My First Silent Film: Act III

As you may be aware by now, I recently tried to leave Kazakhstan three times. If you’re not aware of this, then this post will probably be completely out of context for you; I suggest that you start by reading my previous posts, Act I and Act II. This is the final of three acts, which describes the happenings and characters of the third, and final, crossing attempt. I hope by now that you see the potential of this as a silent film, and don’t think that my blog title is ridiculous. If you do, then please keep your thoughts to yourself; no one likes you anyway. Now, if I may, please allow me to introduce: Act III:

Act III: Jason, after failing to exit Kazakhstan his first and second time, makes friends with truck drivers and tries to leave Kazakhstan again.

Cast List (in order of appearance—not inclusive of minor roles):

1) Jason: Slightly rundown, 23-year-old male. He could use a shower.

2) Umid: 23-year-old Uzbek truck driver. He has a wife, a 6-month-old daughter, an exceptionally full unibrow, and a mustache that would put many men to shame. He is interested in American trucking habits and expenses, eager to learn English, somewhat vulgar, and frustratingly curious. He does not drink, though he has other vices—such as sugar consumption.

3) Nastia: Kazakh border guard currently employed in Korgas, on the Kazakh-side of the border with China, who does not want to have intercourse with Jason. She is a heavy text messaging user of emoticons, and appears to have some legitimate authority at the border crossing.

4).Truck Driver 1: Kazakh truck driver. He enjoys drinking and sharing vodka; his preferred brand is called “Heaven.” He is a heavy user of salt, but readily shares his meals with those around him.

5) Roman, the Trucker: Uzbek truck driver, not to be confused with Roman from Act II. He enjoys vodka, salt, and trucking. He knows some Basic English words.

6) Borhan: drives a taxi in Zharkent (from Act II). He really likes watermelon.

7) Kazakh Border Guard 1: Handles drug-sniffing dog. His habits regarding lewd jokes and playing with his partner, Drug-Sniffing Dog, do not change frequently.

8) Drug-Sniffing Dog: Partner of Kazakh Border Guard 1. His interests, much like his partner’s, do not readily change.

9) Timor: Somehow affiliated with a bus that drives between Zharkent and the Chinese-side of the border crossing. He has enough clout to decide who pays and who does not, but his exact role is highly ambiguous. 

10) Yang Lin: Absolutely miserable border agent.

11) Bus Driver: Drives bus (from Act I) between Zharkent and the Chinese-side of the border crossing. He does not change his clothes—ever.

(Early Evening. Inside the Kitchen/Dining Area of the Truck Stop from Act II: Korgas, Kazakhstan)

As Jason is eating his meal, he becomes the topic of conversation for the truck drivers sitting at the other two tables. After explaining that he is American and speaks some Russian, they become especially friendly; it’s obvious that they do not meet many Americans in their line of work. Eventually they finish their meal and leave to complete their trucking duties for the evening, and Jason is left to drink his tea alone.

He texts Nastia to enquires about is a cheap place to stay nearby. From his earlier conversation with the proprietor of the truck stop, Jason is under the impression that the price is 5,000 Tenge a night—$35 USD. Convenience of the location to the Chinese border aside, the price is ridiculous; even at the hostel in Almaty—the cosmopolitan hub of Kazakhstan—Jason had paid far less than half of that per night. However, from her response, Nastia clearly assumes that he is looking for an invitation to stay at her home. She declines, citing the conservative culture of the area, but asks to be told when he arrives at the border crossing the next day. She does not give assistance in providing information about inexpensive lodging in the local area, but says that she hopes to be the one to put a stamp in his passport.

Umid returns, and immediately begins a dialogue about his truck. He drives a Volvo. He is very curious about the cost of cars in America—more specifically, semitrucks. He quickly steers the conversation to the cost of shipping containers in America. When Jason tells him that he doesn’t know the cost of shipping containers in America, Umid repeats the question to make sure that Jason understands. Jason repeats his answer, and tells him that he doesn’t know anything about the prices of shipping containers in America. Umid repeats his question again to make sure that Jason understands. Jason repeats his answer again, and tries to move the conversation in another direction.

Umid is also eager to learn some English words, as he hopes that his 6-month-old daughter will someday be fluent. He and Jason go through an exhaustive list of farm animals, colors, and kitchen utensils, writing their Russian and English equivalents on a piece of paper for Umid to keep. They also count to one hundred, and write most of this down as well. As he leaves to use the restroom, a group of other truckers enter and order a meal.

As Jason drinks his tea alone, once again, Truck Driver 1 calls over to him and asks if he would like a drink. Relishing the opportunity to drink cheap vodka with a group of Kazakh truck drivers, Jason accepts his proposition. An awkward moment of logistics ensues, as there are no additional chairs at Truck Driver 1’s table, but concludes with all four of the truckers picking up their plates and belongings and moving to Jason’s table. The “Heaven” vodka is poured, Truck Driver 1’s favorite, and a bottle of coke is placed on the table. Jason is asked to provide the toast.

As his dinking vocabulary is severely limited, he keeps it simple and toasts to “new friends.” This isn’t good enough though, and Roman, the Trucker, who is sitting next to Jason, provides some support. Everyone at the table drinks.

The next round of shots is immediately poured. Truck Driver 1 provides the toast: to “Americans.” Everyone at the table drinks.

A short break is taken as the rest of the trucker’s food arrives. Truck Driver 1 salts his meal excessively, and provides Jason a fork to eat with. Though he has just eaten, he eats some of the overly-salted meal to be polite. Umid walks into the room and sits down at the table as well.

The next round of shots is poured. Roman, the Trucker provides the toast. Everyone at the table, save Umid, drinks.

The next round of shots is poured. A toast is made. Everyone at the table, save Umid, drinks.

The next round of shots is poured. A toast is made. Everyone at the table, save Umid, drinks.

The next round of shots is poured. The vodka runs dry; the entire bottle has been emptied in less than 20 minutes. Truck Driver 1 suggests that, because he is a guest, Jason make the final toast. Worried that he might provide another unacceptable toast, he asks to provide the final words in English, rather than struggle with something in Russian; this is found to be acceptable by the truckers. As he knows he won’t be understood though, his toast is largely just irrelevant banter with selectively emphasized words. He concludes by raising his glass, pausing momentarily, and saying confidently, “happy ass day.” All of the truckers raise their glasses together and repeat in unison, “happy ass day.”

The conversation continues, but as the vodka has been emptied, the truckers in the room gradually leave one by one. Eventually Jason gets up and goes to bed as well; it’s 11:00 PM, and he has had a long, tiring day of travel and vodka consumption.

(Late Night. Inside the Truck Stop’s Inn: Korgas, Kazakhstan)

Jason enters the room adjacent to the kitchen/dining area, and discovers that the chef’s children are there watching television. Exhausted, but not wanting to be rude, he politely asks them to leave; they respond, make a joke, and laugh at him together. He shoos them out, and they shoo back at him. He asks the smart-alecky children to leave again, and they oblige.

As Jason prepares for bed, the children come in several more times and taunt him. He grows frustrated, and vows to himself that if they come in again, he’ll leave the overpriced hotel and find a room down the road.

There’s a knock at the door.

Jason puts on his shoes.

Umid walks in.

Jason takes off his shoes.

He asks him what he needs, and Umid responds, asking for Jason’s passport. Without questioning why he needs his passport, Jason removes it from his left front pocket and hands it to the Uzbek trucker. Umid takes it, sits down on a bed, and says that he just wants to look at it. It’s 11:30 PM.

Umid proceeds to sound-out all of the words in the passport aloud, page by page. He uses the Cyrillic pronunciation for any letters that are shared in the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. The reading crawls by slowly, and Jason is forced to intervene on several complex words.

He then thumbs through the passport, page by page, and asks Jason about every stamp. There are 42, and many of them—due to dried-out ink pads—are completely illegible. Whenever Jason tells Umid that he doesn’t know where a stamp is from, he repeats the question several times to make sure that Jason understands what he is asking. Jason gives the same answer, several times.

He then looks through the passport, page by page, and asks Jason about every visa. There are seven. Whenever Jason tells him that he doesn’t know what the visa says, because it is in another language, Umid repeats the question several times to make sure that Jason understands what he is asking. Jason gives the same answer, several times.

At 1:00 AM, an hour and a half after he entered the room, Jason asks Umid to leave; he is literally falling asleep. Umid obliges the request, gives back the passport, and leaves. Jason is not disturbed for the rest of the night—either by children or truckers—and he sleeps on the metal-springs-covered-by-a-thin-pad very well.

(Mid-Morning. Inside the Kitchen/Dining Area of the Truck Stop: Korgas, Kazakhstan)

Jason is drinking tea, happy that he didn’t have to spend another night sleeping on a bus. Umid walks into the room, sits down across the table from him, and proudly counts to 100. He also lists off several farm animals, and names the fork and spoon sitting on the table. He has obviously been practicing. Jason is impressed.

He then asks Jason if he had intercourse with the chef—who is roughly 30 and the mother of several smart-alecky children. Jason responds and says that he didn’t. Umid asks him how it was. Jason tells him that he doesn’t know, because it didn’t happen. Umid repeats the question several times to make sure that Jason understands what he is asking. Jason gives the same answer, several times, and changes the topic of the conversation.

Umid pours himself some tea. He then proceeds to pour three large spoonfuls of sugar into it. As the cup is quite small, the sugar—not dissolved—would make up roughly one fifth of the cup’s volume. When he asks, Jason declines Umid’s offer to add sugar to his own cup.

During the course of the conversation and sugar pouring, several birds fly in and out of the room. As another flies in, Jason asks what it is doing. Umid points to the corner of the room, where all of the wiring from the truck stop meets in disarray near the ceiling. The bird’s nest of wiring is, quite literally, a bird’s nest.

(Mid-Morning. Outside the Truck Stop: Korgas, Kazakhstan)

After Jason paid for his meal and lodging—it was actually only 500 Tenge per night, not 5000—Umid decided to see him off. He and Jason walk to the gate of the border where several taxis are waiting. Jason gets into a taxi.

(Mid-Morning. Outside the Second Gate of the Border Crossing: Korgas, Kazakhstan)

The taxi stops, as it is not allowed to go any further; Jason will have to walk the last 500 meters to the Kazakh-side of the border crossing. As he walks, he sees Borhan leaning against his taxi, waiting for patrons, and eating watermelon. He shakes Jason’s hand, and tells him to call him when he needs a ride back to Zharkent; he’s free all day.

(Mid-Morning. Inside the Kazakh-side of the Border Crossing: Korgas, Kazakhstan)

Jason gets in line behind a hoard of Kazakh traders who are also attempting to cross the border to China; he texts Nastia to inform her that he is at the border crossing, and asks which station she is working in. As he waits for a response, Kazakh Border Guard 1 sees Jason, and walks with Drug-Sniffing Dog to greet him. As Drug-Sniffing Dog stares intently at the border guard’s ball-containing satchel, Kazakh Border Guard 1 makes a lewd joke about his coworker; he uses hand gestures to ensure that Jason understands what he is inferring. Jason changes the course of the conversation and shows Kazakh Border Guard 1 that he has successfully obtained the Migration Police stamp necessary to leave Kazakhstan. Kazakh Border Guard 1 wishes him luck, and leaves to resume his ball-throwing work with Drug-Sniffing Dog.

While waiting in the back of the absurdly long line, Jason sees Nastia exit from a side door. She motions for him to come to the door, and then leads him through a hallway to the inbound side of the border crossing. She places him in the front of the line of Kazakh traders, and begins going through his paperwork. She asks how and where he slept, and motions for him to stand more directly in front of the surveillance camera. He smiles at it. She motions for him to sidestep again so that he is actually in front of it. He smiles at it again. She stamps his passport—with legible ink—and tells Jason to call her if he needs help in Kazakhstan again.

Jason has successfully left Kazakhstan. He has not yet entered China.

(Mid-Morning. Outside the Kazakh-side of the Border Crossing: No-Man’s Land)

As Jason is in the awkward no-man’s land between the two countries, he asks a Marshrutka driver for a ride to the Chinese-side of the border crossing, and waits for the van to leave. While waiting. Timor yells out to him, “George!”

Jason, responding to one of the two names—the other being “Joseph”—most often given to him by mistake in Central Asia, is told to get onto the bus adjacent to the Marshrutka. Jason asks the man’s name and how much the fare is, and is told that the ride is free because he is Timor; they’ve obviously met before, but Jason can’t remember the encounter. Assuming that the ride probably isn’t free but that this man probably is Timor, he gets onto the bus and is immediately questioned by a Chinese woman who demands some amount of currency in a language that is not Russian. Jason doesn’t understand, and refers the woman to Timor, who is some kind of bus-god amongst bus-men; his exact job title is unknown. An argument ensues, and the Chinese woman never speaks to Jason again. She does, however, repeatedly bump into his face—as she walks up and down the aisle—with her fanny pack. It appears to be purely spiteful.

(Mid-Morning. Inside the Chinese-side of the Border Crossing: Korgas, China)

Jason receives his stamp to enter China.

He walks briskly through customs, as he has nothing to declare, but is stopped by Yang Lin. The border agent asks his superior if the large bag Jason is carrying needs to be searched. They converse with one another quickly in Chinese, and the superior motions for Jason to enter into the Yang Lin’s bag-searching line. Jason complies, and sets his backpack down on the desk in front of the border agent.

Yang Lin looks unhappy. He starts off by searching the small daypack that Jason is carrying, and goes through it exhaustively: he removes the camera, and searches through the photos; he stares at (reads?) a few recent pages from Jason’s journal; he sifts through a small bag of candy. As the search continues, Yang Lin looks more and more pitiful. By the time he finishes with the daypack and looks at the task ahead of him, his misery is obvious.

Yang Lin puts the daypack aside and pulls over—struggling with the weight—the larger backpack. He starts with the top zipper pocket, and pulls out Jason’s bag of shower toiletries. He stares at the bag momentarily, and—without searching the rest of the pocket, nor even the bag itself—puts the toiletries back and zips the compartment closed. Yang Lin then opens the main compartment of the pack from the top. Knowing that even he hasn’t searched the depths of his backpack in weeks, Jason smiles at the thought of the show the border agent is about to put on.

Yang Lin looks terrified.

He pulls out the topmost item—Jason’s sweatshirt—and reaches in again. He pauses. He removes his hand, empty.

Yang Lin begins slowly poking the outside of the backpack with his finger.

Without opening any other pockets or removing any articles from the bag, he pushes the bag to Jason and tells him to have a nice day. He calls over the next person in line, and Jason—temporarily feeling something like sympathy towards the man—picks it up and leaves him. He exits the building and walks into the crisp, refreshing, smog-filled air of China. He finally made it.

(Mid-Afternoon. Inside the Chinese-side of the Border Crossing’s Bus Terminal: Korgas, China)

While at the Chinese bus terminal, Jason spots Bus Driver—also wearing the same clothes as he was three days—walk into the waiting room to sit down. As Jason greets him, Bus Driver looks confused and asks him why he’s not in Kazakhstan.

End of Act III

Well that’s all, folks. Hope you enjoyed it. Here are the links to Act I and Act II.

Happy trails,

JHW