We left Almaty at 10:10am on Monday the 13th of August. We were in a sleeper bus that looked lke it was from the 70’s. It was relatively comfortable- definitely not the worst form of transport that we have taken over the past 8 months. Our journey took us from south-east Kazakhstan to north-west Kazakhstan, and then down to west Kazakhstan.
From the outset, I was excited to be on the move. I love road travel and a 60 hour trip was the dream. That is, until the air conitioning was turned off and the temperature inside the bus rose to 30 degrees celcius. It was a battle with the drivers the whole time to keep the air on. We would ask, they would turn it on. A couple of hours later, somone would be back up the front to get it turned back on again. Pile 30 people into a bus in the middle of the desert in the height of summer and the temperature rises quickly.
We stopped multiple times a day for food and bathroom breaks. Each stop lasting over 30 minutes due to the sheer number of people. Most times there was only 1 female toilet for 23 of us, so the line was half the battle. The other half was to not throw up because of the condition of the toilets (if you can call a hole in the ground a toilet).
After the first day, I was going stir crazy. I relished every time we stopped so I could get some fresh air. I would often stay outside until the last person was in, just to make the most of it. By the end of the second day, I was counting down the hours until we got off.
Entertainment was hard on the bus. At every cafe stop, we would bring our laptops inside to charge them. Besides playing the same game for the 100th time, there wasn’t much else to do but watch movies. The road was too bumpy to read or write. It was so bumpy, in fact, that I developed a headache from the force of the shaking.
We arrived in Aktau, our final destination, at around midnight so we stayed on the bus another night. Pushing our grand total to 71 hours spent on the bus.
They dropped us off at 8am and we didn’t get into our apartment until 4 pm. There wasn’t much else we could do with all our bags, so all we did was wait. And wait some more. Somehow, I got sunburnt, although I spent the entire time in the shade, trying to hide from the heat (and trying not to fall asleep).
The next morning, we received our wake up call at 6:30am, earlier than expected. We were to head down to the port to catch the freighter that would be leaving later that day for Azerbaijan- miss this ship and who knows when the next one would be.
The freighter was an experience. It only took 21 hours to cross the Caspian Sea but it wasn’t until 3 days later that we finally got into port. We sat outside Baku, Azerbaijan for most of the time- occupying ourselves with exploring the ship, watching movies, reading, and playing games. It was a blessing to be able to walk around freely (and use the bathroom whenever!) after being cramped for 3 days on the bus. On the first day, I was allowed into the bridge to see all the equipment. The inner geography geek came out when I saw all the navigation equipment. I stayed up there for a while, chatting with the crew in broken English (and Spanish!).
Even though I enjoyed my time on the freighter, I was definitely ready to get off when we finally pulled into port. I might love to travel but at this stage (or any stage!) of the Race, 8 days takes its toll.
We are now in Baku, awaiting Debrief on Sunday. It has definitely been a time of recovery and resetting, looking ahead to the last 3 months of the Race. Travel is definitely taking it’s toll on me but I am excited for the adventure, and the challenges, that lie ahead.
