Almaty marathon
Conquer Europe and beyond
23.4.2017
Going to Almaty
Running in Almaty originates my earlier decision to visit all European
countries. Kazakhstan seemed an odd country in my list, far away, and
without any obvious motive to visit. So why not visit there just
for a marathon. Almaty is the old capital of Kazakhstan at the south east
corner close to Kyrgyzstan and China. Most importantly, they were going to
have a spring marathon in April.
Almaty is actually in Asia - even if the country itself is also
counted as a part of Europe. I would therefore be visiting an
European country by running a marathon in Asia. Kind of like
claiming to visit an Asian country by going to Istanbul,
but reverse. Anyway, it counts. Traveling that far
warrants also some thoughts about to visit somewhere else
in that area as well.
Few days before the trip I declared competition who will guess first where
I will run my next marathon. The only hint was that it will be in a
country where I have not visited before. Many creative guesses were soon
provided:
- Antarctic ice
- Bhutan
- Inca trail
- Mongolia
- Serbia
- Graceloppet
- Warsaw
- Silk road marathon in Kyrgyzstan
Silk road theme
All guesses were valid in terms that I had not visited any of those.
The silk road was the closest bet. I travelled via St.Petersburg.
While on my way I published few extra hints like showing the picture of
the flight status monitor at Pulkova airport. Nobody still got it.
However, soon after arriving to my next stopover, Tashkent, Olli Toivola
declared his answer with high self-confidence: "This is easy one.
Almaty Kazakstan. Answer is locked". So the race was on!
Flight status monitor at Pulkova
First stop - Tashkent
The capital of Uzbekistan was my first stopover in the Central Asia.
This ex-Soviet country was the only place I needed to prepare Visa
beforehand. To make things smooth I had followed the hotel
recommendation of the travelling agency and ended-up living in
this colossal Soviet era hotel called Hotel Uzbekistan.
Hotel Uzbekistan
I had night flight and arrived early morning 3:20 or something.
The first contact to the country was the taxi driver who seemed eager
to exchange some currency. Every possible compartment in his car had
huge piles of Uzbekistan banknotes, which he was more than willing to
exchange to dollars or euros. The currency seemed highly inflated.
The highest banknote was 5000, worth some 50 sents, so you can imagine
the height of the pile needed for paying anything more serious like the
hotel room. Being a suspicious mind I did not took any of his generous
offer even if his rates clearly exceeded the official exchange rate.
Tashkent impressions
Despite Tashkent been a nice place to visit with sunny and summery weather,
I stayed there only one and half days. I explored the city by two
short morning jogs but then moved on. I arrived Almaty Friday afternoon
under heavy rain. The city was big. If the Tashkent taxi driver was
business-oriented, the Almaty taxi driver had a different set
of skills - rally driving. The downtown was not only large but also
cursed by heavy traffic. The driver jumped the line practically in
every
intersection. He kept driving on the tram rails and opposite lanes.
Every block! He was clearly annoyed by the traffic and did not want to
waste any unnecessary time in it.
First I wanted to calm him down by saying that no hurry. Then
I realized he was actually doing a good job. I mean, how many times you
would expect someone driving the wrong lane and successfully managing
to squeeze back in his own lane just before the red lights? He did it
every single time. So I let him do his job and focused on mine:
sight-seeing. I just wonder how did he get away being fined by police?
Although huge, Almaty turned out to be rather nice and relaxed
place after getting out of the traffic. I stayed in a hostel near
Gagarin avenue 2 km from the center. The heavy rain kept me
inside for the rest of the day. Next morning I first explored the
neighborhood by doing a short 3 km jog, and later went to the
marathon expo using the good old Russian way: people's taxi.
After getting my things done at the expo, I had a slow sight-seeing
walk tour back to my hostel. I anyway came here just for the marathon and
the longer 42 km sight-seeing waited next day. But even a short 3 km walk
can teach you a lesson or two about the local culture. I learned about
law-and-enforcement.
After Mopsifying the Drama theater I realized I wanted to cross the busy Abay avenue
but could not see where to do it. I looked left, I looked right, but I could not see
any pedestrian crossing or underpass. So I decided to cross the street by traditional
divide-and-conquer method: wait for a pause in the traffic flow and then squeeze in
and walk to the half-way. Then repeat the process for the other side. Done.
Except that I walked straight towards the traffic police standing on the other
side right along my path!
Game of poker near drama theater
The traffic police was very eager to educate me about the traffic rules
in Kazakhstan. He invited me downstairs to the underpass tunnel. Yes,
there was one! I completely missed it. It was located - not to the
left or to the right - but behind my back. If I just had eyes in my
neck I would have seen it. In the tunnel there was also metro
station and - to my surprise - tiny police station. So there we went
for an educational lesson about traffic laws.
It was like a poker game where all dialogue was made in Russian.
I clearly understood most arguments. Like that crossing the
street was very very dangerous and a big offense according to law.
They pointed out an appropriate clause from a law book.
I also understood that this offense was worth 5 penalty
points, each worth 3000 Tenges. This would sum up to 15000
Tenges (about 36 euros). So the prize for the game was set.
I then tried to use the card "I did not see the underpass" but
it was clearly worth nothing in this game. When they started to enquire
which hotel
I was staying I used the "I am a poor student" bluff by throwing
the "I live in a hostel" card. Luckily I did not choose Ritz-Carlton.
I tried the "phone my hostel" card to solve out our communication
problems but this initiative was very fast over-ruled by the "no signal"
card. It was backed-up by a suggest to try it myself. I was just about to
pull out my good old Nokia C5 from my pocket to verify the claim,
but then I remembered I had left it in my hostel, and instead, was
carrying my travel buddy, the iPhone. It might have cancelled my
poor student card so I had to bluff and tell I had left my phone to
the hostel.
Loco hostel somewhere inside these buildings
The poker gamed continued about half an hour. The end result was
pretty clear and it was merely question about how
much and how long. I tried to speed-up the negotiations by asking
"i tebya ili bank" (to you or to bank). One moment when the
details were discussed I even took my wallet out for sight clearly
showing one of the bigger note (10000) and few smaller ones (2000).
Luckily the ATM had rejected my withdrawal attempt and I was not
loaded by cash. However, the officer refused any cash payment at
this moment and kept on talking about the bank.
Despite my Russian is at pretty elementary level, I did understood
most of their information except one sentence was too confusing.
The officer showed
"flying" gesture argumented by the keyword "Finland",
and then crossing his hands (denial sign) at the end. This part
I refused to understand ("ne ponimaju") - what and earth
might he have meant by that. I concluded it was just a bluff
anyhow. 
Flying gesture (left) and Declined gesturer (right)
The process then seemed to get stuck at the payment practices.
To me it was not so big deal whether I was resting at the hostel,
or here at the police station having nice educational chat
with the officers. But then again, I would prefer to move on
sooner than later. Cash payment was already refused but the
official paper work for the bank payment was not progressing either.
He pretended to get started filling the official forms several
times but never wrote even a single word in it. So the game was
in a kind of dead end and I did not know how to proceed. I also
played my second ace, "the marathon card", twice. I told
them I would be running tomorrow and showing "exhausting"
gesture to emphasize its importance.
I am just a marathoner
At some moment, showing frustration, took the two notes (one big
and one small) and put them carelessly on the table asking once
more "bank ili tebya?". This time the officer took the
smaller banknote and returned the bigger one back to me.
So the correct fee was then settled (about 6 euros) and the
fat lady had finally sung. He theatrically pretended to rip the
official form that he never actually even started to fill.
We shook hands for friendships. However, I was not content.
I felt they owed me something more, so I requested them to
tap on my shoulder and wish me good luck for my marathon tomorrow.
They acted accordingly and the show was over. I was free to go.
Of course I was pissed off. The last time I remember someone
had asked bribe was at Amman airport security but at that time
I got away simply by looking so stunned that the gorilla
simply backed-off after seeing my face expression. This
time the show took longer and the result was expected.
No big deal, annoying, but anyway something to remember
and write a small story here. Penalty for breaking the
traffic rules probably deserved but the theater show was
a bit too much. Anyway, time to focus on the marathon now.
First president plaza - the start place of the marathon
Marathon
Next morning I took the good old people's taxi again and had
a ride with another runner and her family to the start place.
There was beautiful mountain scenery at the background, actually
the first time that I saw any mountains during this trip.
I spotted few other Finns - Häjyt - three old timers and
marathon collectors. Mauri Volama told me about their Country Marathon Club.
The entrance requirement was to have run marathon in 30 different
countries. They also had 100-club which requires one completing
100 marathons in total. I later counted my statistics: 39 marathons
in 17 different countries. I did not yet qualify.
Häjyt viivalla - Finnish Club-30 marathon collectors
The race went on nicely. The route went to north east along the
Al-Farabi avenue and kept descending (180 meters in total).
I realized that what is going down must come back up.
Eventually the route made U-turn and returned back exactly the
same way. Despite the uphill part my run continued smoothly.
On the way back there were more scenery views towards the mountains.
Pictures along the first half of the marathon route
The route passed the start place and continued west before
making semi-circle towards north along the Salin street, and
then again towards east along the Abay avenue. At the drama
theater, I was very tempted to stop and greet the traffic
police guys who fined me 6 euros yesterday:
"look, I am now running in the middle of the street".
More marathon pictures taken by good old Nokia C5
The last stint passed-by the Expo and continued few more kilometers
to east before returning to the sport stadium behind the expo.
I had no idea about my speed and was pleasantly surprised to see
3:14 on the clock when crossing the finish line. My net time was
3:13:46. About 6 minutes faster than in the previous Malta marathon,
and only 1 minute slower than Tallinn last year. Almaty route was
also hillier than either of those two. I was content with the result.
Finish line and a few strong guys.
Statistical summary
Time: 3:13:46
Rank: 47 / 835
Weather: 17 C
Complete results
Moving on
I did not stay to celebrate my newest marathon achievement as I had booked
a flight to Bishkek in the same afternoon. Almaty was nice but it was time
to move on.
Getting back to the airport was smooth and no rally taxi this time.
Inspired by the good result, I declared bonus quiz in FB to predict
in which country I would appear tonight. Olli Toivola, the winner of
the original quiz, was on fire and made sensible prediction:
"Turkey or in Russia. Russia sounds so obvious that destination
must be Istanbul Turkey". And guess what, it almost happened!
Boarding to... Istanbul or Bishkek?
Bishkek!
Russia indeed would have been too obvious so that was not it. Istanbul
was a very good guess and it was actually a close call. There were two
flights (Istanbul and Bishkek) departing at the neighboring gates (1A and 1B)
both using bus transportation downstairs. Somehow I managed to enter to
the wrong bus, and already climbed the stairs to the Istanbul plane
before a sharp-eye official asked me: Istanbul or Bishkek?
Ouch, wrong plane!
They asked me to step aside. After a few walkie-talkie calls they
managed to get me VIP transportation to the Bishkek plane located
at the other end of the field. I was the last one to board and
everone else were already having drink service due to the unexpected
"delay" or whatever. I tried to sneak into my place like nothing happened but it was not left unnoticed.
The last minute VIP entrance apparently made an impression and soon
some Kirgisian guys started to make curious questions about my
business in Kyrgyzstan. Erkin, the one who wanted to become my new friend,
was the leader of the Green party in Kyrgyzstan. He also had sharp eye
as he immediately reconized that I am a Finn. He showed pictures with
Pekka Haavisto, Raimo something, and a bunch of VR personell. He have
had some project in St.Petersburg related to Allegro trains.
After I confessed that I am just a tourist they laughed. However,
they refused to believe it and later kept on asking what kind of
tourist business I was going to introduce in Kyrgyzstan.
The flight went smoothly as I slept most of it. After arrival my new
friend Erkin insisted to offer a drive to the city. He also invited
me to his party. I was not sure did he meant a celebration or a visit
to the Green party office in Bishkek. However, I had some urgent work
duties to do (project application needed revisions) so I had to
prioritize work. I also did not want to get too much involved in
anyone's hospitality as I wanted my own freedom to explore the
city my own way. Anyway, I got the ride, made new friends, and
settled to my new AirBnB flat in Bihskek.
Later in the night I went to have a super good dinner in Ugolog
restaurant. The only one accepting euros! I had missed the change
to change euros at the airport and all banks and currency exchanges
were already closed in the city. But it tasted super good.
A tasty and well deserved dinner
Next three days I enjoyed the city. Originally Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan
looked the least interesting destination in my trip, and I was
going to pass it fast. However, there was a very limited number of
flights to my next planned destination (Dushanbe), the earliest
was only in Wednesday. That is why I endend up having longest stay
in Bishkek. However, contrary to my expectations, I liked the city.
It was nice, relaxed, green, and the weather was like a bride
(sää oli kuin morsian), like early summer in Finland.
I anyway looked more for peaceful time rather than
fireworks and excitement. It was time well spent.
Dushanbe or not
My final destination was supposed to be Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.
Although I had planned only a short one day stopover, I was really looking for
this visit. The city is in the middle of mountaneous area, and I remember it
from the movie Spies like us.
In this comedy, Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd acts as two decoy agents who are
seeking their way to Dushanbe. Not sure if they ever reached there but it was
fun to watch, and they made Dushanbe sound just a bit more exotic place to go.
Road to Dushanbe
But I missed it! When I arrived to Bishkek airport, the head honcho of the
airport taxi came immediately to me and asked where I was going to.
Dushanbe. He pointed out the monitor: cancelled. Ouch!
I would miss the country completely. I had no plan-B to get there
early enough to catch my return flight to St. Petersburg. After exploring
the alternatives, I came up with a plan-C: Ala-Archa.
Ala-Archa
So my new plan was to fly later in the same evening back to St. Petersburg.
There was two possibilities: (1) Aeroflot via Moscow; (2) Air Kyrgyzstan
5 hours direct flight. The latter one was banned to fly in the European Union.
Nevertheless, they did cover St.Petersburg, and I preferred a direct flight.
As a result, I had now extra hours to spend in Bishkek. The taxi honcho promoted
to rent a car and driver to the city and back. I negotiated an offer to go to
Ala-Archa mountains instead. It was little bit further from the city but I had
time.
More Ala-Archa
Ala-Archa
is a beautiful alpine national park in the Tian Shan mountains. I made an
1,5 hours running tour in the canyon and a mountian trail. Quick shower in
the Ala Archa hotel and then returning to the airport. The eagle guy at the
gate was persistent to get me posing with his eagle despite that I was scared
his scary sharp nails just few centimeters from my arm. Anyhow, the Ala Archa
park was worth to visit and my compensation for missing Dushanbe. Time to go
home.
Posing with the sharp nail eagle
The Air Kyrgyzstan was some old Airbus 330: plenty of leg space but less
for arms. I had the middle seat. The window guy had body like
a Sumo wrestler. No doubt who would have the armrest during this flight;
it was merely a question how much air space his body would conquer from
my side of the bench. Luckily the isle guy was a thin Sudoku player so
I settled to the left side of my bench and focused on my paper works.
Despite the seemingly unpleasant setting, the flight was convenient
and I spent the entire 5 hours efficiently completing all three papers
(student thesis, manuscript, paper to review). Again a proof that
airtime can be very efficient for working; no emails, knocking on door
or web surfing distractions.
Gala fitness klub
Missing Dushanbe meant one extra day in St. Petersburg before returning
to Finland. I spent the next day easy and explored parts of the city that
I was less familiar with. Visited a Gym, although somewhat expensive for
one-time visitor (15e). Rest of the day I just wondered the city by walking
and explored some cafes and restaurants. Summer had not yet arrived to
St. Petersburg but this city is worth to visit anytime. Time well spent.
Overall, I really enjoyed this trip a lot - every single place I visited.
The colossal Soviet style mega hotel, the hostel in Almaty, private flat
in Bishkek all were different but all excellent choices in their own way.
What can I say more: thank you Tashkent, Almaty, and Bishkek. And I will
catch you later, Dushanbe.
