16 Nov 06
As in the Russian flatlands we've left behind, the road is mostly dead straight as it heads towards Kostanai, the first city and our stop for the night. Birch forests have given way to vast wheatfields; this was once the 'granary of the Soviet Union'. Kazakhstan is also rich in minerals - copper, zinc, bauxite, iron, coal (but not potassium, Borat) - and has lots of gas and oil. Freed from its past, it has the potential to become a very wealthy nation.
This straightness, and the lack of traffic, means that sticking to the 56mph limit on this single-carriageway road is a recipe for tedium and tiredness, especially in a car as smooth and capable as this E-class. The previous team members tried to stay economical as there's a bit of a competition as to who can use the least fuel, but eventually my patience snaps and the speed starts to climb. At 110mph the Mercedes is still rock-steady, as you would expect, and the view ahead is so clear that there's no danger at all while it's still light.
Dusk falls as we arrive in Kostanai, originally another Cossack settlement, and soon we're checking into the Hotel Tourist. I proffer my passport, as required in Russia. 'No need in Kazakhstan,' says the receptionist (a Slavic Russian; about half the country's population is non-native).
True to the Soviet past, there's a concierge on each hotel floor but nowadays she isn't spying on the guests. Also true to that past is the dominance of Cyrillic script, a script which seems almost wilfully to confuse. Take the Kazakh president's surname, NAZARBAEV. In Cyrillic it looks broadly like HA3APbAEB. Unlike in Russia, many of the major road signs are in both scripts, and the president intends that in three years' time there'll be no more Cyrillic, just Roman. That will be a gigantic task. Incidentally, the Kazakh language is in the Turkish family of languages and was originally written with Arabic characters.
This evening I'll fall into bad company and drink too much vodka as we work our way through at least six courses. It's a staple pastime in this part of the world, of course, but not a good one as Kazakhstan has a zero drink-drive limit. Dan will do first stint tomorrow.
