I got to Kazakhstan on an overnight bus ride from Urumqi on the 10th May, stayed in Almaty for a couple of days as I tried to get hold of a train ticket then took the 3 day train to Aktau. The train ride passed relatively quickly with the people on board friendly enough and getting food for me from the vendors when the train stopped.
It wasn't very accessible but I had a lower bunk and the toilet was about 10m away so it didn't take very long even though I was on the floor. The thing I was relieved about was that it was a western toilet on the train and not the typical eastern hole in the floor as I knew that would get messy.
We passed through the mountainous landscapes of Almaty before the desert-like stretches where camels were getting herded by a man on a donkey. It got hot on the second day of train travel and all I did was sleep, after leaving the step (desert place) on the third day I was feeling like the majority of the travel was over with 2 of 3 nights having passed.
My stay in Aktau was a lot shorter than I anticipated and in down to my friend Artur. This guy is something else. I couldn't find the Azeri consulate and deciding to take a break I went into a cafe to ask directions, Artur heard and offered to drive me. When we got to the consulate it was closed for lunch, he had free time so he said we could hang out and we'd go to the consulate when it opened.
To cut a long story short in the space of 5 hours I went from not being able to find the consulate to being sat in the waiting room for the ferry and it was all thanks to help from Artur.
It was a long wait (24 hours) before I left Aktau but after a night of drinking vodka with the crew I've made it to Baku and into country number 10. Not long left now.
It wasn't very accessible but I had a lower bunk and the toilet was about 10m away so it didn't take very long even though I was on the floor. The thing I was relieved about was that it was a western toilet on the train and not the typical eastern hole in the floor as I knew that would get messy.
We passed through the mountainous landscapes of Almaty before the desert-like stretches where camels were getting herded by a man on a donkey. It got hot on the second day of train travel and all I did was sleep, after leaving the step (desert place) on the third day I was feeling like the majority of the travel was over with 2 of 3 nights having passed.
My stay in Aktau was a lot shorter than I anticipated and in down to my friend Artur. This guy is something else. I couldn't find the Azeri consulate and deciding to take a break I went into a cafe to ask directions, Artur heard and offered to drive me. When we got to the consulate it was closed for lunch, he had free time so he said we could hang out and we'd go to the consulate when it opened.
To cut a long story short in the space of 5 hours I went from not being able to find the consulate to being sat in the waiting room for the ferry and it was all thanks to help from Artur.
It was a long wait (24 hours) before I left Aktau but after a night of drinking vodka with the crew I've made it to Baku and into country number 10. Not long left now.
Errk... I started to conjour up a scene of the hole in the ground toilet... I'm not sure I need that picture of you in my mind :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how many people, like Artur, are that you find when travelling. It's like the good side really shines.