Aralsk

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We pulled into Aralsk under the cloak of darkness, disembarked the train, took a taxi to the only hotel in town and fell asleep immediately.

We woke up about 14:00 and were slightly confused as to our whereabouts. I could remember falling asleep on the train but our disembarkation and getting to the hotel all seemed like a distant memory. I got up and went down to the reception to ask where the showers were. Having spent 2 days sweating on a train we were both ready for a good wash. "Douscha Niet" came the reply from the receptionist. Hmmm. Oh well. we dressed and headed down to Aral Tenizi, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) who we were told can organise trips to the Aral Sea.

The Aral first caught my attention while I was studying A-Level Geography (See Mrs G, I was listening!) A first class case study of how humans can completely destroy what mother nature has provided us with. During the Soviet era in Kazakhstan, Moscow decided to increase cotton production in the southern Kazakh teritorries and cotton needs a lot of water. Hence the solution was to drain water from the sources which fill the Aral. As a result of this mass-irrigation scheme, the Aral, once the world's 4th largest lake, began to dry up, completely destroying the fishing communities which survived on its produce. Aralsk, once a port on the sea front is now 35km from where the sea is now situated. However, measures are being taken although they are somewhat controversial. The sea has now split into two bodies of water, the Big Aral and the Small Aral. A new damn has been errected between the two and the water is being drained out of the larger lake into the smaller one. This will keep the smaller Aral, which still produces some fish alive, although at the same time it has condemned the larger Aral.

In the evening, we took a stroll nito what used to be the port. You can walk right out over the salt-crystalised sand which is littered with old sea shells and empty beer cans and contains a number of rusting ship hulks, now stranded by the sea which has long since departed. Walking out into the port gave me a real sense of devastion. A sense that something has died here or more appropriately has been murdered - and indeed it has. It is the same feeling you get while walking through a cemetary or a concentration camp or the killing field in Cambodia. How can man do this to both other men and to the earth? It defies my belief. On our way back to the hotel, we were followed by a group of about 8 young girls who nervously approached us and asked if they could take our photo. It seems the whole town had already heard about the presence of these two white skinned strangers.

Our second day in Aralsk started very early by our standards. We were collected by a volunteer and driver from the NGO at 7:00am and we drove for 4 hours to the damn which separates the two halves of the Aral Sea. The road for the most part is just dirt and very bumpy. We passed the occasional cammel and herd of cows but for the most part, all there was to see was the horizon in every direction with vast grassy plains separating us from it. We finally arrived at the damn just after 11:00am and I was immediately shocked by how small it was. This is the solution to the devastation we have already witnessed? Perched on the edge of the damn were a number of fishermen who were catching the flounder attempting to swin upstream and were getting stopped by the damn. There's life in the old Aral yet! They showed us their catch and let us try our luck with their fishing nets. We both managed to catch something in relatively quick time and were lauded with praise by our Kazakh audience who invited us back to their home for a banquet. Unfortunately, we had to get back to Aralsk.

4 Hours later and we bumped our way back to town to buy our train tickets for the evening train to Almaty. The train was already full and so we were resigned to taking the bus. The journey would have to be completed in a number of legs, first to Turkistan, then to Shymkent and finally to Almaty. We literally had ten minutes to dash to the hotel and grab our bags before catching the bus. The first leg was to Turkistan, about half way to Almaty. Around sunset, we stopped at some kind of Kazakh religious monument, where we were shepherded off teh bus by our fellow passengers and made to go and look. It was basically a large swimming pool and a small concrete hut with a birds nest in its' roof. I don't know what the significance was but the Kazakhs seemed very excited by this and by the fact taht we were on their bus. Our second stop was for dinner and were invited to sit at the men's table with the bus drivers. We were served up a bowl of fatty mutton and potatoes which was very tasty although I cannot quite say which part of the sheep I was eating. We set off again and almost immediately, something in my guts began to disagree with me. I managed to contain it for about 10 minutes and then told Adam to go and tell the bus driver to stop immediately or someone would have to clean the bus! To be honest I felt a greater sense of relief than humilation and although Adam took great delight in my misfortune, I was proud of myself.

We finally arrived into Turkistan at 5:00am (without having made any further emergency stops) and after letting off all the other passengers, the driver dropped us at the minibus station, from where we took a minibus to Shymkent. Having not really slept on the bus the previous night, we both began to nod off and the small Kazakh girl sandwiched between us showed her displeasure at our bobbing heads by nudging us in the ribs. Fair enough I suppose.

After 2 hours on a minibus and a 7 hour wait in Shymkent, we boarded yet another bus, this one headed for Almaty. The journey seemed to take forever and a day and this time, when we stopped for food, I was slightly more cautious so as not to repeat my exploits of the previous night.

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Photos

In Aralsk harbour
In Aralsk harbour

Stranded Ships, Aralsk harbour
Stranded Ships, Aralsk harbour

Stranded Ships, Aralsk harbour
Stranded Ships, Aralsk harbour

Stranded Ships, Aralsk harbour
Stranded Ships, Aralsk harbour

There's life in the old Aral yet!
Fisherman at the Aral Damn

There's life in the old Aral yet!
Adam unloads his catch

Comments

[Gemma]

hey joel! loving the blogs still - it's incredible hearing about all the things you've seen and got up to. The Kazahk police sounded like the ones you see in films where there blinds in the room and a fan cuz its so sweaty in the room!! the journal would make a good book i think!! keep enjoying yourselves and hope to hear from you soon xxx p.s big brother is strange! you got some guy with tourettes, a porn star, and a girl with a wonky eye and accentuates everything with a very wide mouth!! PETE TO WIN!!!