Day 116 Aug 03 Fri - We arrived in Atyrau without our bikes!

Train sleeper, I occupied the top bed
Very warm and ventilation is poor , windows and doors mostly jammed
Train arriving at Atyrau at 2100 hours
Atyrau Train station 6 km to town

My bike in the luggage weighting room with a sticker and my Merida saddle bag
Lucky numbers for my Malaysian 4-digits frens
Pictures taken with the officers incharge of the baggage section
Lots of these melons,carrots,tomatos,cucumbers occupied the passage way to sell to the towns that the train passes by, the people will rush to buy when the train stop.
Train passage way too narrow whatsmore with all these boxes and sacks of goods

Today's spending: 2856T
Total Distance to date: 7695km ( train distance not included )
Total spending to date:31320T

We left the hotel at 9.30pm and cycled to the train station which is only 1 km away . We saw our bikes being weighted for the 2nd time with my Merida saddle bag abt 30kg , the 2 Ortlieb panniers will be handcarry. The officers at the luggage store took a long time to issue a receipt for our bikes although the whole room only with our 2 bikes. There shouldn't be any problem for them to handle when the train arrives from Almaty. Everything went smoothly and a solid 2 hours wait ,we saw our bikes being wheeled out at the far end when the train almost time to arrive. When the train finally arrives quite puncturely, we were shocked once we entered the train , the wagon #9 was packed not only with people but also the luggages all over the passage way, the train ticket officer has to chase someone else sleeping on our beds. The train stops only for 5 min and already started moving before we even get to our beds. Heather & I are supposed to be in the same cabin but was separated. We absolutely have no time to see whether our bikes really on the train. The fear really came true when I was told the bikes are not in the train thru one of the passenger girl who speaks a little english.What a bad news,not even 30 min on the train. But nothing can be done except to hope for the best in Atyrau. The train took 21 hours ,slightly less than the one from Nanning to Beijing , 28 hours . After having some foods at a cafe cost 1000T, took a cab 600T to the Chagala Hotel but the price is too expensive . Settled in Tengri Hotel thru' one Englishman Paul who is working for the American Oil Company , managed to get a better deal after a tele talk with the manager. So, we will be waiting for our bikes here, who knows until when...