I just got to Aktobe this morning, the 20hr train ride wasn't so bad actually. It was quite fun. It is an old train with lots of cabin which has 4 bunk beds. It was kinda cramp but quite comfortable. Although there was problem with storing my luggage.
I was accompanied by a Kompani GIS office girl, Svetlana, cos it's hard to travel through Kazakhstan alone if you don't speak any russian. So the company sent her with me. She doesn't speak English too. But we use a little translation book she had. Haha.
The journey started at 3:30PM from the town of Kyzlorda. It made many stops along the way...some short and some long. Enough time to run down to get some food or just to stretch your legs...but I hardly recommend the latter. As you travel up north, it gets colder.
The cabin was OK, depends on your standards. But I am used to it because of the condition of my camp in Kumkol. The toilet is terrible though. Dirty and smelly. Ugh! And they have this weird little water heater. So unique in design that I thought it was a distiller from the olden days. Got a picture but sadly I don't have the cable to upload the pics.
In our cabin was other 2 men, both heading to Aktobe. One of them is a university student traveling a camp nearby Zhannajol for practical before graduating. The other is for work. The student speaks little english, but good enough to communicate. Kazakshtan are a friendly bunch. They offered to share their food and even bought me some beer. Cool eh? We ate and drank and talk...sorta. At first I was wondering about what am I going to do for 20hrs in a train. Guess time flew by if you enjoying yourself eh?
A few stops I went down to stretch my legs and saw lots of doggies running about, all searching for food or hoping for passengers alighting from the train to throw some scraps. Peddlers are walking about to sell you things, mostly food. Even dried salty fish....it's the custom to drink beer and eat salty fish. Weird but kinda nice.
Slept rather well in the night. Quite warm in the cabin, and thank goodness none of the people snored. Woke up and coffee was made by Svetlana. Ate some bread, hard boiled eggs and cold sausage. After 20hrs, we arrived at Aktobe. Grabbed my luggage and waited for the driver to come.
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