My first night I ignored all the safety warnings given to tourists in Kazakhstan - and especially in Atyrau - about not walking alone, drinking alone, especially at night, take taxis etc, I found a bar, then another and another and had a few drinks trying to decide how to get out of this town. Eventually after a few drinks, I walked and took a mashrutnoe back to the station and tried with every cashier to get train tickets to Aralsk, or even to Aktobe where I hope i could perhaps link to a Moscow - Almaty connection, but no luck. The only useful info I got was to try and pay a bribe to a provodnitsa. Meanwhile I popped to the cafe next to the station for another beer and was unfortunately stopped by police on my way out. Taken to a room and questioned as to why I was in Atyrau and why I was having a drink there. Was asked how much I had drunk 'maybe 4 bottles' i replied, 'vodka?' he asked 'haha, no beer', which was about half of the truth. Anyway threatened with injections to check alochol intake and having to stay there 12 hours as it was 'protokol, protokol' he kept pointing out, OK, no problem I said and I sat there talking as best as i could in my still pretty useless Russian. Lucky I was a little drunk, so was pretty calm about it and even thought it might be a good idea to do the same tomorrow as it would mean a free room for the night !! ;) Of course, visa registration checks were done and even though i had not yet done this, I had my train ticket as evidence I only arrived that morning, so no problems, no way he could bribe me there, as I know you have 5 days to register, which I of course informed him on.. Anyway, after answrering all his questions about my life, my job, my income, my reasons for being in Kazakhstan and my next destinations, a pleasant chat and good Russian practice for me, he let me go. The doctor in the white coat with needle never appeared - what a surprise ! - and the 'drunk tank' room was never offered to me. I wondered what happened to his 'protokol' ? surely if it was protocol, he should not have let me go so easily, he was clearly not doing his job, perhaps I should advise his superior ? But decided to leave that ;)
Left: The never-ending steppe lands between Russia and Kazakhstan.
Right: A young boy takes home his dinnner from the Ural river.
So stayed one night in the train station hotel, which was cheap, but showers did not work and by the next day toilets did not flush either, so not having showered for a couple of nights i decided to splash out on the cheapest hotel I could find, which was 10,000 Tenge (about Euro 65).
Sadly, against all desires I then succumbed to teh fact I was going to have to fly somewhere, flights to Shimkent were full for 10 days, but I could get to almaty 2 days later, so that's what I did. Since I have also met Jon - originally met in Romania and Ukraine - and he had same problem from Aktobe, as have many others it seems.
So two more days in Atyrau: Wandered around streets, along the river, to the visa registration dept where it turns out I did not have to register as it was already done for me at the consulate in Moscow ! Nice one Moscow consulate ! Found a nice bazaar where I was constantly clung to by one young girl who just would not leave me, she didn't ask for money or anything, just clung to me and hung on to my arm for ages. But not much to see/do here.
The old town is a crumbling mass of wooden houses many that look deserted, but just hundreds of metres away, the main streets are lined with new shiny, glass fronted office blocks belonging to Chevron, Gazprom, Agip, international banks of many varieties and big business hotels, a real contrast of old and new surrounds you as you wander the wide tree-lined streets of Atyrau.
Final night was a complete surprise, after a beer or two at the usual Irish bar that follows ex-pats around - this one was called not so originally 'O'Neills - I wandered back to the hotel. There I saw the guy who I had guessed was the owner/manager of O'Neills at the hotel bar. Turned out that Ashok was the manager and had come to Kazakhstan 11 years ago from Bombay to open a restaurant, he also worked in catering for Eurest (who I think used to do the catering at ABN Amro offices in Netherlands) and then after opening La Cabana in Atyrau, took over O'Neills one moth ago. So chatted away with him and his friend Richard and a little later we were invited over to a table in the corner by one of the ladies at a table of 3 ladies and one man. Turned out she was the manageress of the hotel, so it would have been rude to say no.
With her was her restaurant manageress and 2 friends from Almaty who were visiting. It was a rare event that they all got together, perhaps ebery 3 months, so it was for them a special night.
Turns out she was aware of who I was as had seen me earlier in the day, but did not recognise me as a regular customer, so seeing a strange face had enquired with staff as to who I worked for. It was a little of a surprise to them that I was just travelling, I don't think they get many of that kind of tourist in Atyrau. We shared many, many drinks, snacks and were then invited into the VIP room, where we had to sing Karaoke!! hmmm, not always my favourite activity, especially when having to do so alone. Well it was lovely evening, much chatting, many drinks, snacks and songs and it turned my visit to Atyrau into something a bit special, the hospitality and friendship shown was very beautiful. At 4am, I retired to bed for a couple of hours sleep before heading off to the airport (urggghh i hate the thought of airports and flying now after months on buses trains).
No comments:
Post a Comment