Thursday August 8

We finally arrived at the eastern border of Kazakhstan on Tuesday evening.

Lonely Planet says that Kazakhstan is the 9th largest country in the world. Not including our diversion to Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, it has taken us a solid 10 days, to traverse it, from Atyrau to the west, Almaty to the south, Semey to the east, and the many points in-between.

Most everyone on the team is super thrilled to be leaving Kazakhstan behind having experienced what seems like every worst road this country has had to offer, and a people that have yet to warm to /welcome tourists. It is certainly a part of the world I am sure I would never have otherwise had the chance to see and am glad I was able to.

Kazakhstan declared their independence from Russia in 1991, just over 20 years ago and this country is experiencing rapid and profound change on every level. We have seen huge signs all over the country proclaiming “Kazakhstan 2050”, so something big is on the horizon for them. Courtesy of the huge influx of Western & Chinese money that is pouring in and carving up pieces of their massive oil and gas reserves, they are attempting to build an infrastructure / remake their country in a blink of an eye comparatively to what has taken other countries hundreds of years to do.

In Atyrau, we’d met Tom, a 30 year Chevron employee from Austin, TX who is on a 2 year assignment. (If memory serves, he said the rig he works on cost roughly $20 million to install and wasu outputting something like 20K barrels of oil a day, not a bad return!) He said the Atyrau of today has undergone a complete transformation compared to the back country mud squalor he’d seen 20 years ago on his first visit shortly after the 1991 split from Russia.

I have read there are quite a number of wonderful nature reserves with incredible wildlife (ibex, lynx, antelopes & gazelles, wild boar, and even a handful of snow leopards) and bird populations (eagles, flycatchers, gulls, Himalayan snowcocks (?), and thousand of summering flamingos). These, along with exploring the incredible Altai Mountains, might be a reason to return.

We are taking a rest day in Barnaul, Russia after another all night drive, from Semey and the border crossing. The Kaz passport control guy I had must’ve spent 15 minutes, and left his booth with my passport in hand, before I received my exit stamp (had me a bit nervous there for a few moments) . The Russian border was a piece of cake – even with a thorough dog sniffing – by a cocker spaniel! (The Kaz border had German Shepherds)

Don and Sarah have decided on a revised route to the finish line in Ulan Baataar (UB). We will no longer be traveling through western Mongolia as the roads of Kazakhstan have done Don in, and he has declared he is finished with dirt roads, if he can at all help it. Coupled with the length of time it has taken us to get this far, Pietro and Stefano, the Italians on assignment for Vanity Fair, have flights out of UB on August 20th that they HAVE to make. Sarah wants us to be able to cross the finish line as a team, so we will now head across Siberia to Lake Baykal, then turn south to Mongolia and the finish line.

There are hopes that if we can get to UB in a timely fashion, this may allow for more sightseeing in Mongolia than we would’ve otherwise had the chance for given the roads and the bus. After all, the bus is not being donated at the finish line / staying in Mongolia like the rest of the other Rally vehicles, but is continuing on to Vladivostok for its journey back to the USA. Therefore, the bus CAN NOT be abandoned in Mongolia. If it were to break down, no one on the team wants to have to dismantle and haul the bus out of the country piece by piece.