"where is N?" i ask
"he is getting the tickets printed." replied our in-country coordinator.
we were sitting in N's car in the almaty train station parking lot. we had just arrived in almaty the night before and were immediately told that we should go to taraz. as we waited our program coodinator explained why we needed to get there right away. the problem was that because of the new years holiday all the plane and train tickets were sold out. but N, the coordinator's guy, could somehow score us some train tickets while we waited in the parking lot.
after some waiting, N appeared, grabbed one of our bags and practically ran into the station with them. we grabbed our remaining bags and went after him. he ran across the train tracks, then threw the bag under a standing train and crawled after it to the other side. me, mrs. noz and the coordinator did the same with our remaining bags.
on the other side, people were boarding the train. we weren't sure what to do because we still didn't have tickets. then a conductor and N appeared at one of the train doors and told us to get onboard. N. took us to a compartment, shoved our bags in the storage areas and then asked for money for the "tickets."
as mrs. noz paid, i said, "where are the tickets?" don't worry about it" said the coordinator. "this is normal in kazakhstan."
they left the train and we started to move. we had no tickets but they had gotten us on the train.
the problem with bribing your way onto a sold out train is that eventually someone will show up with a ticket for your seat. just a few minutes into the trip we stopped at the other almaty train station and that is just what happened. the conductor who helped bring us on the train mediated and found a seat for me in another part of the train. i moved several cars away from mrs. noz, while she stayed with our luggage in the original compartment.
ten minutes after i found my new seat, mrs. noz showed up. she said that a police officer had taken her passport and that he was demanding to see her husband. i was about to follow her when the conductor came by and promised to get back her passport without my help. they both went back to the other part of the train.
a few minutes after that, the police showed up at my compartment. they wanted to see everyone's passport and train ticket. all i had was my passport. they took my passport and had me follow them to a small room at the end of the car. for the next ten minutes i was crammed in that little room with an old cop and a younger cop. the older cop yelled at me in russian while the younger one glared at me. i thought the younger guy was going to hit me. all i did is repeat over and over that i didn't speak russian and did not understand. the younger officer sometimes would make a gesture with his hands like he was eating. it felt just like that time in samarkand in 2003.
at one point the older officer got on his cell phone and made a phone call. when he hung up and wrote "100$" on a newspaper. he pointed at the number and said something to me in russian. i put on the blankest look i could muster and said "no ruskie, i don't understand." the officer kept pointing and pointing, i just kept pretending that i didn't know what he was talking about.
eventually he gave up, tossed my passport back at me and let me go back to my seat. the rest of the trip was mostly uneventful (well, except for mrs. noz making friends with half the train).
