OK, so we left Almaty. Bike in a worse condition than before thanks to the very accomodating but fairly useless mechanics at My Town Moto. The road was very long and flat, you really feel like you're crossing the whole of the country not just nipping up one edge as we were. The scenery looks a little bit like this....

After a couple of nights of camping we arrived in Semy (famous for being close to the old Russian nuclear testing grounds), for what was to become one of the most unforgettable few days of the trip. We pulled up at a hotel just because we saw the sign, it looked pretty new, but not so huge or expensive.

When we got around to the entrance it looked closed. The lady cleaner looked pretty confused that we were there. We thought that if you arrive at a hotel its pretty obvious what you want! Shortly a 4X4 turned up, among those in it was Igor, the hotel owner. He said we could stay, and the hotel was indeed nice and new. We seemed to be the only guests, in fact we never actually got a key to lock our room for the whole of our stay.

Igor and friends got us very drunk on vodka and fed us with pizza.

The next day the hospitality continued, after recovering from our hangovers we were driven out to the riverside for a picnic. Complete with fire made with the help of local trees, an axe and a chainsaw!

The next surprise was when this boat appeared from a bag in the boot of the car, with its own outboard motor! I was allowed to go off by myself riding around on the river. It was good fun although the motor lacked power so against the strong current the boat struggled to make progress.

This one is just to prove that I got my feet wet!