12 September 2010 Ruslan asked if I can bring a "copy" of a touch phone for a customer. I said: Ruslan, you sell the real ones. He said: the real one costs half a salary and the customer has half a salary and a daughter at the wedding.
In the Urumqi market there is a shelf with the phones called Nokla, Samsunk, Sany Ericsson and one only called "Phone". The Nokla has two SIM cards and a torch and a radio that works better than the phone. 70 dollars. I brought five. I sold four, to the people who know exactly what they buy, and one to a retired teacher who said: "At last, a phone that does not pretend." 4 July 2010 From 1 July Kazakhstan and Russia and Belarus have the Customs Union, a big union with one tariff. For you it means: a thing that cost one price on 30 June costs another on 1 July, and the Kazakh border officers have a new book with a new colour of cover and a lot of letters.
At the Khorgos side they wanted a paper for every box of covers. A paper for the cover! The woman with the stamp said it is "technical regulation". I said what is technical about a bear with a phone. She did not smile.
Result: 14 hours in the line, 80 dollars extra for "consultation". Do not ask what consultation is.
 The Kazakh side, 7 a.m., line number 3. I have the number on my hand.30 April 2010 Thank you. I wrote the names in the book, not on the internet. You know who you are.
I went on the 25th, Almaz took me in the lorry cab (a cab is a luxury, the seat is hot, there is a calendar of a Turkish singer). I sat in the Urumqi market with a loan in my pocket and thought: what is a robber doing with 1,400 dollars now. I decided: buying vodka, eating less.
I paid Ruslan back on 3 August. He was surprised I remembered. 17 April 2010 I do not want to write this but Bekzhan says it helps.
On Wednesday, at the bus station in Almaty at 5 in the morning, somebody cut my bag. A good knife, a clean cut in the corner. The bag with the money for the next trip, 1,400 dollars, which I carried for a week in the belt and moved to the bag for ten minutes to find the ticket. Ten minutes.
I did not scream. I looked at the people and nobody looked back, as usual. A woman with a baby came and gave me tea. It was not hers, she did not know me. It was a tea from the machine, in a paper cup.
The bus to Urumqi went without me. I came home the same day with nothing. 24 January 2010 Winter again. The light was bad in December but not like last year. I had a stock of torches (60 this time) and sold 9. This is the life of a trader: you prepare for the war and the war is canceled, then you eat your torches. |