Kordai, Kazakhstan
Friday, July 11, 2008
My visa was ready the next afternoon. I decided that I had no time to waste, so I started driving even though the sun was already low in the sky. After studying my Kazakhstan atlas, I determined that there were two main routes that I could choose. The more direct route followed the southern border to the Aral Sea and then turned northwest to Russia. The longer route went north through Astana, the new capital. Nobody that I talked to could tell me about the state of either road. I chose what appeared to be the shorter route. I had no idea what kind of roads I would encounter, but I put my faith in the atlas. The road was fine for the rest of the day. I came to a motel around sundown and ended the day there. It turned out that there were about twenty kids close to my age living in the area, and once word spread that I was there they all showed up to talk to me. I bought some of the guys beer, and one of them gave me a cd of traditional kazakh music. He told me it was "Kazakh 50 Cent." The trip was off to a pretty good start, and I was feeling very optimistic about the road ahead.
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