July 18, 2011
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The Silk Road Overland
Monday 18 July 2011
My plan for today was very simple. I was going to buy a flight to Aktau, Kazakhstan, when the travel agents opened, and then I was going to write an email to StanTours to see if they could help me book a train ticket from Aktau to Almaty. The plan for the rest of the day was to just relax and catch up with my blogging and my photos – while Bahrom went on a DIY-tour to some UNESCO sites around Armenia.However, the travel agent told me that the flight for Wednesday morning to Aktau was full and the next fight was in seven days. I must admit I was extremely surprised to hear this. Is really the Yerevan-Aktau route that busy?
Anyway, all my deliberations of whether I should try to resuscitate the overland element of my travels or not were suddenly meaningless. And I must admit I started to feel really despondent about the whole idea of travelling overland along the Silk Road. Will I continuously keep having problems with basic aspect of this journey like visas, bookings and tickets?! While I was checking other travel options online for Kazakstan – FlyDubai to Dubai and then AirArabia to Almaty? Train to Tbilisi and then flying Astana to Almaty? – I started to think that maybe I should just skip it all and just have a long, peaceful and uncomplicated holiday somewhere like Thailand or Mexico.
However, just before going to the train station to find out the schedule for the night trains to Tbilisi, I walked into a travel agent I happened to pass by and asked again about Aktau. “Sure, said the lady at the counter. We can book that ticket for you.” And that was that. Fifteen minutes later I had the ticket for Aktau. Wow, so my trip is still on. =)
StanTours says it’s difficult to book train tickets at this short notice but mentioned that if I had problems, there might be “crooks” outside the ticket office selling train tickets at a premium.
I’v never received advice like that from a travel agent before.The rest of the day was relaxing, though I did not have enough time to work on my photos. Also, the number of Welcome Home youth from the Armenian diaspora seems to increase by the day. In the evening there were dozens of Armenian youth from the US and France mingling in our little lobby, even though there are only 16 dorm beds in this hostel. Where do they all stay? Is our hostel a kind of headquarters for them?
I think it might be difficult to get a good night’s sleep tonight. We’ll see. Anyway, tomorrow is our last day in Armenia. We’re going on an 11-hour tour to see the monasteries and UNESCO sites Sanahin and Haghbat.
