Halfway!! About a week of Kazakhstan.
Door: Gerben
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Gerben
11 Augustus 2009 | Kazachstan, Astana
Hello! a short update this time (as always...), as my time is a bit limited here.
I've arrived in Astana now, the capital of Kazakhstan. It's been well over 8000km of hitchhiking now, which means I'm also over halfway the distance to Xiamen now!! That's the good news. The bad news is that time is becoming an issue, as I would still like to go hiking in the celestial mountains in Kyrgyzstan. That's why I've decided to take the train for some stretches from now on. Tonight, the first one should be leaving Astana to take me to Almaty, the old capital in the south, from where I will travel on towards Kyrgyzstan and China.
My route has been: Baku, Aqtau, Beineu, Atyrau, Uralsk, Aktjubinsk, Kustanay, Astana.
So how did I end up in Astana? I didn't plan on going here, did I? No I didn't. It's a long story, which I will try to keep short...
In Baku, I managed to get my visa for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan both very easily and for a good price before taking the boat across the Caspian Sea. I had to wait for about 4 days before the boat finally left. As I told you before, this boat has a very irradic schedule, as it is a freight ship and comes into the harbor whenever there are goods for it to take to Kazakhstan. Nonetheless, the boat turned out to be reasonably comfortable still. I had given the lady selling the tickets a little bit extra money because I thought she was very helpful and her salary would probably not exceed a hundred dollars per month. This paid of really well, as she gave me one of the best huts on the boat! That didn't mean that the beds weren't filthy and that there weren't any bugs in the bathroom, but it was quiet and very spatious.
I was on the boat with a large group of people participating in what is called the 'Mongol Rally', a car race for charity, where you find a crappy, small and run down car and drive it to Mongolia. You could be exempted for the crappy-criterion if you were original though. My plan had initially been to try and find a freight train to get across Kazakhstan, but these people were going my way for a very long time as well, and it was not hard at all to find people to take me, as everyone was rather interested in this strange guy who was doing a similar trip to theirs, without a car! Actually, the two guys that ended up having enough space to take a hitchhiker were driving a car in which it would be quite an achievement not to have space. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, for the past week, I have been driven and driving through Kazakhstan in a LIMOSINE!! And not just any limosine, these guys had converted it into Batman's Batmobile! (pictures will follow)
A whole bunch of adventures followed, as we drove roughly 3000km together. We got a flat tire in the desert, lost half of our convoy there, got stuck in the desert again trying to get on a side road where a bump was to high, broke the back window of one of the other cars, drove without brakes for a while, had highway dance parties, had a competition in camel-slapping, lost several parts of the car while driving through potholes in the road, and of course I was the star in every town we came through, sitting in the back of the Batlimo, waving at all the people staring and the children running with us. I even got to drive the Batlimo at some point, and I also drove one of the other rally-cars, that of team Rubik's Crew, who also taught me how to solve the Rubik's cube! Driving their car was a bit strange, as they had bought it in the UK and the steering wheel was on the right, and the gear shifting had to be done on the left.
To summarize it, I think this was one of the most unique experiences that I could have had, and as Noel, a cyclist that I met in Baku and shared the cabin on the boat with, put it: "this is never going to happen to anybody, ever again!".
I could tell you much more, but I don't have the time for it now. I guess that leaves some stories to be told when I get back. I will post pictures as soon as I have the chance! Next post will probably be from Kyrgyzstan, see you!!
I've arrived in Astana now, the capital of Kazakhstan. It's been well over 8000km of hitchhiking now, which means I'm also over halfway the distance to Xiamen now!! That's the good news. The bad news is that time is becoming an issue, as I would still like to go hiking in the celestial mountains in Kyrgyzstan. That's why I've decided to take the train for some stretches from now on. Tonight, the first one should be leaving Astana to take me to Almaty, the old capital in the south, from where I will travel on towards Kyrgyzstan and China.
My route has been: Baku, Aqtau, Beineu, Atyrau, Uralsk, Aktjubinsk, Kustanay, Astana.
So how did I end up in Astana? I didn't plan on going here, did I? No I didn't. It's a long story, which I will try to keep short...
In Baku, I managed to get my visa for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan both very easily and for a good price before taking the boat across the Caspian Sea. I had to wait for about 4 days before the boat finally left. As I told you before, this boat has a very irradic schedule, as it is a freight ship and comes into the harbor whenever there are goods for it to take to Kazakhstan. Nonetheless, the boat turned out to be reasonably comfortable still. I had given the lady selling the tickets a little bit extra money because I thought she was very helpful and her salary would probably not exceed a hundred dollars per month. This paid of really well, as she gave me one of the best huts on the boat! That didn't mean that the beds weren't filthy and that there weren't any bugs in the bathroom, but it was quiet and very spatious.
I was on the boat with a large group of people participating in what is called the 'Mongol Rally', a car race for charity, where you find a crappy, small and run down car and drive it to Mongolia. You could be exempted for the crappy-criterion if you were original though. My plan had initially been to try and find a freight train to get across Kazakhstan, but these people were going my way for a very long time as well, and it was not hard at all to find people to take me, as everyone was rather interested in this strange guy who was doing a similar trip to theirs, without a car! Actually, the two guys that ended up having enough space to take a hitchhiker were driving a car in which it would be quite an achievement not to have space. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, for the past week, I have been driven and driving through Kazakhstan in a LIMOSINE!! And not just any limosine, these guys had converted it into Batman's Batmobile! (pictures will follow)
A whole bunch of adventures followed, as we drove roughly 3000km together. We got a flat tire in the desert, lost half of our convoy there, got stuck in the desert again trying to get on a side road where a bump was to high, broke the back window of one of the other cars, drove without brakes for a while, had highway dance parties, had a competition in camel-slapping, lost several parts of the car while driving through potholes in the road, and of course I was the star in every town we came through, sitting in the back of the Batlimo, waving at all the people staring and the children running with us. I even got to drive the Batlimo at some point, and I also drove one of the other rally-cars, that of team Rubik's Crew, who also taught me how to solve the Rubik's cube! Driving their car was a bit strange, as they had bought it in the UK and the steering wheel was on the right, and the gear shifting had to be done on the left.
To summarize it, I think this was one of the most unique experiences that I could have had, and as Noel, a cyclist that I met in Baku and shared the cabin on the boat with, put it: "this is never going to happen to anybody, ever again!".
I could tell you much more, but I don't have the time for it now. I guess that leaves some stories to be told when I get back. I will post pictures as soon as I have the chance! Next post will probably be from Kyrgyzstan, see you!!
-
11 Augustus 2009 - 11:41
Gert:
I say: Very good busy Gerben! -
11 Augustus 2009 - 11:48
Cecilia:
Hahahahaahahhahahaha, my co-workers at the Council of Europe just witnessed me crack up big time. Batmobile... seriously! -
11 Augustus 2009 - 15:24
Celine:
I'm not surprised. A superhero has to move in a proper vehicle ;-)
But I agree, this won't happen to anyone ever again. Too bad though! -
11 Augustus 2009 - 16:42
Oma Riet:
Je moet er een boek over schrijven, Gerben.!!! Alvast gefeliciteerd met je vader .goede reis verder oma. -
11 Augustus 2009 - 18:47
Annika:
Liife iis so beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! -
11 Augustus 2009 - 19:55
Pap:
heerlijk om vandaag even met je te chatten. Ik ben zo ongelofelijk jaloers aan het worden op die prachtige avonturen van je, maar het is je van harte gegund. Morgen ga ik op de afdeling weer even pochen met je foto's en verhaal. -
11 Augustus 2009 - 20:25
LJ:
I recently bought this hilarious Borat book titled "Touristic Guidings to Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" and I must say that your text reads just like it.
Mhaw. -
12 Augustus 2009 - 08:04
Anne:
Mooie dingen allemaal:) tot in china! En thanks voor het vouchen btw:) x -
14 Augustus 2009 - 09:53
Ferry:
Good to know that I met this brand new superstar before he became so popular. Our meeting on the boat with Baku's cityscape as view was short, but encouraged me to read this. Exciting trip so far!
Ferry -
21 Augustus 2009 - 06:41
Esther:
wow..... -
26 Augustus 2009 - 22:46
Joris:
Wow Gerben, this is absolutely fantastic. As a lower hitchhiker (with ambition) I can only say that this is far beyond what I could have ever imagined anyone experiencing, it reads like a fairy tale. I haven´t read the long follow-up yet, but I´m really looking forward to that now. As John Travolta said in this really bad film I saw a few days ago: you are my hero.
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
