A Train Ride to Remember

Sunday evening we got on our train. And began to sweat. Our train car was sweltering!!! Once the train got moving the conductor opened a window at the very front of the car. We were assigned to the very last room in the car, so it did little to relieve the heat and humidity we were suffering in. We weren't initially able to get the male conductor to open the window in front of our door, but I was later able to communicate to the female conductor that I was sweltering and she made the other conductor come open our window.
Shortly after I fell asleep I was awakened by a loud slam. The male conductor had closed and was now locking the window. I think I was able to get it opened again, but can't remember if it was a few hours later or the next morning... I'm not exactly sure why the male conductor was so determined to keep the window closed. I know we weren't the only ones who were sweltering (the next day a guy was walking around in a pair of shorts--just a pair of shorts).

Can't you tell this poor kiddo is overheating?
I hope to get a closer picture one of these days, but this is a Muslim graveyard. We passed by a few, and although each is different, they were all pretty.
These cousins were our room companions. They were really nice guys, we were really lucky to be assigned to share a room with them, they often left to smoke, but didn't drink (alcohol) at all. Plus, the guy on the left is a father of two and was really good with Addie.

Semipalatinsk (Day 2)

We arrived in Semipalatinsk (yes, it's a mouthful) at about 11 a.m. and brought our luggage to a little holding room where we paid to have them hold our things, checked our next departure time (and discovered we had two more hours in Semipalatinsk than we thought) and then took off to explore Semipalatinsk.

Semipalatinsk is a city near the Polygon, an area of the steppe where the Soviet military exploded nearly 500 nuclear bombs in a 40 year time frame. The nuclear tests (and related radiation) definitely affected the locals during that period, there were numerous issues with cancers and birth defects. In 1989 there was a huge protest, called the Nevada-Semipalatinsk Movement, which helped to spur the end of the tests.

The region is also known for producing or hosting some major writers and teachers, and we were able to visit a museum for one in particular--Fyodor Dostoevsky. You probably know him best for his novels Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, but he wrote many more novels, short stories, novellas, etc. There are two buildings joined together for the Dostoevsky museum, one a more modern structure, the other the building is where his apartment was located when he was living in Semipalatinsk. The first building below is the apartment (he lived on the top floor):
Chris posing in front of the main section of the Dostoevsky Museum. You should probably be asking yourself, "How on earth did Dosteovsky end up in Kazakhstan??" Because it's a good question... and especially because I like the answer: he was exiled there! Technically, he was exiled to Siberia, but after spending five years there he was transfered to Semipalatinsk for a few more years. His experience there actually directly inspired several passages in The Brothers Karamazov. He was also able to get to know some of the noteable Kazakh scholars of the day, including Shokan Ualikhanuli... this statue is of the two of them.
A random tile mural on the side of a building, this is a remnant of the Soviet Union.
Crow city! We were walking through this park in the middle of the city and were amazed at the number of crows in the air and nests in the trees. This is just a sampling of how many nests were in these trees--and we believe they were all active nests! The sky was full of birds and our ears were filled with "kaws"... it was like we were living in the bird scene of The Wizard of Oz.We were able to have lunch in a Turkish cafe in the city (recommended by the Lonely Planet guide) that even Chris was pretty impressed with. After spending four months in Turkey Chris has quite a taste for Turkish food. Although Turkish cuisine is rather plentiful here in Almaty, authentic food is pretty rare. The menu at the cafe in Semipalatinsk was pretty extensive... and it's possible we ate way too much. We had a turkish rice pudding called "sutlac" that has left me craving rice pudding...

After lunch we headed back to the train station, tried to buy our tickets for the last leg of our trip (Astana to Almaty), and then gave up. We went to the tracks and couldn't figure out which platform to go to. When the platform was finally announced there was a train preventing us from getting to the correct track and we had just ten minutes before our train was due to depart. I was anxious which caused Chris to be anxious, but all was eventually resolved.

Separate Cars
When Chris purchased our tickets from Semipalatinsk to Pavlodar there was only one available coupe ticket. He purchased it for me and purchased the level down for himself. It is quite common to have parties traveling to one destination spread out in the various cars of the train as far as assigned seats are concerned. You are able to walk and visit with those in other cars, so we planned on Chris just visiting in my coupe for most of the time. Although the coupe was supposedly full, my room had only one other occupant, an older Russian woman (a babushka!), who was a nice travel companion for that leg of the trip. She didn't mind Chris hanging around, so he was able to enjoy mid-level comforts for the low-level price.

Our First Train Experience (Day 1)

Have you ever traveled on a train before? It is a common mode of transportation out here, but our experience this last week was my first.

As with planes, there are a few types of tickets you can purchase for traveling. We purchased coupe tickets, which are the mid-range mode for train travel. A coupe ticket gets you a bed in a room like this:
All the rooms in our train car looked like this, with four beds. Generally the four beds mean there could be four passengers, but children don't require a ticket, so there is definitely potential for a more crowded room.

Shortly before leaving Almaty we were joined by a nice young woman. At some point she was called out of the room by one of the two conductors for our car, and when she returned she removed her bags and went to another room. We weren't really sure what happened, but wondered if she didn't want to stay in a room with a baby, until Chris was asked to join the conductors in their room. There he was told that it was possible to assure us that no one would join us in our room if we paid a small price. Chris wasn't willing to pay the asking price and made a counter-offer (let's be honest, having your own room is nice) and then returned to me with his story.

Later in the evening Chris was again asked to join the conductors in their room, but he didn't go. It was late and he was tired and didn't feel much like going. During the night we had two passengers come and sleep in our coupe for short lengths of time at different intervals. Otherwise, the room was ours alone.

A glimpse into our room. We were assigned the beds on the left:
These beds on the right stayed mostly empty:
Views of the top bunks:

At the beginning of our journey:
The sleeping travelers:
Some of the sights from our window:

It is rather hard to snap pictures of what you want when you are speeding by... I was able to catch this herd of horses, but not the horse herder.
I believe this is Lake Kapshaghay, and Chris told me that the water is this amazing blue color because of silt.
Shepherds!
I love that this shepherd is sitting on a power box!