You do the math

Urumqi is the farthest point on earth from any ocean; Lanzhou is the halfway point across China; Almaty is the beginning of the 'stans. The question remains, have I come halfway across the world's biggest continent yet? If anyone can say for sure, do tell, but I'm guessing yes, even though it's still a looooooooong way to Moscow.

Some more stats:

• a week-and-a-half down; four-plus to go
• two out of six visas used (but both to be re-used)
• Kazakhstan is the first "new" country I'll be visiting, and one of only two I'm visiting completely independently
• Kazakhstan is the first of four 'stans I'll be visiting, of six in existence (can you name them? spell them?)
• Despite a lot of green tea and ramen noodles consumed, four major sleeper trains ridden, countless unpackings and re-packings completed, I'm still in "phase one" of the trip, until I join the Central Asia tour on Saturday ("phase two"), and leave it on the slow train to Moscow three weeks later ("phase three")