Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Doc and Jan tried to convince the Russians that the unexpected English contin-
gent were not spies. Voytek joined in the discussion with his remarkably calm and
persistent way that seemed to ease the tension.
'We need stay here only a few days. We go to climb in Afghanistan, international
expedition, important for Polish People's Republic.' He paused. 'Sorry, you should
know from Moscow of this. All must be in order because we had no trouble getting
here.' In the Soviet Union, having the right papers was always paramount, but
when they were not possible to obtain, having no papers was the next best thing.
From the Russians' perspective, any Westerner in Termez must have seemed a
threat. It was impossible not to be aware that preparations for the invasion of
Afghanistan were well underway. We saw more military equipment in just a few
minutes than we had seen all the way across the Soviet Union. Lines of T-72 tanks
rumbling past the station headed for big sheds on the river. Armed soldiers were
all over the city and there was tension in the air.
[5]
To our amazement, the captain relaxed after his conversation with Voytek and
told him to come back every day to see if our goods wagon had arrived. He would
tell us then what would happen.
We were put under a sort of house arrest in a small hotel. It was on a pleasant,
sunny palm-lined street opposite a large leafy park with statues of Lenin and Stal-
in. We walked unhindered. The only harsh words directed at us were the result of a
lack of domestic decorum. We had draped our washed undies over the balcony fa-
cing the main street. Within minutes a delegation of large Uzbek ladies appeared,
wearing almost identical skirts and colourful headscarves to cover their hair. They
berated us from the street below. We soon got the message and removed the of-
fending clothing.
It was an uncertain time, however. Terry and Howard were in a state of demen-
ted despair, expecting the worst possible result. Even Voytek was not optimistic. I
shared some of the gloom, a sense of imminent failure. We would probably not
even get as far as Afghanistan. Only Alex remained stoically cool. For two days, we
Brits contented ourselves as best we could with bottles of fermented yogurt and
playing cards, while the Poles tried to sort out the mess with the Russian officer as-
signed to this embarrassing case.
We gave him the nickname Captain Bollocksoff. For Captain B, it had to be a case
of damage limitation. To send us back home or throw us in jail would have created
a small international incident. We were after all the first joint expedition in this
period of
détente
. Zawada had reflected on this conundrum in advance and knew
the Russians would have only one choice: hustle us across the Amu Darya into
Afghanistan as soon as possible.
