After 40 days & 40 nights on the road, we were woken up by a policeman whistling at us and standing over the tent. At 6.30am! After thinking “oh shit.... this could be expensive” - camping in a national park and we seem to be the only ones - we got up, put some clothes on and went up to the road where our car is and the policeman was standing. It was absolutely no trouble at all! They were just curious, so we told them what we were up to, they scribbled on our car and then went to leave - but didn’t have any petrol in their BMW! So they came back and asked if we had any fuel, so we gave them some from our can and they gave us... A Kalashnikov! So we took some photos and then they set off. God it’s early!
Just back from a long wander up the canyon and a nice little swim, managed to walk back in the baking midday sun as well, turning nicely brown now so not too worried about sunburn, just mosquito bites that are a real pain now. Some of them seem to have swollen up like crazy, but none are too itchy unless I scratch at them.
Just stopped for a bite to eat at a little village on the way to Almaty after another HUGE stretch of straight, flat road through the steppe.
Arrived in Almaty along with a huge cloud of dust and some rain clouds, had a walk around and got rained on. We eventually found a net cafe to spend an hour in, had a chat with Jen, Mark & Mike, nice to hear from home. Then we went to Burger House, I had a БУХ ХАУС (Big House) meal. Yum!
Just parked up for the night about 20 miles out of Almaty on a quiet road for some Nutella-bread, probably going to sleep in the car here, it’s still pouring with rain. Kazaks don’t seem used to the wet road conditions, there’s been crashes everywhere!
Just got a call from Hugh & Russ, they’re at a net cafe in Almaty! Interrupted by the curious police, we decided to drive back into Almaty to meet up with TYO again!
Woohoo! We found them at the station no problem - Friends Reunited - at last, we’ve missed their radio banter and navigation “skills”. We went for a pint together in a nice little cafe which was pretty expensive but well worth it. Then drove out of the city again to the quiet little road, which it turns out goes through a land-fill site! But it’s stopped raining and there’s some flat dirt so we’ve all pitched tents and are off to bed, it’s gone 1am - our latest night in ages!
Just back from a long wander up the canyon and a nice little swim, managed to walk back in the baking midday sun as well, turning nicely brown now so not too worried about sunburn, just mosquito bites that are a real pain now. Some of them seem to have swollen up like crazy, but none are too itchy unless I scratch at them.
Just stopped for a bite to eat at a little village on the way to Almaty after another HUGE stretch of straight, flat road through the steppe.
Arrived in Almaty along with a huge cloud of dust and some rain clouds, had a walk around and got rained on. We eventually found a net cafe to spend an hour in, had a chat with Jen, Mark & Mike, nice to hear from home. Then we went to Burger House, I had a БУХ ХАУС (Big House) meal. Yum!
Just parked up for the night about 20 miles out of Almaty on a quiet road for some Nutella-bread, probably going to sleep in the car here, it’s still pouring with rain. Kazaks don’t seem used to the wet road conditions, there’s been crashes everywhere!
Just got a call from Hugh & Russ, they’re at a net cafe in Almaty! Interrupted by the curious police, we decided to drive back into Almaty to meet up with TYO again!
Woohoo! We found them at the station no problem - Friends Reunited - at last, we’ve missed their radio banter and navigation “skills”. We went for a pint together in a nice little cafe which was pretty expensive but well worth it. Then drove out of the city again to the quiet little road, which it turns out goes through a land-fill site! But it’s stopped raining and there’s some flat dirt so we’ve all pitched tents and are off to bed, it’s gone 1am - our latest night in ages!
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