Another crazy border day.

Today was crazy because of what we all decided to do not what happen at the border crossing.

We all arose yesterday at 5.30 ready for the early breakfast at the dig site, then into town to meet the guide that was too escort us to our border camp site for the night ready to do the crossing into Kazakhstan early the next day.

We were a few minute late for our meeting after we worked out that we were waiting at the wrong roundabout of the 2 roundabouts in town plus we had our third flat tyre for the trip on the way to the correct roundabout. Eventually we got on the way for the 600k trip to the border.

On the way up to Nukes we went over a small line of hills before we crossed the Amudrayo River in town for the last time before it makes it way to towards the Aral Sea. We had crossed the Amudrayo the previous day on the trip to Kiva which was 200k further upstream and I was amazing how little water was left in the river after it was all used for irrigation further upstream. We have travel with the Amudrayo since the Afghan border days were it was called the Panj River and far bigger then down this end due to the water usage for farming.

After Nukus and leaving the irrigated farming valley we entered a flat desert for the last 400k to the border. Halfway along we stopped and some people toped up with black market fuel were the price has nearly doubled in the last 300k as we go even more remote. While I’m talking about black market fuel I’m fairly sure that it is not all petrol and that it is mixed with other cheaper hydro carbons like paint thinner and the like. I’m very glad we didn’t need to use that fuel for the climbing of 4500 metre mountain passes, we would not have made it.

On the approach to the border it was very cold and incredibly windy so we decide not to camp in the exposed desert and to go through the Uzbek side and camp in no mans land between the borders. We knew that our Kazakh visa didn’t start till the next day.

Departing Uzbekistan was slight less trouble then the entry but the customs still have a fascination with prescription drugs that we all carry. I decided to be on the end of the queue this time, which seems to pay off, by the last car the boredom has crept in and I was not searched at all.

On getting through the Uzbek border we came upon Reg and Mitchell who had left us early the previous day hoping to get into Kazakhstan early. They had been waiting in no mans land for 30 hours at that stage and said that we would be able to enter after midnight.

We settled down to wait and all cooked dinners, which were shared by all. While dinner was cooking we all put more and more clothes on as the temperature dropped towards zero with quite a wind chill.

After getting some sleep in the cars till about 11.30 we where all ushered into the border area at midnight to start that process. It turned out to be very painless exercise with everyone in Kazakhstan by 1.30am.

Reg and Mitchel headed off on the 520k drive to Atyrau for our next 2 nights lay over. Three of the cars decided to camp just down the road till the morning. I decide that I would drive as far as I could then sleep in the car for a bit then drive and sleep till I got to the hotel. We were dressed for the outside temperate and it was actually warmer when we stopped then driving, so sleeping was no problem in an open car. After a couple of sleeps and a morning cuppa we arrived in town at 9.30am to find our room ready so it was a shower, breakfast then into bed to catch a few more Zeds for the day.

The road after the border was 80k of roughish dirt road till we turned onto the main road to Atyrau. This was 450k of the best pavement for the trip I think. The rough bit wasn’t too bad, as it had no broken pavement or rocks so it was just wavy and not sharp jarring bumps no a far speed could be maintained.

The others have just arrived as I’m finishing writing this post.