Episode 8

David's foot had swollen up some days ago and he had been taking some antibiotics for it believing it to be Cellulitis that he has had previously. As we got near Ishim he decided, seeing as the leg was no better that he ought to see a doctor about it so we drove into Ishim for that purpose.

The first person we saw to ask directions to the hospital was a fellow who told us to follow him as he was going there himself. That was real lucky because the hospital was on the opposite side of the town. He then took us into the hospital and up to the counter to register in order to get some medical attention. It was only a bit after 8am but the place was crowded. Despite this david was seen by a doctor reasonably quickly. The doctor poked at the foot and sent him off with an attendant who took him upstairs. If you’re wondering how a stuffed toy should know all this then I’m not going to tell you, you will have to work it out yourself.

The hospital was quite basic by Aussie standards, a bare concrete floor with cracks, hard metal chairs to sit on while you waited but the staff seemed quite efficient. When D came back we found that he’d been sent to x-ray, up 4 flights of steps. We all wonder just how someone got on with a broken leg or hip as there was no lift or easier way to get there.

The doctor saw the x-rays and said there was no fracture, we’ll we could have told him that but he didn’t understand any English unfortunately. He did decide that D had a torn ligament and the foot and leg were bandaged into a partial plaster cast. It seems that crepe bandages have not yet made it into the medical system here, as an ordinary gauze bandage was used. Despite our misgivings the foot does seem to have improved. D has no idea how he could have torn a ligament. Good job the car is automatic. The locals all had some sort of medial card that they presented at the counter and we expected to have to pay because we didn’t have one however, even though we offered to pay no one was prepared to take any money from us. That certainly would never happen in Aussie, even a stuffed toy would have to pay there.

A small group of nurses took us to a nearby hotel to get the internet but it wasn’t available there so they sent us off to a bigger hotel in the centre of town.

Took a lot of finding this hotel but eventually we did so, the sign was not large or clear. It was a very large hotel, probably built in Soviet days and apart from the modernized entrance was is quite poor shape with no obvious guests. The receptionist took L and D up 4 flight of stairs, D just managing them with the newly plastered leg and into the WIFI lounge. That’s an exaggeration really, even though that’s what it was called. It was a small room with 2 highly uncomfortable small seats, 2 power points, only one of which was serviceable and a potted plant (monsterio) that would love to emigrate to Australia. The WIFI worked well which is more than can be said for anything else in the place.

There was a toilet, it was 60m or more down a long dark, musty corridor towards the end of which you knew you were getting near because you could smell it. The window at the end provided the only light and ventilation. It certainly didn’t encourage one to rush down and book a room at this fine establishment. We did see several staff but never did clap eyes on any likely guests.

After Ishim we carried on to Omsk: Omsk turned out to be another quite pleasant city once we accidently came to the centre of it. I was taken into a very large and nicely decorated Russian Orthodox Church and given some religious instruction. There were many gold and silver icons that look quite new. There were even Icons painted on the chandeliers. The smoke from the many candles had not yet begun to blacken the paintwork. Whereas in many Orthodox churches they don’t really like visitors or tourists the lady here encouraged us to come in and look about, even me.

From Omsk it seemed a very long straight road nearly 700k’s to Novosibirsk. It was hot and dry again with a very thick haze of some sort. Maybe it is pollution or some sort of weather thing; it almost blocks out the sun and reduces visibility considerably, doesn’t smell of dust or smoke. The number of trucks on the road seemed to lessen after Omsk.

Well, despite D’s best efforts we never did find the city centre of Novosibirsk. We did however find a bank in which to change some money after a considerable amount of effort. It took 3 or 4 'mud’ maps, and a great number of verbal instructions and hand waving but we got there and it was still open too at 4.45 on a Friday afternoon. It was near a bus stop with a magazine stand and on the ground floor of a block of soviet era units and behind some thick trees that hid the sign, with almost no other businesses around it.

I also got to see the huge dam that is just upstream from the city. I wanted to sit of the wall of the promenade but L thought I might like to take a swim in the hot weather and wouldn’t let me. It looked all very nice this promenade and park beside the water, the thing that spoilt it most was the fact that there weren’t any toilets anywhere so all the large clumps of bushes and shrubs were used in their stead, most unsavoury: Below the wall is a large hydro station and after crossing the wall we then crossed a lock for river transport before joining the ultra heavy traffic along the eastern side. We joined the bumper to bumper traffic heading south towards Barnaul and the Altai, the traffic heading into Novosibirsk was even worse and continued bumper to bumper for many more k’s after our direction eased slightly.

We passed through Barnaul and went on towards the Kazakh border on an even hotter day, over 40c.

A few more points before we leave Russia: There is a vast amount of rubbish all along the road side everywhere. People dump anything and everything from household waste to industrial waste. In a few areas we had seen that people had been trying to clean it up with plastic bags filled and ready for collection by the roadside. Not sure when and if they will ever be collected. Often too there would be stacks of rubbish at a bin beside a bus stop as if people dump it there because there isn’t any residential collection. We did see some garbage trucks in the streets. The other thing is toilets: There often isn’t much in the way of public facilities and what there is often isn’t in a state that encourages use, that’s why clumps of bushes etc are so popular. Most of the public toilets are of the squat Asian variety but it seems to be presumed that because there isn’t any seat then they don’t need cleaning, believe me, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m glad I’m a stuffed toy and can’t smell

It was a hot Sunday lunchtime that we crossed into Kazakhstan. Being one of the more minor of border crossings there was little traffic so it only took about an hour. They still haven’t got me a passport, just as well no-one has asked for mine. We then continued south towards the small city of Semey which is near the old Soviet nuclear testing site known as the Kurchatov Polygon. As D and L and me too have no particular desire to ‘glow in the dark’ we didn’t linger here.

In Pavlodar we found a large city with wide streets and the usual rickety tram line down the middle. One of the sights of this city is the fairly new mosque. With minarets pointing skyward 64m high and a green painted dome that resembles a ‘’darlic’ from Dr Who it’s amazing how well the surrounding trees disguise it. I got my picture taken here before being whisked off to enjoy a lovely ‘shashlic’ (lamb kebab) and a cup of icy cold kvas for lunch. Kvas is a sort of home brewed cold drink made from bread in a similar manner to ginger beer, or so I’ve been told.

For those of you who are interested in Russia diesel was between 80c and 95cUS per litre 60+ eurocents. Here in Kazakhstan it’s a bit cheaper at 50 eurocents or a whisker under. Petrol is just a little more expensive in both countries. With massive oil deposits in the Caspian Sea Kazakhstan in set to become one of the world’s largest oil exporters within the next few years.

© Lynette Regan July 29th 2012