Bilderverkauf aller 50 km / Pictures on Sale every 50 km

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Escape from Russia

We stayed in Omsk almost one week while waiting for our Kazakhstan Visa. We made our camp at the river Jertis close to the village НовоОмск. The village is just five years old and most of the people are still building at their houses. That was good for me since I still need to repair a lot and they have a lot of tools. In Omsk I bought a big wooden plate which I wanted to use to make our roof tent more reliable. Actually I was afraid that soon the cracks in the base plate will be too big that we will fall through the tent while sleeping. So I just went in the village and asked around if somebody has an electric saw and a drilling machine. I told my story and very fast I found Иван who had all tools I needed. He is pensioner and was living in the time of the Sowjet Union in Kazakhstan. After the Перестройка he was moving back to Russia since it got more difficult for him to live there. But it seemed that he really missed this country and its people. His son was just visiting to help his father building a floor heating and the heating system for the next cold winter. I got to now also his story and I got my wooden plate cut and drilled as I want to have it. Now the bottom of the tent will survive for sure and I found again some more kind people in Russia. Although we meet so many nice people in Russia we were looking forward to go on to Kazakhstan.

 

Well last time I wrote that we stuck at the border because we overstayed our visa. Since it was Saturday they could not contact Irkutsk immigration. I was trying to speak with the boss of the immigration at the border. First he was sleeping. The other guy just said: "... drink some tea and wait until 3". We waited until 4 and still nothing happened. We got some more tea from the guy who is responsible for the disinfection of the cars which are coming from Kazakhstan and finally he showed me who is the boss. I tried to speak with him in my broken Russian and his answers were long, fast, and not understandable for me. I tried to explain him several times that the Irkutsk immigration said that this papers and the stamp at our immigration card are enough, and that we will not have any problems at the border. Finally he gave up; maybe he was afraid he will have the problem that we will stay at the border two days since we also could not go back to Russia. I was ready to open our roof tent in the border zone and just wait until Monday. After 6 hours we got our stamps and got explained that we can not come back in the next 180 days. (This means actually we have to cross Caspian Sea and we have not a plan/way B anymore we could go if we do not get the entire Visa on this way.) A simple, easy, and friendly hour at Kazakhstan immigration, custom, and insurance let us enter the first country of Central Asia. The first night we just slept at the river Jertis again where we celebrated our successful escape from Russia with a beer (N 53.61687°, E 75.19155 °).

 

Next morning we were driving to the next bigger city Павлодар since the immigration at the border told us we need to register in the next five days otherwise we will get a problem if we leave the country. Well, we were searching for the immigration office just to know it for the next day since it was Sunday. I asked in a Кафе for this office. This Кафе is the place where the story of the following next 3 amazing days starts. In the Кафе they could not give me the answer, but after I left the Кафе a guy was running after me asking where I am coming from ...... and telling me he has a friend which would come by in some minutes. He could show us where the immigration office is, also a русская Баня (since I was asking for it), and he also could show us the mosque where my guide book says it is the biggest one in Kazakhstan. We ate some Плов, had some tea, and after 30 minutes Арман arrived. Арман also like to travel and told us there are many beautiful places in Kazakhstan, showing us pictures in his notebook from his trips. After some while he remembered a place with a русская Баня and he showed us the way. Since we had to wait one hour he showed us in the meanwhile also the mosque and he said now it is number two in Kazakhstan. They build a bigger one in Astana. Back to the русская Баня and cleaning us from the dirt of the last week. It seemed that in that time Арман prepared everything for us as guests in his house. After we left the Баня he was there and we were quite surprised about this invitation since we just know him some hours. A friend’s daughter came with him who could speak a quite good German and the next 3 days with the experience of an amazing hospitality of the Kazakh people were starting. For now just the topic of the next Post (maybe tommorow (:)): Experiencing Nomadic Live, Culture, and Hospitality during an Off-road trip through the step of Kazakhstan around Баянаул.   

 

  

 

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