Speed: 0 MPH
Status: Day off
We always seem to get to large cities in the dark which makes finding a hotel interesting! In our usual manner we rolled into Tashkent, Uzbekistan after a few days in Bukhara at night.
As we drove down the road we asked a few taxis whom seem disinterested in what we wanted. Eventually we caught the attention of someone at traffic lights and they offered to take us to a good hotel. We followed the car until it stopped, the driver got out and ran across the road for directions (even she was lost!) this caused a car to skid and nearly hit her! She got back in and two minutes later we pulled into a hotel car park. We thanked the friendly local and started negotiations for rooms. It was 02:30 and we all went to sleep.
In the morning we talked about routes over breakfast. The decision was made to skip Kyrgyzstan as the border was going to a long wait and we'd only be in the country for a day and a half so it seemed better use of time to get into Kazakhstan and Russia earlier than planned.
Decision made we spent three nights in Tashkent, relaxing and taking car of some minor mechanical bits. There was even time to go to the local Aqua-Park which consisted of a few flumes and a wav pool. It was right next to Tashkent Land which was an ex-Soviet theme park, we didn't go but it looked fun!
Leaving Tashkent with fond memories of the hotel staff who looked after us well. We aimed for the border which was just outside Tashkent only to be told we couldn't cross as it was a "local only" border. We had to drive all the way back on ourselves by two hours to a place called Chinoz. Arriving around 15:00 we passed though the Uzbek side of the border after dishing out a t shirt to a fat policeman who wouldn't let us though then onto the Kazak side – let the bribes begin! First up the gate guard wanted a ball, we gave him a tennis ball; then he saw our football – we refused to give it to him which didn't impress him but there are limits.
As we drove up to the next gate we were told to go into the office. As usual we had to stand at various windows with all our paperwork, stamping and signing forms which were all written in Cyrillic. The Ambulance is in my name so I had to go though as the driver whilst Stu and Russ crossed as foot passengers.
Whilst Stu and Russ did their thing I walked back out of the main border gate to get the ambulance though. The guard looked at the paperwork and simply said "Dollar" which I replied "No Dollar". We sat there for five minutes; I ignored him for a time then approached him again and got the same response. This went on for twenty minutes until I took my t shirt off and handed it to him saying "Take the shirt off my back, it's all I have" – he didn't seem to understand but the gesture worked and the gate opened!
As we moved though to the customs check, border guards were surrounding the ambulance all shouting dollar. One of them even wrote $100 in maker pen on the side of the ambulance. Stu tricked one into pressing the siren on the ambulance which seemed to clear them all away. They try to wear you down so you just pay to get moving but we've got patience.
Next up it was customs check. Two dogs and a guy in camouflage clothing introduced himself, he made a point of saying "No Dollar for me" – we didn't believe him. Sure enough after fifteen minutes he said he wanted to search everything; tanks, roof rack the lot. However we could avoid it if we paid him $20; we haggled for a while settling on $10 and passed though into Kazakhstan.
So the current bribe count stands at:
€30 - Iran
$10 - Kazak
1 x T Shirt - Uzbek
1 x Tennis ball - Kazak
We still have a cricket set and as a last resort a football to go!
Within an hour of being in Kazakhstan we were stopped by a police man. I got out, Russ stayed put and Stu went to lend a hand with another team who had given all their paperwork to the police man! He saw me into a shed where there were two rather large chaps. I was then told I had run a stop sign and therefore had to pay "dollar" – see the pattern? They wanted our documents; I refused to give them over and went outside.
I walked to the supposed sign; there was indeed a stop sign. Standing by the side of the road I waited for a car to pass – it failed to stop; great I thought. So rather loudly I started shouting "No stop" at every single vehicle that didn't stop. With Stu shouting "No dollar" at them and my shouting "No stop" at passers by they got bored of us after half an hour and let us go. Lesson learned we now stop at every stop sign!
We kept thundering north until we hit a town. We needed Kazak Tenge to buy diesel, we drove around for a while until we spotted a shop with an ATM outside. We got cash and went shopping for supplies. After bread, milk and snacks we found outselves looking at an array of vodka. Not having a clue we went on cost until a English speaking man introduced himself. He asked us what sort of vodka we wanted, we explained and he selected two bottles and said "A gift from me" – result! It turned out the man was the shop owner and after we racked up our shopping a third bottle of vodka had been given to us. We asked directions and he offered to drive us out of town to the main road to Lake Balkash. We drove out, towing another rally car until we stopped at a coffee shop/restaurant he wound his window down and said "This is my shop, do you want to stop for lunch" we accepted and went in.
Plates and plates of food arrived we gorged for an hour and talked about all sorts of things from football to Kazak politics. The man (Alex) said he was visiting London so we offered to return the favour when he comes to London.
We hit the road until sun set when we found a field for the night, driving off the road for five minutes. I pitched my tent whilst Stu and Russ opted for the comfort of the ambulance. We ate dinner, solar showered had a beer and broke out the Vodka! After a few we decided we'd drive none stop to the Russian border, all 1200km! We woke up at 05:30 and hot the road for 07:00.
Around lunch time we stopped arrived at Lake Balkash, had a swim and got some photos of the ambulance by the lake. We took advantage of the water to have a wash too, it was nice to be clean!
The road got bad that evening, very very bad. They went from dirt track to asphalt with two foot pot holes; it was horrendous. We snapped one of the front coil springs on the ambulance so now our suspension is a little softer! We couldn't get any photos as it was pitch dark. At one stage we were diverted off the main "road" to a dirt track which we had to drive for 60km, not pleasant.
We arrived at the Russian border where we stayed for eight hours being processed. It was the usual thing of stamps, paperwork and money although this one was mildly different. All paperwork done we had to wait for one man to sign some forms. He didn't like me so I sat on a chair for nearly two hours whilst he drank tea and dealt with Russians.
Though the border we kept on driving and driving until after a total of 50 hours driving we found ourselves in Barnaul, Russia where we are now. We met a team here who are flying home, their 4x4 is a wreck. So we're pillaging everything we can from their car!
We spend some of today walking around Barnaul. We visited a small amusement park where we went on the "Barnaul Eye" a small Ferris wheel that offered some vaguely good views of the town. Then we went out for a meal with some other teams, ordering food was interesting. Fortunately the waitress managed to find an English speaker amongst diners so we managed to order food!
Tomorrow we'll be departing for the Altai Mountains and onto Mongolia; aiming to hit the border Thursday or Friday.
Finally we've uploaded new photos, but they are no longer in chronological order for some reason. Given we've got very poor Internet connectivity we wont fix it until we get back to England when we'll revamp the site and post video, photos and lots of other bits about our adventure.
So this may well be our last blog until we arrive in Ulan Bator!
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