Stepping into Kazakhstan

Apologies for not posting for a while. I'll try to share some photos and stories from Dubai, Iran, and Kyrgyzstan soon. 

Since I was on the wrong side of the bus to get any decent photos of the amazing scenery as I crossed the border, this awkward haiku will have to do:

First glimpse of the steppe
Horses grazing cross the road
Snow-capped peaks rising

Below are details on what it's like crossing a land border in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan to Kazakhstan is probably one of the simpler ones I'll cross, with no obvious signs of corruption.

Though the border was confusing, it wasn't all that different from other land borders I've crossed, even the US/Mexico border. I'm pretty sure I was the only non-CIS (former Soviet) person crossing. Since I couldn't really read the signs (I can sound out the Cyrillic, but unless they borrowed an English word, I'm screwed), I followed the locals and trusted that someone would point me in the right direction if I needed to do something different. The only English I saw was Green Line and Red Line over entrances to separate covered, fenced walkways to the border. I assumed Green is the usual customs "nothing to declare" line.

We all got off the bus with our luggage, and crossed on foot. I follow the guy i sat next to on the bus so I don't get lost. First you have to exit Kyrgyzstan, and after checking my passport and saying "American?!" he says "Stamp!" and points to a side door. Clearly I need an exit stamp in my passport, unlike the locals.

I open the door, and there's a border guard at a computer, dealing with people crossing the other directing. He takes my passport and yells "Out!!" Clearly I'm not supposed to be there, but there was no other way to get my exit stamp. Another guard eventually comes out with my passport, asks me a couple questions, and sends me on towards the Kazakhstan border.

This time the green and red lines are packed with people with piles of packages. My guess is it's one of those borders where it's more cost-effective to send hundreds (thousands?) of people per day across on foot with the maximum duty free allowance rather than pay the import duty. Since they seem to be overflowing from the red line, I push my way past and enter the Kazakhstan immigration hall.

I see a counter with a bunch of people filling out forms, but no sign of the forms. I go back outside and find a guard handing them out. It has a big stamp across it saying the form is free in a bunch of languages (clearly trying to crack down on scammers). I find instructions posted on the wall in English, telling me what to put where, then get in line for an immigration officer.

The officer takes my passport, asks if I speak English, then asks me a question in what I assume is very rapid Russian. I say "I don't speak Russian." Then he starts over, more slowly and louder with "DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?!" "YES!" followed by a bunch of words I can't understand. If this was a clever way of trying to catch multi-lingual CIA spies, I passed with flying colors. More likely he thought I was a bit retarded.

After confirming I'm a tourist, he asks me in very clear English why I'm coming to Kazakhstan. I figure the real reason (it's slightly easier to get an Uzbek visa there, and I wouldn't mind getting another stamp in my passport) will sound pretty suspicious. After a brief moment of panic I say "The mountains. I want to see your mountains." He gives me that look that makes it 100% clear he thinks I'm retarded, stamps my passport, and waves me through to customs for the usual metal detectors and x-rays.

After all that, I half expect my bus to have left without me because I took so much longer than the locals (this has happened to me before). Turns out I'm the first one through! Am I good at this or what?

We wait a while for our last passenger. I hear someone say "wodka" and everyone chimes in, clearly assuming he got arrested for trying to smuggle booze. We leave without him.

The bus station in Almaty, Kazakhstan is, as usual, far from downtown. I just need to find a ride and get some local currency to pay them. I finally find the money change booth, but it takes a while to wake up the clerk to take my Kyrgyz money (it's mid-afternoon, no A/C, everyone's napping).

I search fruitlessly for an official taxi, knowing that as a foreigner, I'm less likely to get screwed if there's a meter. All I find are dozens of unofficial taxis, so I start haggling, and walking away, as the prices are all 5x what they were in the last country (I eventually find out that's the gong rate here).

I finally jump in a car, and just before pulling out, two Kazakh women jump in. One of them starts grilling me with questions, in what is starting to seem like a job interview. I seem to be answering correctly, based on her tone of voice. "An American!" "California!!" "Single!!!"

Her English is somewhat limited, but I'm pretty sure she asks if I find her country beautiful. As I just got here, I fall back on my previous answer "You have beautiful mountains."

Then I remember she already asked what I thought of Kazakhstan, and she was really asking whether I found her and her friend beautiful. In any case, she seemed very satisfied with my answer.

Below are a couple shots of those mountains. I've spent the last couple days in a national park and ski area just outside Almaty. I have to kill about a week in Kazakhstan to get my Uzbek visa, and I wanted to escape the muggy, triple digit weather in Almaty for a bit.

Almaty is one of the two finalists for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Beijing may have the edge, but don't be surprised if you see a lot more of these mountains in the near future.