Had a leisurely breakfast and departed to the Russian border with expectations of good roads. We were very disappointed to find we had shocking roads the entire way. The boring desert scenery combined with the relentless potholes made for a very dull and quite stressful drive. For once, we even felt bad for the trucks negotiating the minefield of potholes.
Showing posts with label Kazakhstan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kazakhstan. Show all posts
Beyneu and Atyrau. July 12-13, 2014
Saturday, July 12th.
Once we crossed the border, we still had 85kms of classic Kazakhstan roads to negotiate before we got to Beyneu. And by "classic" we mean terrible. At one point we had to stop and fill up the fuel tank from our Jerry cans, as the fuel gauge was showing empty. Sterlin was doing ok despite being fed bad fuel.
As soon as we got to Beyneu we found an ATM which dispensed local currency, such a simple pleasure after Uzbekistan. And then straight to a petrol station where we pumped good quality fuel into Sterlin. Again, these simple acts are such a pleasure. Our Garmin correctly directed us to our hotel and we checked in and had dinner.
Beyneu was not much of a town, as we discovered during our post dinner walk. More of a service town for the district, so had everything one might want but without any charm.
Sunday, July 13th.
We woke up and the outside temperture was a chilling 18°C. The coldest we have had in quite a while and wonderful. However we had another longish days drive to reach Atyrau so we couldn't hang around. The drive was basically desert the entire 420kms and the good news, the road was straight and fast. Apart from the occasional camel and cargo train there was not much to see.
Atyrau was a definite improvement on Beyneu and clearly built with oil money. The buildings still had that wonderful soviet architecture, but now there were also trees and footpaths to make the place feel a little but more livable. Unfortunately there were hideous pipes everywhere supplying community hot water.
We found the most amazing beer house in the back streets of a housing estate. It deserved its number one restaurant rating on Tripadvisor. We, along with numerous other foreign white people, enjoyed a drink and the best meal we'd had in weeks (maybe months)! Caroline had salmon and Stephen had lamb.
Caroline stayed up to watch Germany beat Argentina in the World Cup final. Stephen slept.
Once we crossed the border, we still had 85kms of classic Kazakhstan roads to negotiate before we got to Beyneu. And by "classic" we mean terrible. At one point we had to stop and fill up the fuel tank from our Jerry cans, as the fuel gauge was showing empty. Sterlin was doing ok despite being fed bad fuel.
As soon as we got to Beyneu we found an ATM which dispensed local currency, such a simple pleasure after Uzbekistan. And then straight to a petrol station where we pumped good quality fuel into Sterlin. Again, these simple acts are such a pleasure. Our Garmin correctly directed us to our hotel and we checked in and had dinner.
Beyneu was not much of a town, as we discovered during our post dinner walk. More of a service town for the district, so had everything one might want but without any charm.
Sunday, July 13th.
We woke up and the outside temperture was a chilling 18°C. The coldest we have had in quite a while and wonderful. However we had another longish days drive to reach Atyrau so we couldn't hang around. The drive was basically desert the entire 420kms and the good news, the road was straight and fast. Apart from the occasional camel and cargo train there was not much to see.
Atyrau was a definite improvement on Beyneu and clearly built with oil money. The buildings still had that wonderful soviet architecture, but now there were also trees and footpaths to make the place feel a little but more livable. Unfortunately there were hideous pipes everywhere supplying community hot water.
We found the most amazing beer house in the back streets of a housing estate. It deserved its number one restaurant rating on Tripadvisor. We, along with numerous other foreign white people, enjoyed a drink and the best meal we'd had in weeks (maybe months)! Caroline had salmon and Stephen had lamb.
Caroline stayed up to watch Germany beat Argentina in the World Cup final. Stephen slept.
Crossed into Kazakhstan
Saturday, July 12th
Crossed into Kazakhstan. Very long day and several hours spent at the border. Uzbekistan turned out to be one of the unexpected highlights of our trip. Now we were on our way through Kazakhstan and onto European Russia.
Crossed into Kazakhstan. Very long day and several hours spent at the border. Uzbekistan turned out to be one of the unexpected highlights of our trip. Now we were on our way through Kazakhstan and onto European Russia.
Across the Kazakhstan/Kyrgyzstan Border. June 21, 2014.
Saturday, June 21st
It is always good to start a border crossing day with a coffee. So we did.
It is always good to start a border crossing day with a coffee. So we did.
The 200-odd km drive to the border was on very good roads, but with the usual dangerous drivers, slow trucks, poorly marked pedistrian crossings in the middle of the highways, unclear speed signage, police everywhere and silly overtaking restrictions. Even with these obstacles, we made relatively good time to the border. About 30 kms short of the border Stephen said, "hard to believe we will drive through Kazakhstan without being stopped once by the police". Less than 3 minutes later we were stopped. But the police check was quick and efficient. Maybe we dazzled the cop with our highly organized and folderized paperwork.
The border crossing on the Kazakhstan side was frustrating, but once it was all complete, the clock revealed that it had only taken 1 hour. It felt like a very long 1 hour, but still quite quick compared to some other crossings. The actual processing time was less than 5 minutes, and the rest was waiting around trying to work out what to do. Twice Stephen was pulled to one side and into an office hidden from security cameras and asked directly and persistently for money. First by the border police and then by customs. Our zero tolerance for bribes paid off, but probably was the reason for our subsequent excessive processing delays. Kazakhstan immigration was friendly, and they even joked about the poor showing by England the night before in the FIFA World Cup football.
The crossing into Kyrgyzstan was delightful in comparison. Customs was extremely friendly and helpful while immigration were massively efficient. Even with completing temporary import paperwork for Sterlin, we were through in 20 minutes. Only to have this spoiled 400 meters after the border when we were singled out for a quick check by the traffic police. We were waved on once the cop worked out that we didn't speak Russian. He did glance at our paperwork, but not sure what he was looking for.
Overall a good crossing.
Almaty (Алматы). June 19-21, 2014.
Thursday, June 19.
We loved Almaty.
Unfortunately we would not be staying more than 2 nights here.
On arrival in the city we looked for a coffee shop, with wifi, to enjoy a latte and to look for a place to stay (as opposed to driving around and trying to find something). We decided on Mildom Apartments, went to check it out, liked what we saw and checked in for 2 nights. It has a superb location in the city center with very competitive rates.
Upon checking our emails we had a message from Justin and Jen, who we'd met in Ölgiy, and who had also just arrived in Almaty. We met up at Bar Raketa for drinks and dinner and a good old chat about overland travel and visa issues :).
When we turned in that night we were still planning to do 3 things the next day: 1) go to the immigration Police to try and get our visa changed, 2) take Sterlin to the Landrover Dealer for his check-up, and 3) go to 'Stantours' to sort our some logistics for our LOI for Uzbekistan.
Friday, June 20.
That morning, over coffee and tea in our room, while preparing to go the Immigration Police and possible stand inline for a long time (apparently the office can get crazy busy), to most likely be told that our visa category cannot be changed, we both kinda just decided: 'you know what... let's not bother with it.' Losing a lot of time instead of using the little time we had here to walk around, all of a sudden didn't seem right. We decided to leave KZ the next day and cross into Kyrgyszstan.
So we drove to Landrover where Sterlin was seen to immediately. The people and service were top-notch. They even called us a taxi (on their tab) to allows us to meanwhile go to Stantours. By the time we got back to the garage the job on Sterlin was almost finished. Around noon we drove out of the garage, with Sterlin given a clean bill of health.
And then we just enjoyed the afternoon in this very green and leafy city: lunch, walked around and relaxed. We did also find a Nomad Insurance office where we managed to buy Third Party insurance for our trip through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and back into KZ. Incidently, when the lady in the office saw our immigration cards she immediately commented: 'It's annoying that they make a little mistake and then they won't fix it.' She was adamant they wouldn't even consider changing it. Which made us feel even better about not wasting time trying.
That evening we again got together with Jennifer and Justin, this time at The Shakespeare Pub (website looks a little bit nicer than the actual pub, but it did us nicely). Food, drinks and good fun alround and lovely talking to like-minded people.
We loved Almaty.
Unfortunately we would not be staying more than 2 nights here.
On arrival in the city we looked for a coffee shop, with wifi, to enjoy a latte and to look for a place to stay (as opposed to driving around and trying to find something). We decided on Mildom Apartments, went to check it out, liked what we saw and checked in for 2 nights. It has a superb location in the city center with very competitive rates.
Upon checking our emails we had a message from Justin and Jen, who we'd met in Ölgiy, and who had also just arrived in Almaty. We met up at Bar Raketa for drinks and dinner and a good old chat about overland travel and visa issues :).
When we turned in that night we were still planning to do 3 things the next day: 1) go to the immigration Police to try and get our visa changed, 2) take Sterlin to the Landrover Dealer for his check-up, and 3) go to 'Stantours' to sort our some logistics for our LOI for Uzbekistan.
Friday, June 20.
That morning, over coffee and tea in our room, while preparing to go the Immigration Police and possible stand inline for a long time (apparently the office can get crazy busy), to most likely be told that our visa category cannot be changed, we both kinda just decided: 'you know what... let's not bother with it.' Losing a lot of time instead of using the little time we had here to walk around, all of a sudden didn't seem right. We decided to leave KZ the next day and cross into Kyrgyszstan.
So we drove to Landrover where Sterlin was seen to immediately. The people and service were top-notch. They even called us a taxi (on their tab) to allows us to meanwhile go to Stantours. By the time we got back to the garage the job on Sterlin was almost finished. Around noon we drove out of the garage, with Sterlin given a clean bill of health.
And then we just enjoyed the afternoon in this very green and leafy city: lunch, walked around and relaxed. We did also find a Nomad Insurance office where we managed to buy Third Party insurance for our trip through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and back into KZ. Incidently, when the lady in the office saw our immigration cards she immediately commented: 'It's annoying that they make a little mistake and then they won't fix it.' She was adamant they wouldn't even consider changing it. Which made us feel even better about not wasting time trying.
That evening we again got together with Jennifer and Justin, this time at The Shakespeare Pub (website looks a little bit nicer than the actual pub, but it did us nicely). Food, drinks and good fun alround and lovely talking to like-minded people.
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| Love that building. |
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| Zenkov Cathedral in Panfilov Park. |
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| Dinner and many drinks with Jennifer and Justin. |
To Almaty (Алматы). June 18-19, 2014.
Wednesday, June 18.
We decided to go with the 'gun it to Almaty' option which meant covering 1130km in 2 days. That way we'd arrive in Almaty on Thursday evening, have the Friday to sort the car and paper work, and try and sort out the visa issue.
The day's driving didn't get off to a good start with what seemed like endless roadworks of the worst kind (ie.: road ripped up, extremely uneven surface and traveling in the dirt, with serious speed and over-taking restrictions). With the distance we wanted to cover that day we almost wavered and turned around (to head back to the Russian border and try and sort out the visa issue there) but we gritted our teeth and continued. The roads were some of the worst we've had during the whole trip and they never really got better: if there weren't any road works it was all potholes (lots of them and of the kind that would do serious damage to our car); and the few better stretches were full of speed restrictions that seemed ridiculous most of the time. But with the reputation of the police here, one sticks to them (even most of the locals do). The scenery along the way..... flat and uninspiring is putting it mildly. We left Semey at 9:00am and arrived in a place called Sarkand at 8:30pm (11.5 hours later), where we found a small, clean and friendly hostel for the night. Potnoodles and a beer were a feast that night.
We covered 716kms that day. Epic.
Thursday, June 19.
Early start as we anticipated the same road conditions and, with more townships en route, even more speed restrictions. And we were - unfortunately - not wrong. On this second day towards Almaty we only had 440km to go.
We arrived in Almaty around 4:30pm.
We decided to go with the 'gun it to Almaty' option which meant covering 1130km in 2 days. That way we'd arrive in Almaty on Thursday evening, have the Friday to sort the car and paper work, and try and sort out the visa issue.
The day's driving didn't get off to a good start with what seemed like endless roadworks of the worst kind (ie.: road ripped up, extremely uneven surface and traveling in the dirt, with serious speed and over-taking restrictions). With the distance we wanted to cover that day we almost wavered and turned around (to head back to the Russian border and try and sort out the visa issue there) but we gritted our teeth and continued. The roads were some of the worst we've had during the whole trip and they never really got better: if there weren't any road works it was all potholes (lots of them and of the kind that would do serious damage to our car); and the few better stretches were full of speed restrictions that seemed ridiculous most of the time. But with the reputation of the police here, one sticks to them (even most of the locals do). The scenery along the way..... flat and uninspiring is putting it mildly. We left Semey at 9:00am and arrived in a place called Sarkand at 8:30pm (11.5 hours later), where we found a small, clean and friendly hostel for the night. Potnoodles and a beer were a feast that night.
We covered 716kms that day. Epic.
Thursday, June 19.
Early start as we anticipated the same road conditions and, with more townships en route, even more speed restrictions. And we were - unfortunately - not wrong. On this second day towards Almaty we only had 440km to go.
We arrived in Almaty around 4:30pm.
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| Some of the 'better' roadworks.... it may mot look it but very slow going.. |
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| Ridiculous speed restrictions on the good stretches |
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| The landscape didn't have much to offer either. This is all we saw the first day. |
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| A little more variety towards the end of the second day. |
Semey (Семей). June 17, 2014
Tuesday, June 17th
Semey is twinned with Ypres in Belgium
After checking into our spacious hotel and finding out we had a 'small' immigration issue - and discussing our options (see notes below), we headed out to do a little sight seeing.
Semey is twinned with Ypres in BelgiumAfter checking into our spacious hotel and finding out we had a 'small' immigration issue - and discussing our options (see notes below), we headed out to do a little sight seeing.
First stop was the Museum of Fine Arts. We got there about 30mins before it closed for the day, and managed to get in and see the Rembrandt etching, which was really the only reason we were there. However, we were pleasantly surprised by the collection in general. Then we headed a local park on the island in the middle of the river to see a massive memorial to the victims of atomic testing that happened near this town. From Wikipedia: "The Soviet Union operated the Semipalatinsk Test Site (STS) from the first explosion in 1949 until 1989; 456 nuclear tests, including 340 underground and 116 atmospheric tests, were conducted there".
After dinner in a diner-style cafe we picked up some beer and wine to have while watching Belgium - Algeria in our room. I lost a few nails during game (specially during the very slow and mediocre first half performance of Belgium) but they came back in the second half to win the the game 2-1.
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| Beautiful and Somber Mushroom Cloud memorial to past and current victims of atomic testing |
Bearing in mind the following facts:
- we were given a 5-day transit visa. The rules on this are simple really: one has to leave the country on day 5.
- the distance between Semey and Almaty is 1130km; the roads are notoriously potholed or 'under construction'. Not too sure which is worse.
- Almaty is where Sterlin needed his next check-up (oil change and general safety check) and we needed time to sort things out for our Uzbekistan visa.
--> our options as we saw them were:
-- go back to the border and hope that they would change the visa class. Three possible scenarios could ensue from this:
1) it would be changed and all would be well. Somehow we didn't really believe it'd be that simple.
2) it would get sorted out but only after we officially left and re-entered KZ which would effectively use (and blow) our second entry into KZ. We would need that second entry later: from Uzbekistan we wanted to cross back into KZ to head back to Russia. That would effectively kill our trip through the Stans.
3) gun it to Almaty in 2 days; go and see the Immigration Police there and hope they would sort it out. If they didn't sort it our there, then at least we'd be in a good position to leave the country on day 5 of our transit visa by crossing into Kyrgyzstan.
4) ignore the issue and possibly overstay our visa... mmmm...
Fast Facts
Day: 388
Date: Tuesday, June 17th, 2014.
From: Rubtsovsk (Рубцо́вск)
To: Semey (Семей)
Distance Travelled: ??? kms (??? miles)
Stayed at: Semey Hotel
Located at: 50.414886º N, 80.259853º E
Hotel Notes: An old and slightly charming but run down hotel. Large spacious room. Breakfast. Average wifi. Hot water. Secured parking for a small fee. KZT 9,000 ($50 USD).
Map of Kazakhstan
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Across the Russian/Kazakhstan Border. June 17, 2014.
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Kazakhstan,
Russia
Tuesday, June 17th
After stopping at Coffee Art for a very nice latte we set off for the short 37 km drive to the border. We arrived at 10:32am to find 6 cars waiting in front of the border checkpoint and in front of us. So we joined the line. It looked like only 3-4 cars were allowed through the checkpoint at any one time, presumably to prevent over-crowding at the actual border post. There was some initial confusion on our part before we actually entered the Russian checkpoint: someone also in line pointed to what looked like a shop and wade at us to go in. We didn't get much wiser after checking it out; there was a lady there trying to do 'something' with our passports. After a few confused minutes we gave up and walked back out to our car. Turned out we didn't miss anything and later thought they were maybe the equivalent of the final immigration check on entering Russia. But we will never know.
The rest of the crossing process was very painless. We even picked up some third-party insurance valid in Kazakhstan. In less than 2 hours we were driving slowly towards Semey, our destination for the evening. We found out later that we should've paid more attention to what the 'helpful' security guard had written on our arrival/departure cards......
We drive slowly as the Kazakhstan traffic police are apparently notorious. But we successfully evaded them.
We checked into Hotel Semey in Semey, relaxed a bit and then went for a walk. First stop: the immigration police to register. There's this soviet style thing about having to register when you stay more than 5 days in the country (actually it's a bit more complicated than that, but regardless we have to register or face a fine). We waited in line, only to be given a form that had to be stamped by our hotel before we could do this registration thing. So back to the hotel we went, got the stamp, and then back to the immigration police before they closed for the day. The (friendly and English speaking) officer took our passports (and the forms), and then said that on a 'transit visa' one doesn't need to register as transit is valid for 5 days only. 'No', we said, we have 'tourist visas'. Turned out that the helpful security guard mentioned above wrote 'transit' (in cyrillic this looks like "транзит") instead of 'tourist' on our arrival cards and now we were faced with a bit of a problem. It is just about impossible to change 'visa class' in KZ (no matter what the actual visa in our passports says, it's that arrival/departure card that counts). So we were now looking at gunning it in 2 days to Almaty to see whether we can get this changed there, and if not, leave the country on day 5........
Not what we'd hoped for.
After stopping at Coffee Art for a very nice latte we set off for the short 37 km drive to the border. We arrived at 10:32am to find 6 cars waiting in front of the border checkpoint and in front of us. So we joined the line. It looked like only 3-4 cars were allowed through the checkpoint at any one time, presumably to prevent over-crowding at the actual border post. There was some initial confusion on our part before we actually entered the Russian checkpoint: someone also in line pointed to what looked like a shop and wade at us to go in. We didn't get much wiser after checking it out; there was a lady there trying to do 'something' with our passports. After a few confused minutes we gave up and walked back out to our car. Turned out we didn't miss anything and later thought they were maybe the equivalent of the final immigration check on entering Russia. But we will never know.
The rest of the crossing process was very painless. We even picked up some third-party insurance valid in Kazakhstan. In less than 2 hours we were driving slowly towards Semey, our destination for the evening. We found out later that we should've paid more attention to what the 'helpful' security guard had written on our arrival/departure cards......
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| Buying insurance at a shack just past the border. |
We drive slowly as the Kazakhstan traffic police are apparently notorious. But we successfully evaded them.
We checked into Hotel Semey in Semey, relaxed a bit and then went for a walk. First stop: the immigration police to register. There's this soviet style thing about having to register when you stay more than 5 days in the country (actually it's a bit more complicated than that, but regardless we have to register or face a fine). We waited in line, only to be given a form that had to be stamped by our hotel before we could do this registration thing. So back to the hotel we went, got the stamp, and then back to the immigration police before they closed for the day. The (friendly and English speaking) officer took our passports (and the forms), and then said that on a 'transit visa' one doesn't need to register as transit is valid for 5 days only. 'No', we said, we have 'tourist visas'. Turned out that the helpful security guard mentioned above wrote 'transit' (in cyrillic this looks like "транзит") instead of 'tourist' on our arrival cards and now we were faced with a bit of a problem. It is just about impossible to change 'visa class' in KZ (no matter what the actual visa in our passports says, it's that arrival/departure card that counts). So we were now looking at gunning it in 2 days to Almaty to see whether we can get this changed there, and if not, leave the country on day 5........
Not what we'd hoped for.
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