Skip to content

Community: Real Life

The mystery guest


Ants and Jo

Taxi for two from Bangkok to Brighton? Ants Bolingbroke-Kent and Jo Huxter aim to cross 12 countries by tuk-tuk, and raise £50,000 for Mind.
Entry: 14
Date: 20/07/2006

The kindness of Kazhaks still doesn't cease to amaze our tuk-tukkers. But maybe it can go too far at times...

Lake Balkash, Kazakhstan

Jo writes...

As we drove out of Almaty yesterday morning, I prayed that we would manage to leave the city without having an accident in TT. I initially thought the driving here was better than in China, but Almaty takes the prize for reckless motoring. The combination of fast German cars and not paying proper attention to the road results in multiple daily crashes. It was the first time that I have really felt nervous driving TT.

As we were nearing the city limits, a man walked out onto a pedestrian crossing and just seemed to stop and stare at the traffic - perhaps he was staring at TT. Anyway, the first car braked quite suddenly at the pedestrian crossing, the Mercedes behind braked to avoid smashing into the first car, which left the Lada driving third smashing at about 30mph into the back of the Mercedes. We were very lucky that the Lada driver decided to rear end the Mercedes rather than swerve straight into us. My heart started pounding and I uttered a few expletives, as did Ants. We drove around the crash to see three rather butch men get out of the Merc and walk back towards the Lada driver. God, I hope he had insurance. Guess which car came off worse? The Merc lost to the Lada, which only suffered a small dent to its front bumper.

"The same man, dressed head to toe in pin stripes and mock-croc, burst into our hotel room brandishing beer."

After safely leaving Almaty we started on the very long drive north to Balkash. I had an image of the steppe in my head and the reality matched my imagination. Hundreds of kilometres of endless scrubby grassland to the east, west, north and south followed all the way to Balkash. I loved driving through barren landscapes in China, but the steppe did not stir up so many positive emotions. I didn't dislike the drive, but it did feel a bit like driving in a computer game. Occasionally the monotony of the drive was broken up by eagles flying overhead or small herds of horses and camels grazing. Petrol stations were few and far between and a couple of times I was worried we might run out. We were flagged down a couple of times by Kazakh families who wanted to chat and take photos. The first family that stopped gave us five litres of petrol and refused any payment for it. Another example of the Kazakh hospitality that has been bestowed upon us.

At times, however, this can go a little far. Recently a white Mercedes drew up beside us. The blacked-out window wound down to reveal a gleaming set of gold teeth owned by a handsome young Kazakh. 'Where are you going?' He shouted in Russian. For the next ten minutes we drove in precarious tandem to our hotel: me attempting to dodge the oncoming traffic while simultaneously conducting a conversation with Goldie next door. Later that night the same man, dressed head to toe in pin stripes and mock-croc, burst into our hotel room brandishing beer and insisting he showed us round the local hotspots. After much polite negotiation, we declined and he was off as rapidly as he had appeared. How he found his way to our hotel room remains a mystery.


Bookmark with:What are these?

Also on TheSite.org