Russia

In March 2026, I held a guest lecture with the title “Kazakhs in Mongolia” which was about my travels to Russia and Mongolia. The lecture was a part of the "Culture and Society" lecture series organized by the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Nazarbayev University.

Departing to Russia

In the beginning of March 2026, I traveled by bus and car to Өлгий (Olgii) in western Mongolia, where I spent time observing everyday life and experiencing local Kazakh traditions. During my journey, I stayed with a Kazakh family and immersed myself in their daily routines, gaining personal insight into cultural practices shaped by both Kazakh and Mongolian influences.

Border controls and bus abandonment

I decided to travel by bus to Bayan-Olgii in the Western part of Mongolia because I wanted to know how Kazakhs lived there and how their traditions and lifestyle differed from the Kazakh culture and traditions that I knew from Kazakhstan. The 32 hours long bus ride to Bayan-Olgii was going through the Altai region in Russia.

At the first Kazakh Russian border, I discovered that I had a problem. I had arrived one day early. The transit visa through Russia was valid from March 2, not March 1. I was hoping that the Russian border guards would ignore this problem, because it was as a matter of fact not my problem. It was the embassy that had issued the visa for the wrong dates.

At the border, the guards discovered the problem immediately. At 6 pm local time I was told to wait in a room next to the main passport check. After an hour of sitting and waiting while guards walked past me, I was told that I had to wait there another six hours before I could enter Russia. My only concern was about my bus ride. They could not possibly wait for me for another 6 hours. One border guard come in and said in Russian “Everything will be fine, but we will have to tell the bus driver that you are staying here. Let’s go and tell him and at the same time get you luggage”. Like a little girl, I followed the border guard. When I saw the bus driver, I shed a few tears, grabbed my stuff and walked back towards the station. The bus left and I was left without any means of transportation. The guards seemed to care for me as one of them said that they were going to help me find the transportation. According to them, people were driving to Mongolia via Russia all the time. The next three hours would be a real-life Russian oral exam as I struggled through grammar and vocabulary, while at the same time having to explain everything that a Russian border guard found suspicious about my travels through this exact border.

22 hours in Russia

Past midnight, I got a ride with a VIP bus heading towards Novosibirsk. After 20 minutes, they let me off at a 24/7 open café. Inside I explained my current situation to a very empathic café worker. As I talked, he shook his head and looked increasingly more concerned. I told him that the bus to Mongolia had left me, and I had to be back in Kazakhstan in one week before the Russian transit visa expired. The time was already 02.30 am. It was already dark and all of the drivers that passed by the little café were either going to Barnaul or Novosibirsk. I decided to eat, and I spent the remaining cash that I had on the most amazing қурдақ that I had ever had.

The day after I woke up, and prepared myself to hitchhike. I had six boiled eggs in my backpack from Astana, and I put one of the eggs in my pocket as I walked out the door of the cafe. I stood by the road with my thumb out for about 10 minutes. No cars stopped, it was minus 25 degrees outside and I could not feel my toes anymore. I walked back to the café, and I talked to the owner who had just started his shift. He assured me by saying what the boarder guard had said the night before — that they had customers heading to Mongolia regularly. I just needed to be patient, he said. He was wondering if I was hungry, and I said yes. «But I don’t have any money to pay for it», I told him. Foreign cards do not work in Russia, as far as I knew at that point. I had spent the last rubles I had the night before. The café owner said that it did not matter, and the prepared fried eggs, bread and tea for me.

Throughout the day I walked in and out of the café while trying to hitch without luck. Inside I continued talking with the owner. Every third hour I was offered food, and they did not charge me anything for it.

There were surprisingly many travelling men — not women — from Tadsjikistan and Uzbekistan. Some spoke Russian, while others did not. I communicated in Russian for the most part, and tried to speak in Kazakhs with the Uzbeks. They were all very  friendly and hospitable.

Kulunda sightseeing

In the afternoon I was asked by one of the locals if I wanted to get a sightseeing of the city.