Below is a translation of Scaliger’s post from the Russian language blog

Apparently the famous Kazakh hospitality dies off.

As Kazakhstan Today agency reports, during the snowstorm in Zhambyl region, where thousands of people got stuck on snow-covered roads, the locals started to sell bread to these unexpected “neighbors”… for 500 Tenge (4 dollars) a loaf. The price on vodka - another not less important product in winter – reached 5000 Tenge for a bottle.

Speaking incidentally, the situation of this kind is nothing new for Kazakhstan, but the first one that met eyes of public. There is the only rule that works in distant and isolated villages, where people were left to themselves - the rule of “Dog eats dog”. For example, there is another occasion that was not reported by information agencies.

The highway between Taldykorgan and Arkalyk provides quick access to the north of Kazakhstan was not repaired for about 20 years. Therefore drivers often choose bypass routes. One of such shortcuts, the most popular one, goes over Tersakan river. River’s ford is 15 km from the village, which is almost completely ruined, except for a school.

Those village people who had no chances to make better living somewhere, have deepened the ford and now offer drivers special services on transportation over the river. The revenge of locals to those, who rejected such “help” consist of hooking a steel rope, which is tied up to stones, to a trailer’s rear axle so that it cannot move at all.

In winter those sly aborigines set boards made of reed where necessary, so that the road is covered with a one-meter-high snowdrifts. And, of course, people have to call locals for help to get out of these snowdrifts. The money gained this way locals spend not only to make living, but also to pay for their children’s higher education in capital cities.