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.