Det sidste blogindlæg

Først og fremmest vil jeg ønske en-eller-anden i Kazakhstan tillykke med hans/hendes nye HP Elitebook 2530, som er en ganske god og ret dyr laptop computer. Jeg antager også at denne her er en af de første laptops i Kazakstan med et norsk keyboard, så pas godt på den. Desværre er BIOS låst med mit fingeraftryk, så venligst kontakt mig, og jeg skal sender min finger med posten.

Som nogle af de kvikkere læsere vel allerede har regnet ud, er vi blevet bestjålet. Tabet er på adskillige tusinde dollars, men det værste er at vi ikke kan uploade mere tekst, billeder eller videoer. The manglende udstyr er som nævnt laptoppen, og dertil kommer et videokamera, en telefon, en Ipod samt nogle andre ting der var gode at have. Alle tingene var håndplukket til denne tur, og af god kvalitet. Så medmindre en venlig person sponsorerer os med nyt udstyr, eller der er nok der donerer penge til en laptop m.m., kan man kigge forbi på hjemmesiden om et halvt års tid og se de næste opdateringer.

Så hvordan skete det så? Vi sov i et hus, aldeles ædru, med alt udstyret én meter fra sengen. Nogen brød ind og stjal hvad der lige var at komme til, utroligt nok uden at vække os – hvilket måske var udmærket, så personskader blev undgået. Til gengæld var det et stort show da politiet mødte op 8 mand høj + en hund, i to biler. Hunden var nu mest interesseret ikatten, men de undersøgte rummet grundigt og tog det i det hele taget ret seriøst. Vores lokale venner sagde det var straffen for at have sagt nej tak til vodka den dag.

Mange tak til Nikolay og Askar for al deres hjælp med dette. Vi ville have været serøst fuckede, da ikke mange politifolk her taler engelsk.

Da dette er det berømte sidste blogindlæg, er her planen for den nære fremtid: Først tager vi til en festival i Burabay denne weekend, så op til Rusland et par dage. Vi når sandsynligvis Mongliet i midten eller slutningen af næste uge. Det første vi gør dér er at krydse Gobi ørkenen, hvor det nok vil tage 10-15 dage at køre de ca. 2200 kilometer, før vi er tilbage i Ulan Ude. Defra kører vi mod vest (...prof. Tournesol.....) til bailkalsøen, og så østpå til Vladivostok, som vi håber at nå sent i august. Vi vil så prøve at få maskinerne luftfragtet til Anchorage, Alaska, fra Japan eller Korea.

Nå, alt i alt er vi stadig glade, vi har maskinerne or er sunde og raske. Detil kommer at det manglende udstyr sparer os for mindst 20 timers arbejde om ugen. Kazakhstan er stadig et fedt sted med fine mennesker og meget at se, så da tyveriet kunne være sket alle andre steder også, vil jeg stadig varmt anbefale et besøg i landet.

P.t. er den nemmeste måde at nå os at ringe til mig på +77778339630, eller email til tormod.amlien@gmail.com.

Adios hombres,

Tormod

The last blog entry

First and foremost I’d like to congratulate somebody in Kazakhstan with his/her new HP Elitebook 2530, which is a very good and quite expensive lap top. Also, I assume this is one of the first lap-tops in Kazakhstan with Norwegian keyboard so take good care of it. Unfortunately BIOS is locked with my fingerprint, so please contact me and I will send my finger by mail.

As some of the readers belonging to the intelligentsia might have already realized, we have been looted. Total loss is quite a few thousand dollars, but worst thing is that we will not be able to upload any text, pictures and videos any more. Missing equipment is as mentioned the lap top, as well as a video camera, a compact camera, a telephone, an Ipod and quite a few very nice to have items else wise. All items were hand picked for the trip and was very good stuff. So, unless some kind soul sponsors us with new equipment, or enough people donate contributions to new equipment please drop by the site again in a half years time for latest updates.

So, what did really happen? We were sleeping in a house, totally sober, with all the equipment one meter from the bed. Some intruders came and took what was easily accessible, and incredibly enough we did not wake up. Maybe just as well as it did not get any injuries. Anyhow, it was indeed a great show when the police showed up. They came with eight guys, two cars and one dog. The dog were most interested in the cat though. They dusted the entire room and took the job very serious. Our local friends said it was punishment for that we said no to vodka that day.

Thanks a lot to Nikolay and Askar for the help with dealing with the matter, without help like that you’re fucked here as hardly any in the police speak English.

As this is the famous last blog entry, here’s the plan for the future. First we’ll go to Burabay for the festival this weekend, then back to Russia for a couple of days. We’ll reach Mongolia probably mid or late next week/ The crossing of the Gobi Dessert will take place as some of the first thing we do in Mongolia, and total travel time here will be 10-15 days, a distance of about 2200 kilometers before coming back to Ulan Ude. From Ulan Ude we go west to Lake Baikal, and then east to Vladivostok. ETA Vladivostok is late August and we’ll try to get airfreight from Japan or Korea to Anchorage.

Well, all in all we’re still happy, we still got the bikes and we’re in good health. Besides that, the loss of the equipment save us for at least 20 hours of work weekly. Kazakhstan is still a very good place to be with great people and sights, and this could happen anywhere in the world so I still highly recommend to visit this country.

To reach us now the easiest way is to phone me at +77778339630 or mail me at tormod.amlien@gmail.com

Adios hombres,

Tormod

CSI at the scene

Eftyer politiets undersøgelser var overståede, købte Nikolay en flaske Brandy at fejre det med. Vi skålede for den forsvundne laptop og hyggede og udmærket. man kan ikke lade et simpelt tyveri ødelægge en hel solskinsdag i Astana.

After the investigaton was over Nikolay bought a bottle of brandy to celebrate. We toasted for te gone lap top and had a really good time. You can not let a simple burglary destroy an entire day in sunna Astana