Almaty, Kazakhstan.... Brrrrrrr
Trip Start
Nov 01, 2007
1
25
48
Trip End
Ongoing
Almaty,
Kazakhstan
Thursday, December 20, 2007
I'm bumming a ride with these three guys, Ross, Jon & Jim. They said they usually don't pick up bears, but they'd make an exception since I was from the States and all. I have a feeling this is going to be an interesting part of my trip. Even cooler, they promised to take me on to Paris, oo-la-la! The catch was that first we'd have to make a 24 hour stop in this place called Kazakhstan. They didn't look too thrilled about Kazakhstan.
I knew I was going to be glad I had fur when I saw the mountains as we were flying into Almaty - really tall and there was snow on the tops. As we got closer to Almaty, there was snow on the ground as far I as I could see! The guy on the MD-11's radio said it was -4 degrees Celsius at the airport. That's 25 degrees to you and me. You know what? Everything they use to measure here is different. Celsius, kilometers, liters... yikes! I can't understand any of the writing either - not the same letters. The money here is something called a "tenge". Who knows how it's pronounced. I do know it takes 120 tenge to make 1 US dollar though. Man, am I glad the guys haven't asked me to pay for anything. I could never figure this stuff out, besides, I don't have any money. How many tenge does a jar of honey cost anyway?
We land, there's snow all over the place and steam was coming out the mouths of the guys who are waiting for the airplane.
Mountains
Looked pretty cold. I asked if I could just stay in the plane, no dice...We went down the stairs (I got a lift, actually) and were just hanging around for a little while waiting for the crew bus to pick us up. First, I just sat on the luggage, kicking back. Jon snapped a photo. You can see the snow on the ground and a few other airplanes. I got bored and wanted to get out of the wind so I went and sat in the right engine nacelle. It got me out of the wind. Since it wasn't running, I wasn't worried about getting sucked in or anything. Then these two Kazak guys driving the fuel truck took me for a ride. The guy holding me is named Alexyev or something like that. His friend's is named Alexyev's Friend. You can see their fuel truck and a plane from Germany in the background. Hmmm, maybe I can catch a ride to Germany...
The van came and took us to "Customs & Immigration". It's always the first place you stop in a new country. There was talk of passports and since I don't have one, I dove into a backpack. One of the agents peeked into the bag and I thought I was going to have some explaining to do, but I held my breath and just stared off into the distance and somehow he missed me. Man, that was close.
Outside the terminal we had to wait, again, for the crew van. I tried to take a cab, but I couldn't understand the cab driver and besides, I didn't know where I was going. I decided to stick with the guys and take the van. I don't think they noticed.
It was kind of a long ride to the hotel. I fell off the seat twice so they wedged my backpack between two seat backs and I hung out there until we got to the hotel. I imagine it was like being in a parachute. At least my butt wasn't sore from sitting around.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. On the way to the hotel, I saw people on the side of the road just flagging downs cars and zooming off with the ones that picked them up. The cars weren't cabs so I asked what the story was. It seems everyone and anyone can be a cab driver. If you've got a car and want to make a little extra money, or tenge I guess, you just stop when you see someone flagging you down, agree on a price and take them where they want to go. It kind of sounds dangerous to me, but that's the way they do things here and I guess different doesn't always mean dangerous...
Okay gang, we're at the hotel. I'm going to hit the gym and grab a quick nap before we head out tonight for dinner. Honey and maybe some fish, I hope. We're going to the SoHo Club, whatever that is. I hope I can find an ATM...
