signals a big sign. Thank you. Nothing, and no idea how far she meant. See a group of people waiting outside a hall. Atle asks. Someone writes 150 in the dust of the car. Kms or ms. We drive on. Maybe should have planned a bit better, or left a bit earlier. Munch on peanuts from health food shop. After a while we pull off the road and drive into a beautiful wheat field. We will stay here.
Rain starts as we set up, not too heavy. Atle puts out his awning. No cooking. Cheese and biscuits, peanuts and beer. Our chairs are difficult to get to without putting a load of stuff on the wet grass. They lend us little three legged stools, never used. “I used to have one of these. What happened to it?” enquired Tim. “You broke it” Ha, ha! We discuss the issues of travelling in Russia, may be a bit like this. Supper is delicious. Crash. Tim falls through his borrowed chair, ripped from side to side. We cannot breathe for laughing, tears blind us and nobody can speak. When we regain our equilibrium, we set ourselves off again by recounting incidents of aged grandparents and parents falling through beach chairs, and getting stuck. Didn’t mention Dad bouncing on the bed, sides ached too much. Best bit of the day.