Up in Smoke

Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Saturday, October 11, 2014.

My flight landed in Almaty, Kazakhstan around 5 a.m. It was still dark outside when I entered the meeting area with all the taxi drivers and I couldn’t find a sign with my name on it. (I had asked the hotel I had a reservation at to send a driver since I’d be arriving at an odd hour.)

ME TEXTING HOTEL: Is the driver here?
HOTEL: yes
ME: I don’t see a sign but I am by the door next to the cell phones in a green hat
HOTEL: hi he has been waiting for you 40 min and he said he didn’t find you and left
ME: The plane was delayed and immigration took 25 min.
HOTEL: and Eric there is a hassle in our hotel. At night there is a fire has occured in the hotel. we are here if you want you may come here. to the hotel. we are outside of the hotel

I took a taxi on my own to the hotel as the sun started to lighten the sky slowly. My initial thoughts on approach to the city were that it’s a lot more developed than I thought. I mean, I had heard that it’s a lot more modern than what Borat would make you believe, but this was really modern with good roads and fancy skyscrapers.

My hotel, the Mark Inn Hotel & Hostel, was another story. I had missed the overnight fire by a few hours. When I arrived, the fire department was still there and there was smoke still coming out of the windows. The place was trashed, and I felt bad for Rahat, the person I’d been in contact with, and her colleagues.

Fortunately, she put me up in an alternate “hostel” nearby, which was not really a hostel, but a nice apartment in a residential high-rise that some guy converted to accommodations for travelers.



The view from my substitute accommodation, some dude’s really nice apartment in a high rise building, with rooms he rents out.



My view of the Ritz-Carlton’s better view of the Zailiysky Alatau mountain range south of the city.


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This dispatch is one of over 70 travel dispatches from the trip grouped and titled, "The Global Trip: 'Stan By Me." It's an archived compilation of Instagram and Facebook posts which chronicled a trip through three countries in Central Asia: Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

Next entry:
Morning Drive

Previous entry:
Heading to Central Asia



THE GLOBAL TRIP GLOSSARY

Confused at some of the jargon that's developed with this blog and its readers over the years? Here's what they mean:

BFFN: acronym for "Best Friend For Now"; a friend made on the road, who will share travel experiences for the time being, only to part ways and lose touch with

The Big Trip: the original sixteen month around-the-world trip that started it all, spanning 37 countries in 5 continents over 503 days (October 2003–March 2005)

NIZ: acronym for "No Internet Zone"; a place where there is little to no Internet access, thus preventing dispatches from being posted.

SBR: acronym for "Silent Blog Reader"; a person who has regularly followed The Global Trip blog for years without ever commenting or making his/her presence known to the rest of the reading community. (Breaking this silence by commenting is encouraged.)

Stupid o'clock: any time of the early morning that you have to wake up to catch a train, bus, plane, or tour. Usually any time before 6 a.m. is automatically “stupid o’clock.”

The Trinidad Show: a nickname of The Global Trip blog, used particularly by travelers that have been written about, who are self-aware that they have become "characters" in a long-running story — like characters in the Jim Carrey movie, The Truman Show.

WHMMR: acronym for "Western Hemisphere Monday Morning Rush"; an unofficial deadline to get new content up by a Monday morning, in time for readers in the western hemisphere (i.e. the majority North American audience) heading back to their computers.

1981ers: people born after 1981. Originally, this was to designate groups of young backpackers fresh out of school, many of which were loud, boorish and/or annoying. However, time has passed and 1981ers have matured and have been quite pleasant to travel with. The term still refers to young annoying backpackers, regardless of year — I guess you could call them "1991ers" in 2013 — young, entitled millennials on the road these days, essentially.



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