Taxi!!!

I took this shot because of the kid hanging out the window, but it is surrounding by several good examples of cars in Shymkent.

            Before moving to KZ we decided that we would not buy or rent a car. We had read that it’s very easy to get around town by hopping on a bus or hailing a taxi. After we arrived and spoke to several people we found this to be the best choice.

            KZ is trying hard to rid the country of all the old cars that still clog the streets. There are a lot of Soviet made cars from the ‘80s still making their way around Shymkent, which is kind of cool in a way because you only see those in the movies, right? Well, anyway, the cost of a used car is the same as buying a new car (again, they are trying to get rid of the old ones, so might as well buy a new one for the same price!), so even buying a cheap car is out of the question.  When we lived in Abu Dhabi we rented a car from Thrifty Rental for $550 a month and that seemed to work out well for us because public transport and taxis were not easy to get on the edge of town where we lived. I haven’t seen any hint of rental companies in Shymkent (that doesn’t mean they don’t exist), so the idea of renting a car has not yet crossed my mind.

            We are down to hailing a cab or riding the bus. I’m not a big fan of riding the bus but several of my co-workers claim that it’s not too bad. For the most part the buses arrive at the stops in a timely manner (I have not seen a printed schedule – maybe there’s one at the bus stop?!?!), and tend to drop them off on time near the school. Some days the bus can be overly crowed, some days there’s no one on board. It costs 50 tenge (approximately 32 cents) to ride anywhere in town. Essentially you can hop on the bus and ride it all day (as long as you don’t get off) for pennies!

            I quite enjoy riding in taxis. You never know who is going to pick you up and many of them are curious about the fact that you’re a foreigner living and working in Shymkent (they are used to people visiting on business trips or just passing through, but very rarely living here). Every one speaks Russian or Kazakh so communication becomes a little stunted, but we manage to at least get where we need to be without a lot of small talk. Also, riding in a taxi is quick – no stops every block, like on the bus.

            Hailing a taxi is an interesting experience in itself. Basically, you step to the curb and put your hand out. Any Joe-Schmoe driving his car may stop for you; not every car you get in is a taxi, per se, but it is someone’s vehicle. You just lean over into the car and tell them where you need to go. They either agree to the location or not, if so, you negotiate a price. If not, you walk away and hail a new car. Sometimes when you walk away they will tell you to come back and then accept your price. We’ve found that we can get just about anywhere in town for less than 500 tenge (approximately $3.24); this includes my school which is about 4 miles from our apartment. My co-worker and I usually share a taxi and split the costs. She’ll pay in the morning and I’ll pay in the afternoon. I was curious about the calculations and the total monthly cost for riding in a taxi everyday – is it worth it? So here’s the numbers (if you like that sort of thing!):

One day (while riding with co-worker): 500 tenge ($3.24)

One week (with co-worker): 2500 tenge ($16.20)

One month (with co-worker): 10,000 tenge ($64.80)

She was away in Europe for two and I had to pay for the ride both ways. This has doubled my cost, so for 2 weeks riding by myself I will paid 10,000 tenge ($64.80). The cost can fluctuate a bit, sometimes it will cost 600 or 700 tenge to ride to school because it’s in the middle of nowhere and the driver is afraid he won’t be able to find a fair back into town. To be safe I’ve calculated that I will spend anywhere between $70 and $135 dollars each MONTH to go to and from school. When I start to compare those numbers to what I was spending to drive in the US or in the UAE the numbers are staggering!!

I’m sure that as you read this you are trying to calculate your own costs in your head. The government standard for payout of using your own car for travel is $0.565 per gallon, so calculate how many miles you travel per day and add it up for a whole month – I used 5 day weeks with 4 weeks in a month above. Levi and I used to drive around 100 miles per day, so that total monthly cost for us would be around $1,130 (just calculating to and from work every day)!!! This means that I’m saving $1,000 a month to take a taxi everyday in a foreign country. Too crazy!

One of the more interesting things about hailing Joe Schmoe to pick you up is you never know what type of car you may ride in. Last week I had the privilege of riding in a Lada – a Soviet made car, easily from 1972. I really wanted to ask the driver if I could take a picture of the inside of the car. There was a bench seat in the back, and no seatbelts to be seen (maybe that’s partly why they want to eliminate the old cars?). The car was clean, but was a bit slow. I’ve had the chance to ride in Mercedes Benz’s and Audi’s but old ones that barely run. Most of the cars are very run down and sometimes I wonder if I’ll make it home or have to walk. But it seems that they take pride in their cars, so they are kept clean and look nice, there is a spray and wash on almost every corner. Also, I’ve only had male drivers stop to pick me up, so I’m not sure that females aren’t too inclined to be picking up strangers (good on them!).

Hailing a taxi doesn’t take too long in the mornings. After 7 weeks I’ve managed to find the “sweet spot” outside my apartment where it never fails to get a taxi in a timely manner. I’ve never waited longer than 10 minutes for someone to stop and usually am able to get the first car out. Later in the day, the area in front of our apartment building swarms with taxis. That makes it easy for Levi to grab one for weekly Russian lessons at the school or where ever else he may need to go.

We do not take taxis every where though. Not only would the cost start to add up, but it would be ridiculous to take a taxi 5 blocks to our favorite grocery store. So far, it has been easy for us to strap on our backpacks and walk over to grocery shop. We don’t need to buy a lot of things at the store because they are several smaller markets around us that supply more everyday goods. We also walk to the open air marker behind our row of apartment buildings. We walk to restaurants and to meet co-workers to get a beer or two.

Overall, transportation, whether by taxi, bus, or on foot, has been quick and easy for us. I do not foresee renting a car in our near future!

69 dude! (bus that is)

            This weekend was a great time for us to take an epic bus ride! We had the idea to just hop on a bus and ride it for the entire route, Sunday was our chance. The bus stop is right outside of our building, and we constantly hear them pulling up and yelling out their destinations. Since they yell in Kazakh it’s very difficult for us to understand where they are going, but we figured it’s an adventure and doesn’t really matter.

The front view of the bus. (I know it says 76, but the other side says 69)

            We stood on the curb watching a few buses come by that were pretty full – not our ideal situation to be squished on a bus when we’re trying to take in the view. Finally, number 69 came rolling up and we took our chance. We found a great spot to stand by the window and take in the sights. Once the bus pulled away from the curb the ‘yeller’ came through to collect the fare. It cost us $0.66 for both of us. He made small talk and asked where we were from and we explained that we are from America and that I’m there to teach. He smiled and moved on to collect other fares.

Graffiti - I have no idea what it's about.

            We’ve seen this bus pass by the big mall, Mega, so we had an idea of where we’d be off to at first. There are only 2 stops to Mega, so we know that in the winter, when it’s icy, this bus will be ideal to take for grocery shopping.

            Only a few blocks past Mega the bus took a right turn and we headed into familiar territory. Two of my co-workers live on the street, pretty far down, but we recognized it right away. So we’ve made another note of where we might take this bus if needed.

An interesting building. Love the colors!

            It followed that street pretty far before taking a left. Now we were in unknown territory. What could it behold?

            We were on the outskirts of the city, so the shops became fewer as houses started to take their place. We could see large houses with high gates and we could see smaller houses smooshed together side-by-side. I started to think that maybe this ride would be boring and uneventful, but I was wrong. The bus was caught in a slow-moving traffic jam with a lot of horn blaring. As we inched along a huge market came into view. It looks very similar to the one behind our apartment, but much larger. Both sides of the street were crammed with cars, while shops and people lined the road. There wasn’t really a bus stop, per se, but the bus just stops in a general area on the road and people run over and jump on.

            Since we were just having a look as to where the bus was going we didn’t jump off to check out the market. The bus moved on through some back streets that were part of several neighborhoods, but as we emerged from that area we found ourselves driving along the road near the airport. Although the bus only stayed on that road for a short time it gave us a better idea as to where we were. There is a huge, white mosque on the side of the road that we were unable to get pictures of, but would like to go back and check out (we can’t go inside, but to get some pictures would be nice).

            The last stop for the bus (before starting back on it’s return route), is a small market near the mosque. All of the shops are in an enclosed building and a few make-shift shops are directly across the street.

            Overall, this bus route wasn’t too bad. It can get us to some key places and some interesting markets. Next week we’ll try a different bus with a different route and hopefully discover something new.

            As we returned back towards Mega we jumped off the bus and went walking up the street. We’d heard tell that there is a fast food burger joint whose burgers are pretty similar to home. About 3 blocks up we found it. Inside was packed with people. There were only about 12 tables, each big enough for 4-6 people. Behind the counter a lady was taking orders so we placed ours and took a seat. We watched as a worker slowly carved meat off of a schwarma stand and lay it in piles on a baking sheet. On down the line they were stuffing the meat, cucumbers, tomatoes, mayonnaise into tortillas and grilling the whole bit ready for eating. It looked pretty awesome, but we’d come for burgers. Once our order was ready we realized that we should have just taken a seat and they would have taken our order at the table. Oh well! We sat with our ‘to-go’ bag at the table and they brought us proper glass plates for our food. The burgers were better than we’ve had in other places in the city, and enough to hit the spot, but there was something missing that I can’t quite put my finger on. At least I know there’s a place I can go if I feel the need for some good [sic: nasty] fast food!

A Burger Land worker preparing to cut schwarma.

            After eating we walked a bit further up the street to hunt for the bowling alley. It was only about 2 blocks up and looked just like any other bowling alley. Right next door is a 24 hour karaoke bar and on the other side is some other type of pub. Across the street was an Italian and Chinese restaurant.

            All in all, our excursion produced some good resources for a future time. Shopping, bowling, karaoke, and drinking – you can’t go wrong!

Graffiti on our walk.