Kazakhstan - Toyota Carib, 1.8 liter, 2000

Greetings!
A short story about a trip to Kazakhstan.
I was asked by my mother to take her and her friends to Kazakhstan in the city of Semey (formerly Semipalatinsk) since the prices for fruits and things are lower there.
I’ll say right away the photo is not enough, since the whole day was like on a hot frying pan ... and so I’ll start.
Firstly, getting up early at 4:00 in the morning, in order to have time to get to the border before the passenger bus arrives there, as they are allowed out of the queue and inspected for a very long time, and you can stand at the border for 4 hours or more. short and fast road to the border, the
asphalt is new and
clean ;


inspection of the car, and the fluent one was not even asked to show the entire contents of the trunk.
further Kazakh customs.
entry pass passport control, car inspection and exit.
I will say right away that the Kazakhs are friendly people, they know to us Russians that we go to them to spend our rubles, and therefore they are glad to see us.
but the Kazakh cops, those bastards, for any violation, take away the rights and do not give them back until you give an impressive bribe, it is necessary to take out insurance for a car at the entrance, it costs 200 rubles. and is issued for 5 days, otherwise a fine or a bribe is provided. I think Russian cops treat Kazakhs the same way...

The road to Semsk in princepe is not long, only 111 km from the border, but that's what it is like, firstly, it's the first time I've been there, and secondly, it's a foreign country, and most importantly, it's in pits and covered with an ice crust! asphalt is almost invisible speed maximum 90 further scary.
interestingly, the temperature when passing the border was somewhere around -19, then it rose to -15 along the way, but sometimes the thermometer showed -25! I was shocked like -15 bang drove 10 km -25.

The city of Semey itself is normal, but here is the place of the bazaar! dirty, crowded and quite fussy.
all the roads are covered with snow and ice, only the main roads are more or less clean.
during the whole trip I was not stopped by more than one cop, I really thought that I was happy.

the fleet of Kazakhstan is old and fresh Germans with a left-hand drive, there are also Japanese with a right-hand drive, but there are fewer of them, since they have a ban on the right-hand drive, you can drive but you can’t make out. cars are both "ushatannaya in the trash" and brand new.

Russian ones are rare, but there are, mostly working horses that move around for no reason, by all standards they should crumble.
While waiting in the car, I caught the radio as it turned out that they had the Independence Day of Kazakhstan that day.

in general, we stayed there for about 5 hours, leaving the bazaar almost ended in an accident, an empty gazelle tried to leave the hillock and almost hit my front bumper. I am shocked.

stop at the exit of the city ate local dishes. the cuisine is delicious, there are delights, for example, horse meat broth ... like nothing like that, but tasty and interesting, salads and appetizers.
further expensive, but again fast to be in time for the evening bus at the border.
free passage across the border, easy inspection and the way home.
I spent a full tank of gasoline, which is about 1,000 rubles and 200 rubles for insurance.