Almaty

After a nights driving the bus arrives in Almaty. I have asked Wilko to arrange an letter of invitation for Russia via internet when I was still stuck in Uzbekistan, so I can pick it up from an internet cafe as soon as I had the time. So I need to find an internet cafe, a bank to get money and the Russian embassy to apply for a visa. I want to get a Russian visa, to be able to travel with 'the Mongols' as they are going via Russia. I am pressed for time, but don't know where I am and I cannot find anybody who is able to explain it to me. Ideally I arrive before 12:00pm at the Russian embassy as that usually is the time embassies close. When I am lucky I might pick the visa up in the afternoon. I find an internet cafe and then it is clear I can relax, the letter of invitation has not come through so I can forget about the visa and travelling with 'the Mongols'.

The new goal is now to find a decent cheap hotel. This is not as easy as it seems in a city you do not speak the language and you do not have a map. I cycle through town all day and find nothing I want stay. I do meet a local who speaks English and we end up in a bar till around three. I decide to sleep in the park. I have to be careful not to be spotted by the police, I've been told it to be illegal. Twice a courting couple stumbles into my hideout and twice I scare the living hell out of them, when I say hello. Not very much rested I restart my search for a place to stay and this time more successful. I find a place which charges 1000 Tenge a night and although this one is full, I meet a Dutch and a Japanese guy with whom I go to another hotel where we share a room for the same price. Before finding a hotel I have applied for a chinese visa, which I can pick up after the weekend.

In the weekend I hang around on terraces together with the Dutch guy, Mart. On Monday morning I get up early and retrieve my passport including visa:-). I wait till ten o'clock when a bookshop opens. I am a bit scared of travelling in China without map, guidebook and any knowledge of the language, so I want to buy a guidebook. Unfortunately neither a guidebook or map of china are for sale in the shop so I leave Almaty without them. The good thing is that I am cycling again.