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Published: August 22nd 2013
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We have a nice and easy going flight from Tbilisi to Almaty. During our time on board we can see the Caspian Sea, the long never ending Kysylkum Desert and the remains of the Aral Lake. The distance is around 3000km and the flight only takes three and a half hours. Looking at the map it´s amusing to realize that we have just spent the last five months covering the same distance overland.
Before arriving in Almaty we had found a Couch surfing host Veronica, a friendly Kazakh girl who actually grew up in Mexico, lived the last 10 years in Dubai and has come back to live where she originally comes from. She is living in a very impressive penthouse apartment with a lovely view of the lake, the mountains that surround Almaty and the south of the city.
Almaty is a typical Soviet Union styled city, with a slightly Asian feeling to it, but other than that the city itself doesn’t seem overly exciting. Almaty means “apple” in Kazahk and apparently the first variety of apples were discovered in this region. Maybe our impression of the city is spoiled because of the luxury we receive staying with
Veronica in her very comfy apartment. She is very generous with her space and we are not the only couch surfers there. Our first night we are joined by a Russian couple who have been travelling the length of Kazakhstan and the next few days we are also accompanied by a friendly young German couple and two playful Aussies.
We make a nice day trip into the surrounding mountains with some other couch surfers where we make a little campfire and exchange travel stories. On a trip alone we have a run in with the dubious police we have heard so much about. On reading about Kazakhstan we were warned the police can be rather corrupt. Apparently they frequently try to get money out of you and you are an even greater target if you are a tourist. Some are not even officially policemen but just locals in dress up. After a nice day visiting the national museum of folk instruments we start chatting to two young men sitting in the park who are enjoying a beer, they invite us to join them and we learn they have previously been serving in the army in Kyrgyzstan. After a while
a group of army guys come around and check the two guys ID´s. Only now do we realize it is forbidden to drink in public. We are a bit nervous, knowing it´s only a matter of time before they start investigating us. One of our new friends takes the leader of the army and talks privately with him. After a brief conversation the army officials leave. He tells us he only needed to prove he was in the army to get them off our back. Apparently that’s how it works here, if you have some sort of position of power you can basically do what you please. We quickly finish our beer to avoid any more trouble but stay as we haven’t come across too many Kazakhstani who could speak English and it is a nice conversation. They continue drinking their beer and soon after we encounter the same problem but this time it is not the army that appears, it is four policemen and our friends charming doesn’t work. Two policemen approach us and ask us for our passports. He insists there is something wrong with our visas and that we haven’t properly registered ourselves, which we know, is
a ploy to get money out of us. We insist they are mistaken but they don´t speak any English and our basic Russian doesn’t cover visa issues. He takes our passports and walks off with them. We chase him and call Veronica so she can translate what is going on. He spends around 20 minutes on the phone to her before hanging up; she seems to have convinced him she knows he is messing with us and grumpily he gives our passports back.
After that fiasco we are not as motivated to be active and explore the city so we spend the next few days hanging out with our amazing host and the others surfers eating yummy food and playing games.
Next Kirgizstan.
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