Extortion in KazakhSCAM...

So we heard from all the travelers we encountered that had passed through Kazakhstan that the country was expensive, somewhat boring, the roads suck and the boarder agents and police were corrupt and will look for any reason to extort money from travelers and tourists.  The only reason to go there is to get somewhere else.  Even our Russian friends in Novosibirsk said "why" when we said we were going through Kazakhstan.  They actually said it many times to us.  Why - why go to Kazakhstan?  Nothing to see, bad roads, corruption.  Ken and I had paid $160 each in advance for our Kazakhstan Visas - right before the country announced in July Visas would no longer be required for US citizens.  We really didn't need to go - we could have gone north and around, but since we paid and Mark wanted to see the country we decide to go and spend one night in Petropavlovsk and then cross back into Russia.  It is actually a shortcut from a distance standpoint from Omsk to Moscow.  Probably longer when you factor in the boarder crossing time but we thought what the heck, let's go.

The fun started at the boarder crossing into Kazakhstan.  The boarder agent tried to say I committed some type of violation in the vehicle que while waiting in line to get one of the various stamps needed to get to the next station.  The "fine" was to be 3000 Rubles.  Ken and Mark both got their stamps and he was refusing mine unless I paid the bribe.  I flat out said I wasn't going to pay this BS bribe that amounted to about $100 USD.  We waited it out for about 20 minutes and the "fine" came down to 1000 Rubles.  I decided to pay it, got my stamp and we moved on to the immigration station.  While we were in the immigration line the agent came into the building and motioned Mark outside.  Aparently he got a bit spooked because Mark speaks some Russian and returned the 1000 Rubles and said it was a joke - yea right. 

We got through the rest of the various processes and a few hours later we were in  KZ.  We stopped at a Cafe for lunch a few clicks from the boarder and enjoyed some Kebabs and soup.  We then headed to Petropavlovsk to find a guesthouse or hotel for the night.

We got within about 3 km from the town and were pulled over by the police for a document check.  We had been stopped 3 times in Russia and figured it was coming at some point in KZ based on the reports we had heard from other travelers.  Well they asked for every document possible and finally found one we didn't have - the requisite liability insurance.  We had purchased it in all the precious countries as part of the boarder crossing process.  We couldn't enter the those countries with out it.  We never noticed anyplace selling insurance either inside or outside the boarder to KZ.  So now we have big problem.  The police said we can't rider the bikes without insurance and it cannot be bought in Petropavlovsk until Tuesday as it was now 5pm on Sunday and Monday was some sort of holiday.  They said the bikes would have to stay right there on the side of the road or impounded until Tuesday when we could buy insurance - neither choice a good option for us.  They suggested a third option which was to pay a "fine" of 21,000 RUB (about $550 USD) and drive to the boarder to get insurance.  We didn't have anywhere near that amount in RUB - but we all had emergency USD stashed on our bikes which we did not want have to dip into.  We waited it out and Mark sat in the police car and negotiated with one of the officers in Russian.  After about an hour we had a compromise - we would pay a 10,000 RUB ( about $270 USD) fine and exit the opposite western boarder about 50 km away.  We paid the fine and they escorted us out of town - or we surely would have been pulled over again as there were several more checkpoints we passed on the way out.  We rode the rest of the way to the boarder and held our breath as we passed another checkpoint - it would have surely resulted in additional "fines".  If they were to motion us over I think we would have just gassed it and taken our chances on the chase.

We got to the boarder and went the through the normal multiple show documents, stamp, next, show documents, stamp, next, etc. and were in Russia two hours later.  We basically spent about 6 hours in KZ - which was enough.  I'll never be back - the country is shit as far as I am concerned.  They are set up to extort money from tourists at every turn.  Every we met said the same.  Good luck KazakhSCAM - you will need it even though you just opened your boarders to the US and EU.

The only photo I have from inside KZ - my trusty bottle of Sriracha which I used at the lunch stop and carry because northern Asia seems to only have Ketchup for a condiment choice.  Chip likes his pelmeni spicy!