B - reporting
We had been looking forward to breakfast ever since reading about this hotel online. Sadly, there was no lung, but the bread was definitely enough dense.
We then checked out and packed the car, aiming to register our visas and head south for Almaty. We met a Belgian couple parked next to us and decided to go to the police station with them, as they had a map! We eventually found the cop shop, but then the confusion truly began. After asking at a couple of desks, a cop took pity on us and led us to the correct department, which we would never have found as it was back outside, then round the back of the building past tall iron gates. There were 2 massive queues, with additional people just milling about. After joining the wrong queue, the cop pointed us to the door we needed and left.
Did we need to fill out a form? Where were the forms? What were all these other people queuing for? And what do all the signs in Kazak mean? We had answers to none of these questions so tried to keep random people from shoving ahead of us, and eventually were allowed in through the small door. There we discovered we needed a stamp from our hotel.
So we went back to the hotel, G and I checked in for another night, got the stamp and rushed back to the cop shop before they closed for lunch at 1pm. We were let straight into the office, where we communicated with the 2 cops by naming football and hocky players! Seemingly everyone in the world has heard of the Vancouver Canucks!! We got our forms stamped, shook hands and left.
G and I bought some salads from a deli, then found a park full of Lenins...one enormous statue and 2 rows of busts, some with their noses chipped off. Collected from around Kazakhstan, maybe? As usual we had no idea why anything is happening.
We wondered into downtown Semey with the Belgians at 7pm, looking for shashlik. It was a lovely warm evening, getting dusky by 7, with hundreds of birds flocking back into town to roost in the park. We had some beers at a terrace pub, then returned to the hotel resteraunt as the Belgians wanted an English menu. Despite the magnificent website, the hotel restaurant was a bit disappointing. I had 'meat from the east' which turned out to be a rather mundane stir fry with mash.
We had been looking forward to breakfast ever since reading about this hotel online. Sadly, there was no lung, but the bread was definitely enough dense.
We then checked out and packed the car, aiming to register our visas and head south for Almaty. We met a Belgian couple parked next to us and decided to go to the police station with them, as they had a map! We eventually found the cop shop, but then the confusion truly began. After asking at a couple of desks, a cop took pity on us and led us to the correct department, which we would never have found as it was back outside, then round the back of the building past tall iron gates. There were 2 massive queues, with additional people just milling about. After joining the wrong queue, the cop pointed us to the door we needed and left.
Did we need to fill out a form? Where were the forms? What were all these other people queuing for? And what do all the signs in Kazak mean? We had answers to none of these questions so tried to keep random people from shoving ahead of us, and eventually were allowed in through the small door. There we discovered we needed a stamp from our hotel.
So we went back to the hotel, G and I checked in for another night, got the stamp and rushed back to the cop shop before they closed for lunch at 1pm. We were let straight into the office, where we communicated with the 2 cops by naming football and hocky players! Seemingly everyone in the world has heard of the Vancouver Canucks!! We got our forms stamped, shook hands and left.
G and I bought some salads from a deli, then found a park full of Lenins...one enormous statue and 2 rows of busts, some with their noses chipped off. Collected from around Kazakhstan, maybe? As usual we had no idea why anything is happening.
We wondered into downtown Semey with the Belgians at 7pm, looking for shashlik. It was a lovely warm evening, getting dusky by 7, with hundreds of birds flocking back into town to roost in the park. We had some beers at a terrace pub, then returned to the hotel resteraunt as the Belgians wanted an English menu. Despite the magnificent website, the hotel restaurant was a bit disappointing. I had 'meat from the east' which turned out to be a rather mundane stir fry with mash.
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| Lung? |
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| Prison style coridors |
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| Lenin showing the direction to our hotel, which was nice! |
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