Sorry that we didn’t blog yesterday. The hotel in Pavlodar didn’t have working wifi, working air conditioning or indeed, at the time I went to bed, running water even. The food was good though….
Quite apart from that it wasn’t the very best day for most of us. We knew that the organisers had arranged that we do 620 k on pretty rotten roads and then cross a border. What we didn’t know was that they had also arranged a speed trial in a mudbath….
Figure 1 Fortunately the entrepreneurial Siberians generated a car wash so that we could get hosed down!
Keep your speed up to avoid getting stuck, we were warned. Interestingly the driver of an Alfa just ahead of us was warned not to push it too hard. They obviously tailored the advice to the driving style and both of us in fact recorded the same time. I had just handed over the driving to Mike saying that this one looked as though it might need us both at our best (me navigating, him driving!) Mike in fact recorded one of the faster times as he drove through this field of mud, skidding and ploughing through, a surprising result for a car not exactly designed for the job. And had we not been held up by slower cars, only a few of which we were able to overtake, our time would have been much faster.
The mud did for a lot of cars who arrived at the border on flatbeds. In between an entrepreneurial Siberian garage had organised a car wash. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and Mike managed a rapid turn into the garage. $10 lighter we had a clean car…at least on the outside.
The border crossing into Kazakhstan confounded our expectations and took only 20 minutes. Kazakhstan, Russian, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus comprise the Eurasian Customs Union which came into force on 1 Jan 2015. Obviously there are implications for border proceedings from Customs Unions!
Figure 2 Filling up the Fair Fuel supported Bentley with petrol costing 29p a litre
The Kazakhstan economy is based on oil and as a result petrol is cheap. A litre cost around 29p! We tweeted this on behalf of our good friends Howard Cox and Quentin WIllson for whom Cebr have done some good work showing how high fuel prices harm economies. They deserve knighthoods for their sterling work campaigning (unpaid) for more sensible pricing.
The rest of the economy is heavily based on mining of various minerals and coal and as we drove the long straight road from Pavlodar to Nur Sultan across the central Eurasian grasslands we passed quite a lot of examples. Hills made from mining spoils were a feature of the landscape. Mining is heavily dependent on transport infrastructure and it is no surprise that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is a strong supporter of the Belt and Road initiative. Cebr estimates that there will be a major impact on the Kazakh economy from this. See https://www.mida.rs/demo/cebr/reports/belt-and-road-initiative-to-boost-world-gdp-by-over-7-trillion-per-annum-by-2040/
Figure 3 The power station is coal powered and what looks like steam is actually ash. The upgrading of the highway is a Belt and Road project
Mike has actually worked here and knows the economy pretty well. He pointed out to me various geographical signs and told me what they represented. In most cases mining – copper, gold and coal. We were pleased to drive on a long straight road in the process of being upgraded.
Eventually we reached Nur Sultan. This is the Kazakh capital, renamed from Astana on 23 March 2019 following a ‘unanimous vote’ in the Parliament. It was called Almolinsk till 1961, Tselinograd till 1992, Akmola till 1997 and Astana till this year when it was renamed after the ‘long serving’ President. It is a bit reminiscent of Dubai and one senses that some of the architects and planners who have worked in the Emirates have also worked here.
Figure 4 Obviously the renaming takes time….if you look behind the Merc the white sign still says Astana in large letters. Wonderfully appropriate cards from the Ambassador’s wife and the Economic Secretary….
Unusually we were greeted as we arrived at the hotel car park with a round of applause and the usual round of selfies and videos. And when we arrived at the hotel we were greeted with the news that a lady had been looking for us. The wife of the Ambassador, who is a close friend of one of Ianthe’s and my very close friends, had come to visit us with the economic secretary and left some wonderful good luck cards and some chocolate. It was really appreciated because the day hadn’t run exactly smoothly….
Our start had been delayed because the car wouldn’t start. Half an hour under the car and some sterling work hitting the fuel pump with a hammer got it going but half way down the highway the fuel pump gave up completely. Fortunately Mike, whose planning for this expedition has been brilliant, had a spare one. With the help of the road side support we replaced it fairly quickly in a couple of hours. It took us 100 metres before the car stopped again. Lots of testing and phone calls to the sweeps (mechanics) and we tried putting a fuel lead into one of our spare jerry cans. We quickly discovered that far from sucking petrol from the jerry can it was blowing bubbles into it…..the pump had been fitted the wrong way round! Another couple of hours later we were on our way, at a speed which discretion forbids us to disclose….