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On the road again! After so long in Kyrgyzstan it is hard to believe we are leaving! I was even getting quite worked up about crossing the border. It's been so long, I was really on edge! But let me go back over the last few days...
We drove down from the mountains and gave a lift to our friend, Lucas, who got really excited about the car and doing a similar trip. He said as a trial run he was planning to go to Namibia for 2 weeks and hire a car, just to see how he enjoyed a driving trip - just like we did! We had such a fun drive down talking about Namibia and our trip so far that it seemed to pass by very quickly, so we went to lunch together and to Karakol Coffee! It was like going home! Aikerim and Daniel are such lovely people!
We headed back to Bishkek with a list of chores, print out this, wash that... Interestingly, in Central Asia most cities have a law that your car must be clean! We have come across this in Ashgabat, Tashkent, and now Almaty... It seems dirty car deserve a fine, whereas drunken drivers, unroadworthy vehicles and other such things are standard!
While in Bishkek we met up with Daniel (American entrepreneur and co-owner of Karakol Coffee) for dinner and drinks... he recommended a place for Fintan to get a haircut for 250 som ($5) complete with wash, massage and styling! Oooo!
On Friday we set off for the border and I was expecting the worst - we stocked up with food and water for what I've read is up to a 6 hour wait to cross into Kazakhstan. What a pleasant surprise - 2 hours and we were through! No problems on the Kyrgyz side, and on the Kazakh side we got everything done with the assistance of the customs officials very easily (although no English customs declaration forms and we guessed most of it, then the customs lady screwed mine up and threw it away! Apparently we only needed Fintan to fill one in, being the man and all!) So to say thanks I handed out some caramel sweets to these guys - I don't think that really counts as a bribe, seeing as it was after we were finished and had all the paperwork done, and the market value of these sweets probably less than a penny each!
We picked up car insurance at the border and also a Russian tourist that needed a lift to Almaty... the drive was about 3 hours, but the difference from driving in Kyrgyzstan was amazing - here the drivers obey road rules! The number of cars in Almaty is astounding. There are much fewer minibuses and most people seem to have their own car.
So we are in Almaty for a few days, as foreign tourists staying more than 5 days in Kazakhstan we have to register with the Immigration Police (there is a charge, and the hotel can do it for us, but it's still a hassle). There isn't much information about the Eastern part of Kazakhstan... so we don't really know what's to come... but that's not really new to us at this stage!
- comments
Jenny It is all sounding so exciting! Went to Olivers on Thursday with Jay and your Dad and it was the best meal ever - and we managed to eat three courses! Wish you and Fintan could have been with us x x x x
mum sounds good. xx