Day 35 – How I got my passport stolen, and got it back, in Kazakhstan

Despite all the kind words I’ve written about the city of Almaty, this weekend Almaty decided to be less kind to me. We where having some drinks in a bar downtown when I met a friendly young couple from Kazakhstan. They joined our table and we chatted away. After a visit to the toilet I lost sight of them, but also of my bag that I stupidly left on the couch we where sitting on. Worst thing; my passport was in my bag… I just got my passport stolen in Kazakhstan.

In a state of mental breakdown I talked with the female owner and muscled guard of the bar. With their elementary English and my 2 words of Russian vocabulary (hello and thank you) I got my point across. Scenarios of cancelling or postponing the whole trip went through my mind. After all, the visa’s for Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran are in my passport. Re-issuing those would take weeks. Would I do this here in Kazakhstan? Or would I fly to Holland or China? Would Maren keep driving in the meantime for me to join later again? Every scenario I came up with seemed worse than the other.

The helpful guard with tattooed arms as big as my head was looking through the security camera footage when the owner of the café exclaimed: the guy that stole your bag is my dentist! She even had his phone number in her phone. But the dentist decided not to pick-up her call that night…

The guard told me not to bother calling the police

The guard told me not to bother calling the police. He and some guys would pay the dentist a visit tomorrow. I guessed not for a cavity check-up. He would call me at 6pm the day after to let me know the result. The next day I waited anxiously. We decided to just lie in the sun in a park for a day, as staring at my phone in the hotel room was not helping much.

At 6pm he called. He would be at my hotel in half an hour with my bag, including my passport. Relieved and full of joy we walked back to the hotel. A scrappy car with 3 big guys pulled over. As if it was a Hollywood-film drug deal, they handed over the bag.

Of course they demanded money in return for helping out. I just handed over all the bank notes in my wallet, about 60 USD. And with that, they took off. Leaving me standing on the sidewalk with my passport in my hand. Realizing how extremely lucky I’ve been.

In retrospect, you could think it was all a setup. That the guard is solving the crimes his dentist friend commits to earn some cash on the side. But by judging their genuine response and kindness, I don’t think so. And for some reason I have not changed my opinion about the people of Kazakhstan being extremely friendly and helpful. Perhaps it’s naïve, but I guess every city with a population of 2mln has some rotten apples in its basket. And in Almaty, it’s the dentist.