On a visa extension quest!! Only having until September 2nd to leave isn't enough time to cross this country. After the insightful talks with some local, I haven't seen Kazakhstan without heading west. Almaty and Astana are like modern European cities, with diverse cultures and nationalities. While the west is were the local cultures are. Unchanged by modernization.
The only place I can imagine extending my Kazakhstan visa, will be at Migration Police office, where I had to check-in within 5 days of arriving here. With pretty much no English, she wrote the date of a piece of paper,...
Plan of the day: meeting up with my German friends at noon so that we can head to the Music Ecofest Festival, somewhere near Almaty. I was given GPS coordinates where we should meet, and was told it's near a Yves Rocher. Unfortunately once I arrived at the GPS coordinates, Yves Rocher cannot be found. I was probably 5 mins behind already, and my friends didn't not have a local number for further contacts.
When you walk down and up the street, at all possible directions, when googling the nearest Yves Rocher, it's miles away, you get a sense of hopelessness. Seems like I might not be able to meet...
After just setting foot on Kazakhstan, it is impressive how modern it is compare to the other side of the borders, China.
A simple act of civility shows how modern this society is. Pedestrian has the right of way while crossing the streets, cars will patiently wait even if the pedestrian is far away from the car's path. It is not just an occasional good gesture, it's been everytime crossing the road. Don't think anywhere else I feel so safe, other than in HcMC where a blind man can cross the road without getting run over.
There is also a flare for the Japanese imports. Lots of RHD Japanese...
Finally leaving China, and heading into the neighboring country Kazakhstan. This will be a 35 hours train ride, with about 8 hours at the borders. The train will also have to swap wheels, as the train track are narrower in the other country.
With the hope of being able to buy hot food during this train trip, I have only purchased a handful of snacks and instant noodles. Along all the trains in China, hot water is pretty much guarantee onboard. Somehow instant noodles and sunflower seeds are the favorite train snacks.
Turns out there isn't any food for sale while on the train. But there...
It's 1130pm, all the lights are off on the Qinghai Train from Lhasa to Lanzhou. This is one of the Top 5 trains of the world, according to Discovery Channel.
This is somewhat unexpected, as our initial plan was to travel along the southern Silk Road. Yesterday, we were supposed to stop at Lhatse from Tingri, and catch the buses towards Ngari. But as we were about to get off at Lhatse, the bus driver told us there is no bus westward from this middle of nowhere. It was safer heading to Shigatse and see what we can do. Turns out there is a direct non sleeper bus from Shigatse to Ngari, which...