Some food and beers to get me through

The same Kazakh taxi driver that whisked me to my hotel after my flight from Tashkent a week ago was already waiting to catch my money at the gate exit. After all is was money well spend due to a good price/quality relation (a BMW 525i). My return to Almaty, was almost as coming home; its grid structure and straight streets, friendly atmosphere, fully packed public busses and comfortable climate proved me well. From here I would plan daytrips to Korday (Kirgizistan border) and Chorgos (Chinese border), as well as interviews with e.g. a carrier association, a freight forwarders association and a research institute in transport.

The first taxi drive to the Kirgiz border leaded to my first collision with Kazakh police. As a brave, tall Dutchman, no one would stop me from the digitalisation of the current border cross facilities on the Kirgiz-Kazakh border… except the customs officers. Apparently, a photo shoot of the border was forbidden leading to a 5000T (€30) bribe, and the deletion of all made pictures with even the smallest indication of what probably could be a border crossing. From out of the taxi, that would bring me back to Almaty, I was able to get a last gleam of what I was here for; one single picture of the border cross as a result.

However the trip to Korday consisted not only of negative experiences. Surprisingly enough I was able to get my driver-questionnaire answered by a truck driver originated from Lithuania. The next day I planned to travel to Zharkent near the Chinese border, and try to catch a cap there that could bring me to the real Chinese-Kazakh border cross. The six hour drive took me along steep road sections, a local market, a remote restaurant accompanied by a fuel station and above all long straight trajectories through the savannah. The more near I reached to Chinese-Kazakh border, the more left and abandoned trailers and containers, also Dutch ones, could be observed. It seemed that not all overland export to China was accepted as hospitable as you would expect from the Chinese.

Arriving in Zharkent was as entering the beginning of the end of the world. This remote village 40 kilometres from the upcoming industrial superstar China drained noting but loneliness. A taxi was not easy to catch because no single internet connection could be found and no English dictionary had reached its way to this town, isolation from the English speaking world as a result. However a friendly, energetic and married boy of 23 was willing to bring me as near as possible towards the highly protected border. It seems that no less then three checkpoints where installed starting 5 kilometres before the physic border.

With a speed over 130 km/h we drove to Chorgos, the border town and main road transportation hub between Kazakhstan and China. After 20 minutes, a long queue of trucks is what I found at the first check point were, surprisingly enough, we were stopped by police. From the taxi driver I understood that the border was temporary closed, later that week I heard from a transportation expert that the Chinese government had closed the border for two weeks because of holiday (?). Every single truck driver had hidden itself from daylight, probably waiting for preceding procedures, or returning home disillusioned. Unfortunately the bus that would bring me back to the, hopefully still existing world should depart 8 hours later, leaving me with the option of sightseeing in a city with no sights. Some food and beers were able to get me through.

The bizarre, daily amount of 32 presentations

Astana, since ten years, is Kazakhstan’s capitol and in this period it evolved into a fancy, futuristic, fantasy capitol, accommodating all governmental institutions and ministries. On the 24th and 25th of September a conference was planned, named Transeurasia-2008, held in the Rixos president hotel. Most Transport and Communication Ministers from the Eurasian continent where present, Holland was represented by Klaas van der Tempel, the Dutch ambassador in Kazakhstan.

Day One was entirely planned with a bizarre amount of 32 presentations varying from boring speeches from ministers to enthusiastic stories given by presidents of major transportation firms; while behind the scene, bilateral meetings were held between different governments and institutions aiming on improvement of the overall transportation system on the Eurasian continent.

After two days of listening and networking, my maximum intake capacity was reached. The difference from the conference in Tashkent was the level of detail and the both political and commercial approach; many participating governments were present just to make a statement, others, mostly commercial carriers, just to make some money with fancy foreign investment plans. The final result was the acceptance of a TRANSEURASIA-2008 resolution. My results were formed by the acquiring of some interesting presentations and informal talks with people in the field, which could further help me with information concerning my research. On the 26th of September it was time to go back to Almaty, by plane this time; in less then 2 hours.

Folded up in a too small van with locals who couldn’t afford a plane ticket

Arriving in Almaty, Kazakhstan I received a similar treat: Angry looking customs officers, a long queue and even longer waiting times and an enormous supply potential of taxi drivers, willing to drive you from the airport to the city centre, asking height prices. In former USSR days, Almaty was the Kazakh capitol. Since ten years it is followed up by Astana; however Almaty still remains the commercial, cultural and financial centre of Kazakhstan. Therefore Almaty would be the best Kazakh hub for the coming period, especially because the city is located in the South East, near the Chinese and Kirgizstan border.



After a meeting and diner with my colleague and supervisor René Meeuws, where project progress was discussed, I could start to plan the further purpose of my stay. But off course also time had to be spend on touristic sightseeing, therefore I visited a museum with old Soviet musical instrument, a World War II monument and the Kök töbe cable car carrying passengers uphill presenting them a nice city panorama.

On Friday evening, 10pm, the night bus would transport me in a 15 hour trip, thousand kilometres southward to Karaganda, an industrial coal town located in the middle of the country. Karaganda would be my one-day-stopover on my route to Astana. During the trip I was able to get some insight in the road conditions, the insensitivity of road transport on this trajectory and state of on-route facilities. Part of my field research aims on visualizing the current infrastructural conditions and external influences on international trade in this region e.g. border cross situation and governmental policy. Travelling parts of the corridors’ trajectories is the simplest way to do so. Consequently I found myself folded up in too small vans with locals that were not able to afford a plane ticket.

De dingen die je nog niet over vodka wist (of wel via Chris Zegers)

Ik val de afgelopen dagen van de ene in de andere verbazing, een kleine bloemlezing:

wist je dat...

...er in Oezbekistan standaard bij elke maaltijd vodka op tafel komt, of het nu ontbijt, lunch of diner betreft.

...lege en half lege glazen niet worden gedoogd en een half glaasje vodka binnen 2 sec. weer tot de nok vol wordt geschonken.

...vodka nippen voor mietjes, kneuzen, varkens en wijven is, doe je dat wel kan je het vergeten aan de business table.

...de derde toast standaard voor zhe beautiefoel leedies is, hoe lelijk ze ook zijn.

...een shotje vodka voor en na het eten uitstekend helpt tegen buikgriep, diaree en ander van dat soort zaken.

...je van een overdosis vodka, dan wel geen buikgriep, maar wel degelijk hoofdpijn krijgt.

...dat tijdens de lunch of diner, elke speech (tot nu toe waren 8 speeches geen uitzondering) met een adje vodka gepaard gaat; die uiteraard tzill zhe bottom moet.

Do taxi’s actually exist out here?

Tashkent. When I started to arrange this project, a few months ago, I even couldn’t point the country of Uzbekistan on a map of the world, no way I knew its capitol by heart. Arriving here in the middle of the night (3 am.), to me had something strange, unpredictable and adventurous. What are the people like, how will they react to a meeting with a redhead from Holland? What will the temperature be, and what about smell of Tashkent’s inner city? Will my visa be accepted? Do they speak English? What about taxi’s to bring my ass to my hotel, do taxis actually exist out here in the savannah? Regardless my expectations; a VIP treatment was present to escort me through the border cross procedures, to my hotel, trough the check in, of Hotel Intercontinental, and finally it provided me with fresh fruit and drinks, brought by the room service as a present: and why not!

The purpose of my visit to Tashkent, Uzbekistan was the International conference on
development of road transport haulage between Europe and Asia. On this conference,
governmental leaders, captains of industry and research institutions like NEA, would introduce the departure of the first full truck load caravan from Tashkent to several destinations in Europe, varying from Istanbul (Turkey) to Riga (Latvia). NEA’s contribution to this project would be the execution of a comprehensive monitoring study on the caravans, based on information truck drivers provide trough a logbook, filled in during the trip. I had the honour to present my vision towards Eurasian road transport and NEA’s research approach during the project lifetime.



After a few days I recognized a typical habit of the Uzbek people or maybe the Soviet population in general: drinking lots of vodka. During the conference, extensive diners and lunches were provided and during these, the vodka glass was constantly refilled by a friendly waiter, who does not seem to understand the expression ‘I’m satisfied, thank you’. The fact that Uzbek’s main passion is speech-ing and as a fact, a speech is always assisted with a toast, the results was a total of eight ad fundum vodka shots during a one and a half hour business lunch.

After a full day of listening to Uzbek spoken presentations, finally the moment was there to start the engines and depart from Tashkent to several destinations in the far west. In total, about fifteen trucks from six carriers participated in this project named NELTI, New Eurasian Land Transport Initiative. The departure formed the culminating closure of the conference where trade across the Eurasian continent has been taken to another dimension!