A Chance Encounter and A Tough Decision

2009 08 08 – Day 43 – Almaty

My train didn't leave until after midnight and although I was pretty tired from my hike to Big Almaty Lake I wanted to make best use of the daylight and my limited time in Almaty. I decided to head up Kok Tobe, a popular place to watch the sun go down over the city, accessible by cable car from fairly near the city centre, which suited my energy levels.

On my stroll to the cable car, Dina, a local girl of European descent crossing the same road, struck up conversation. We immediately hit it off and I got a big lift from her energy and enthusiasm, soon forgetting my tired feet as she'd persuaded me that local bus and then by foot was the best way up Kok Tobe, not the overpriced cable car.
We spent the next 4 or 5 hours together chatting each others' ears off, eating ice lollies and other snacks, puzzling over the (unrecognisable as) Beatles statues that grace the top of Kok Tobe and watching the sun go down over Almaty.

As the evening wore on and my departure drew near, we both agreed it was a shame I wasn't here tomorrow when she could show me more of the city. Dina asked why didn't I stay another couple of days? Good question! Why not? Because I have a train booked for tonight was the obvious answer, but of course train tickets can be rearranged... it just depends on how difficult or expensive it is to do so. I hadn't even thought of the possibility. My mind span, trying assess the implications of taking on her suggestion and what that meant for my onward travel to Beijing.... was it as simple as arriving two days later?
Certainly my Kazakh and Chinese visas could accommodate the two days, I wasn't tied to fixed departure or arrival dates, but my trains from Almaty to Urumqi and from Urumqi to Beijing were booked. I wasn't convinced it was possible or my best plan of action, but I was intrigued by the idea because we were having such a good time and, due to my illness, I'd spent less time in Almaty than planned. If it turned out not too complex or costly, then maybe I would stay.

We set off to the station to enquire about changing my ticket to Urumqi. Dina being a native Russian speaker made the enquiries painless and to my extreme surprise there was only a minor charge for changing my ticket until nearly the last minute! Two days later was my only option short of a week as the Urumqi train only runs twice a week. A bit stunned at how easily the first hurdle was overcome, I approached the next: my Urumqi to Beijing train ticket, the Urumqi agent who held it, and my hostel reservation for my first four nights in Beijing – all of which were perhaps best dealt with the next day as it was pretty late by this point but, thanks to the rotation of the Earth, there was still a chance I could get in touch with Sundowners or STA representatives to try gauge how difficult any changes would be. I tried ringing the few numbers I had on my various documents, but late on a Saturday afternoon is not the sort of time you'd expect the office to be full of people fighting to get to the receiver.
No one answered.
By this point, the mental and physical tiredness that Dina had earlier banished, was coming back strong and fairly overwhelmingly – I was struggling to think straight and teetering along the decisions edge – should I stay or should I go? I rang a 24hr (anywhere in the world) STA number but since I didn't really regard my situation as an emergency I didn't get past the automated system to a human being. I tried again, trying to convince myself it was an emergency...... the line rang out! Good luck to those in a real emergency!
I couldn't do it. I'd tried all I could.
Back in the UK, my information was that Chinese long distance trains are booked far in advance and so I had no reason to believe I would be able to change my Urumqi-Beijing train at short notice and was anyway reluctant to give up my original arrival day of Thursday – just in time for the weekend. I was too tired to deal with the possibility of a delay longer than the two days I was contemplating and perhaps having to pay for tickets twice.
I made the decision to go.
Dina and I exchanged emails and hopefully we'll see each other again.
What an evening! What a shame! For the second time already in my travel, fixed plans had become more of a hinderance than a help.

An Evening in Tashkent

2009 07 30 – Day 34 - Tashkent


It seems this is the way to get from one platform to another in this part of the world.
Arriving in Tashkent in the searing heat of early afternoon, I was glad to be met by someone from my hotel, who whisked me away to my air-conditioned room where I was glad to be able to wash, rest and hide from the heat.



The city is more human at dusk. The temperature is comfortable, the air friendly and it doesn't hurt to look at anything brighter than black. Sunlight disappears quickly, but the streetlife continues. Many people are out for dinner, drinks, shopping, a walk in the park. Although there's street lighting, it's not particularly strong and there are plenty of dark corners and shadowy areas – there's every reason for me to feel, uncomfortable and/or vulnerable walking by myself and unable to speak the language. But I don't. There are a couple of times I give some groups a wide berth or become a bit more alert for trouble, but more out of caution than anything else. I don't really feel threatened and it's nice to be able to wander anonymously amongst the locals.


Open air film screening at a nearby hotel.

Later that evening my hotel's driver takes me on a wild-goose chase around the bigger hotels in Tashkent. The big hotels have the only cash machines in town it seems... but none of them work! I feel like I'm in a film as we cruise the near-empty, wide avenues, chilled by his cool jazz radio.

Stepping into the Night

2009 07 27 – Day 31 - Aralsk


As the sun went down on my second day on the train I steeled myself to step out into the night for the second time. This time I was buoyed by the social and fun day I'd had and was a little bit sad to be leaving the community that had developed in our carriage in these two days. As my arrival time approached, I sought advice from my new friends and local experts – Roman & the train guard.

They gave me all the usual warnings anyone gives about unknown or poor areas, particularly at night, which only served to heighten my nervous anticipation. The stop would be a short one, so I'd have to get off quickly. The three of us stood by the door as the rhythmn and pitch of the sounds and shakes said the station was near. Aralsk. Remarkably roughly on time after more than fifty hours from Moscow. It's so dark outside it's hard to imagine there is an 'outside'. Ready to leap off the train, primed by my 'advisors' words of warning and 24 hours waiting, I'm full of adrenaline and feel like a prize fighter about to enter an unknown ring and face and unknown opponent... or a bull, caged and about to be released!... I mime running like crazy and we all laugh.
Before the train has stopped, the guard opens the door and yells for a taxi... three middle-aged men scramble over the first tracks, two sets over from ours, and negotiate a deal.... Roman translates the agreement – 100 Rubles – and urges me to go with the successful bidder. As soon as the train stops I descend and scuttle over the tracks. I'm hesitant, because I'm not sure if someone will be at the station to meet me... there's supposed to be someone, but then I was supposed to arrive 24 hours ago. I glance around as I move and give myself a chance to spot someone looking for me, but no one stood track-side carries the body language I'm looking for and so I duck into the passenger seat of the battered Lada. His catch secured, my driver then wanders off to look for other passengers! His actions are met with vocal disapproval from other drivers and my train guard, so it's not long before he returns to fire up the aged engine and we rattle, shake and bounce out of the station grounds, into the night. The 'main' road is unlit and my driver seems more concerned on quizzing me in Russian and weaving around the numerous potholes than avoiding the oncoming traffic! Fortunately there's not a lot of the latter and we avoid any collisions. Young people appear to be out in numbers at the few cafe-bars scattered down the length of the road.
It doesn't take too long to arrive at the hotel and I leave him validating the Rubles of the fare in his headlights. The initially empty lobby is soon populated by three women of various ages, shapes and sizes, all of whom, it is rapidly apparent, have a limited grasp of English. I present my Sundowners Overland voucher that is supposed to be a kind of booking/payment receipt. It becomes clear that they don't recognise the voucher and they try to sell me a 4000 Tenge room... I protest – I've already paid for one! I need a room, but they don't recognise my receipt/voucher... what to do? We stand off for a little while, neither party budging or with much else to add to the debate mainly due to language incompatibility. One of them gets on the phone, speaks to someone on the other end and then hands me the receiver... I'm greeted by Sirik, the local fixer who had been at the station to meet me last night as he had the same bad information I had. Sirik fills me in on the hotel point of view – I hadn't turned up last night to take my booking, so they'd given away my hot water room and so now they only have cold water rooms available. Add to that the fact that Sundowners have not yet paid them for the room and their position now seems entirely understandable. The next problem is that I don't have any Kazakh currency! This is not for lack of trying on my behalf, but because Kazakh Tenge is not easily available outside the country. I need access to a bank tomorrow and so to secure me a bed for the night all parties agree to Sirik's plan of submitting my passport to the hotel owners until I have money to pay for the room. I'm nervous about my passport being off my person for the first time since my Finnish Rail lapse, but I have to trust them with it, and am led by the granny of the group up unsettlingly angled steps and down darkened corridors to my second floor room - 125 – identifiable only by the fact that she led me to it and my key opens the lock that could fall out at every interaction.

I have two single beds to choose from and after a bounce on each my first pick is relieved of pole position when an alien bug, reminiscent of the X-Files ones that crawl around under peoples skin, scurries over it! I'm unable to hunt it down and kill it, so I convince myself that I'll be safe enough in the other bed. Even at night it's hot, so I'm relieved to see I have a large air conditioning unit in the window and turn it on... some cool air comes out, but it sounds like I'm back on the train! The large noise makes me realise that my antics must be highly visible from outside. There are no street lights and I have big windows... I feel like an exhibit. I retrieve my head torch from my bag and use its light to guide my final maneuvering to bed... an experience that provokes comparative thoughts of The Blair Witch Project... unsettling mental images that are difficult to un-think, so I avoid looking in the corners and hurry to turn off my light. Thirty minutes or so later I trade temperature for silence, turn off the 'train', and try to sleep.

False Arrival

2009 07 26 – Day 30 - Train to Aralsk


Approaching 24 hours on the train and watching the sun go down, I prepared myself mentally for alighting in Aralsk, Kazakhstan. I was due to arrive at 01:10 and so stayed up into the night, when most of my fellow passengers had gone to sleep. 01:10 came and went and the train didn't stop. Maybe the train is late, I reasoned, we'd been travelling over 24 hours now, so that seemed likely enough. At some point I tried to confirm the delay with the train guard in our carriage, but his English and my Russian combined to prevent any useful information passing between us. Around 03:30 we slowed to pull into a station and I scrambled to extract my bag from under my bed, doing my best not to disturb the sleep of my compartment companions. The train guard intercepted me before I could make it to the door and made it clear that I wasn't to get off here! The ensuing rudimentary, place name based, conversation led to the conclusion and mutual understanding that we had in fact arrived at Uralsk, not Aralsk! Looking closely at my itinerary from Sundowners Overland, my ticket (in Russian) and the onboard timetable (also in Russian) and talking to the guard made me realise that I had been trying to step off the train a whole day early! Stumped at this unexpected turn of events, I returned my bag to under my bed and, too mentally awake to immediately go to bed, I stood in the corridor staring out into the night, mulling over the idea of another 24 hours on the train... it wouldn't be so bad if I'd known it was coming, but as it was I had no food and no water for the day to come and though the carriage had a boiler of free hot water, and I could buy supplies at the first station stop of the day, for the first time since leaving home I wasn't looking forward to tomorrow.

Midnight Sun

2009 07 20-21 – Days 24-25 – Rovaniemi

Being the summer on the Arctic Circle, it doesn't really get dark... it does do dusk though.

These were all taken at 23:45

A Good Start!

2009 07 05 - Day 9 - Baltic Sea

As the suns retires for the night we are closing on another ship.
We have passed many today and for the most part the sea is ours alone.
The captain makes a rare announcement:
“Well folks! That was a beautiful start and I love you all!”