{"id":230,"date":"2019-09-17T13:15:46","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T13:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fromlondontomongolia.com\/?p=230"},"modified":"2019-09-17T13:36:24","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T13:36:24","slug":"entry-to-kazakhstan-impossible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlondontomongolia.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/17\/entry-to-kazakhstan-impossible\/","title":{"rendered":"Entry to Kazakhstan? Impossible."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Robin Ewing
Aug 9, 2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We limped up to Kazakhstan in a billow of\nblack smoke. The compression on the newly repaired engine was gone (I\u2019m\nguessing the stoney mechanics duct taped it all back together), cutting off power\nto the engine, but if we continuously restarted while driving we could get some\nspeed for a few minutes. Uphill was 5 mph and acceleration left a dense cloud\nof black smoke in our wake. It took hours, but we had to get out of Kyrgyzstan.\nAlmaty felt like the promised land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The remote Karkura border crossing is just\na few buildings and a fence dropped in the middle of nowhere. Expansive mountains\nencircle the green valley crossed by clear rushing streams where groups of horses\nrun wild in the summer (Joanne Renwick says they all get eaten in the winter). A\nlone horseman gallops by in the distance. There is nothing for miles on either\nside. It is gorgeous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The most remote swing set I’ve ever seen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Leaving Kyrgyzstan was easy. We idled past\na few cows and came to Kazakhstan. Our single entry visas were stamped by two young\nmen in a shack, and we were officially in country. Then a tall man in a black T-shirt\nand sunglasses appeared, walking slowly around our van and eyeing it up. He\npointed at the license plate and said, \u201cProblem.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opel has German export plates. Dean found her\non a German auto site but to get permanent registration in Germany, we needed a\nGerman address. Export plates, meaning a temporary registration for cars\nleaving the country, were the answer as they could be registered without a\nGerman address in a few hours. Ours were good for two months, the expiry date printed\non the plates in bright red like a stoplight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, there had been no problems with the\nexport plates, but I\u2019d heard from a man last year that his team was denied\nentry at the Ukraine border. His Dad had to fly to Germany to get permanent\nregistration. He said getting into Russia was also a problem. No one had said\nanything about Kazakhstan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We waited for the decision. No, our car\ncould not enter, the tall man said. This border crossing didn\u2019t have the\ncorrect form for export plates. We would have to drive back through Kyrgyzstan\nto the other crossing at Cordai near Bishkek, about nine hours in a car that\nruns, through the dark on jarring roads. They would accept our plates there, he\nsaid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we just wanted to pass through his\nlovely country for a few days on our way to help poor children in Mongolia. It\nwas a humanitarian mission. Our registration was legal, we argued. Then I\noffered deposit money. He wasn\u2019t interested. After an hour of pleading he was\nfed up. \u201cImpossible,\u201d he said sternly, and walked off. We weren\u2019t getting in.\nWe had to go back to Kyrgyzstan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This suddenly became an even bigger\nproblem. Not only was the Kyrgyzstan border now closed, the guards from both\nsides wandering over to the dormitory shower with towels flung over their\nshoulders, but we had only one Kazakhstan entry on our visa and it had been\nused. We wouldn\u2019t be able to enter the country again without applying for a new\nvisa at an embassy, even if Opel could somehow miraculously make it to Bishkek.\nI wondered what would happen if I abandoned her in a parking lot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found the tall man, who had distanced\nhimself from the problem, and showed him my single entry visa. I cried. He\nsighed. Then he told me to park the car in the impound lot behind his office where\nwe could sleep for the night. It was dusk, the mountains purple in the distance,\nand getting cold fast. I wondered if wolves could get into the parking lot.  I started shivering. He sighed again and led\nYoav and I into a small office with two desks, a few chairs and lots of posters\nof Kazakhstan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The impound lot.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I cried a little more for good measure.\nHours passed. I got bored and went outside to chat with the smiley border\nguards, who wrote their ages in the dust on the van and invited me to their hut\nfor dinner and a drink. I declined. The stars came out, bright in the lightless\nmountain valley. I heard Yoav chatting with the men inside. Two more hours\nlater, he appeared and told me to get the car documents. They were going to let\nus in. He\u2019d talked his way into loophole (though I suspect they were just\nlooking for any reason to get rid of us).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An hour of paperwork later, we were allowed\nto leave. Elated, we jumped into the van, the tall man opening the gate to let\nus out. The car didn\u2019t start. I imagined the tall man ripping my car registration\nfrom my shivering hands as the wolves clawed at the fence. Yoav turned the key again.\nNo go. And again. The third time did the trick and we crawled out, hobbling off\ndown the single lane road into the dark, black smoke trailing behind us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 3am, we pulled up at the front door of\nJoanne and Chris Renwick (Louise\u2019s parents who have been living in Almaty for\nmore than five years), who for the next 24 hours, gave us food, beds, showers,\na washing machine and dryer, a tour of surprisingly modern Almaty and overall\njust great company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In Almaty with Joanne & Chris Renwick<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Zenkov Cathedral in Almaty.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Renwicks also took us to a Renault\nservice center. A man used Google translate to print out a message that a\nmaster would look at the vehicle and let us know. After four hours of sitting\non bright yellow couches in the sunny showroom, the car was ready. They fixed\nit for free, all the mechanics signing the road map sticker on the hood.\n\u201cPresent. Mongolia,\u201d the man said smiling and handed me the keys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yoav and I with the mechanic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It drove better than when I bought it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back at the Renwick\u2019s house, I ripped the\nlicense plates off and taped them back on, covering up the red expiration date on\nthe side with dark blue duct tape. If Russia asked, I would say they got ripped\noff during the river tow. At 5:30am, we left the Renwick\u2019s cozy house, headed in\nthe rain for the Russian border 1,300 km\/800 miles away. We hoped to drive all\nnight and meet up with the Bandits in Barnaul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe we\u2019ll make it after all.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"

I used tape to cover up the expiration date on our export plates. Then I drove through a bunch of mud for authenticity.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Robin EwingAug 9, 2013 We limped up to Kazakhstan in a billow of black smoke. The compression on the newly repaired engine was gone (I\u2019m guessing the stoney mechanics duct taped it all back together), cutting off power to the engine, but if we continuously restarted while driving we could get some speed for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fromlondontomongolia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_2052-e.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlondontomongolia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlondontomongolia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlondontomongolia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlondontomongolia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlondontomongolia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fromlondontomongolia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":257,"href":"https:\/\/fromlondontomongolia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions\/257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlondontomongolia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlondontomongolia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlondontomongolia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlondontomongolia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}