My flight out to Kazakhstan was piecewise, like many of my previous travels. I left Jinan at 6 am and took the train to Beijing, where I had to transfer from the train station to the airport via bus. At Beijing South Station, after I had gotten off the train, a taxi driver tried hustling me by telling me that I should use his services instead of the airport shuttle because, in his words, “it would take three hours to get there by bus, and you don’t wanna be late to your flight.”
Luckily for me, this was one of the few times in my life where I was absurdly early, as in fact I had arrived at Beijing South at 10 am, four and a half hours before my flight at 2:30. I’m petty enough to admit I felt a great deal of satisfaction in telling the taxi driver that three hours was more than fine with me (and he lied by the way, I’ve taken that particular bus and it’s 90 minutes with traffic) and his ensuing look of frustration.
At the airport I passed the time by starting East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It’s one of those classic novels that I had always wanted to read but was never able to find dedicated time for. While waiting at the terminal, and afterwards too on the flight to Urumqi, I managed to finish the first two hundred pages or so, roughly a third of the novel.
When my flight landed at Urumqi I had to go through the strictest airport security I’ve ever encountered. It was the only time in China I had to take off my shoes, and even the bottom of my feet were scanned, one by one. After checking in and making my way to the international terminal, I resumed reading East of Eden and waited another hour for my flight to Almaty, the final leg of the voyage.
An advertisement for camel milk on the flight.
When I got to Almaty, it was just after sunset, around 8:30pm. Since I was traveling with an American passport, I didn’t need a visa to get in. Hegemonic privilege, my friends. I then found an ATM and a taxi, and got to my hostel.
The first hostel I stayed at was disappointing, dirtier than the pictures online, and tucked away in a hard to reach location. I also realized that I had forgotten one of the most important things: a plug adapter. See, all the outlets in China are compatible with the Type A plugs we use in the States, but in Kazakhstan they use the Type C “europlug” popular across Europe and the former Soviet Union. It was ironic, in a way: I had finally left the cover of the Great Firewall, but now I was constrained by a lack of battery. Thankfully, I packed a spare charge pack so I wasn’t completely lost.
The next day I spent walking around downtown Almaty and eventually moving to a different hostel across town, which was much better. It was clean, well-decorated, and there was a great complimentary breakfast. I went to bed that night relaxed and comfortable.
My third day, I spent the afternoon exploring the new area, which seemed to be a much more affluent neighborhood. I also mingled with some of the other guests at the hostel, which consisted of a giant troupe of Kazakh-Korean students there for a traditional Korean music exhibition, and three Australians who were taking part in the Mongol Rally, a giant charity car race from Western Europe to Mongolia.
I went out with the Australians that night, and we hit up different bars in downtown Almaty. At the first place we went to, one of the Australians, Steve, asked us if we were fine with him inviting a Tinder date to join us. We were all down.
Her name was Alissa, and she was great. She was a local, so she knew the city well, and she took us to a restaurant where she was friends with the owner. They all invited their friends over and we all had a great time together talking over some of the best tacos I’ve had, including some made with marinated lamb. It was an unexpected but very welcome Taco Tuesday.
A quick aside: someone there mentioned being a huge fan of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and that blew my mind.
The fourth day, I went off to explore Medeu, which is a high altitude ice rink connected by cable car to the Shymbulak Ski Resort. It is folded away in the mountains and surrounded by pine forest, and the air was clean and refreshing. Thanks to the wonders of technology, I was able to use rideshare apps to get around, so navigation was never a hassle during my entire stay in Almaty.
The view from the cable car to Shymbulak.
The last day, I headed to the airport for my 9 pm flight (all international flights out of Almaty International leave at night) and flew back to China. I reached Urumqi around midnight, and it took me two hours to find a hotel, as foreigners in Xinjiang are only allowed to stay at 4 and 5 star hotels.
My flight back to Beijing was later in the afternoon the next day, so I walked around Urumqi for a bit. If you are unaware, the Chinese government is currently conducting a targeted oppression of the Uighurs, who comprise a majority of the population of Xinjiang. The region is currently a police state, with re-education camps and anti-Muslim laws and regulations. It wasn’t hard to tell. I had to get x-rayed and scanned before entering hotels and restaurants, and there were police and military everywhere.
After lunch, I returned to the airport and caught my connecting flight to Beijing, then retraced my piecewise route back to Jinan: by plane, train, and automobile.
Somewhere along the way, I finished East of Eden.