Best Eastern Hotel Soonkar Astana

... den Augen blinken sehen. Die Fragen, die dann gestellt wurden, haben dann aber doch positiv überrascht.<br><br>Ansonsten habe ich versucht die Arbeit der nächsten zwei Wochen in ein paar Tagen vorzuarbeiten. Was mir nicht ganz geglückt ist. So werde ich wohl mit schlechtem Gewissen und VPN die nächsten Wochen zubringen.<br><br>P.S. Nicht Vietnamese People's Navy sondern Virtual Private Network.<br>

... established that the starter motor is okay. There is nothing else we can do today.<br><br>Assel picks me up at the hotel. <br><br>"The bike is fixed."<br><br>I cannot believe it.<br><br>"Yes, Dmitri says the problem is sorted. All we need is a new battery."<br><br>I will believe it when I see it.<br><br>I am in this loud brash totally refurbished palace at the grand opening of the new (it has been opened and shut 5 times before!) Main Disco ...

... to test it out. Ah well, something to do tomorrow.<br><br>There is the most torrential downpour for hours this afternoon flooding roads and disrupting the traffic but, fear not, my artist policeman is on duty and seeing to the smooth flow of his charges.<br><br>Assel has given me a cd she burned of Kazakh music but I'll have to wait until I get home before playing it.<br><br>I've become a regular at a cafe about ten minutes away from the hotel. It's not in ...

<br><br>It may well have been Constitution Day for Kazakhs but my priority is showering, washing, showering, catching up on emails, showering, writing the diary, showering and making the most of my unaccustomed luxury. The hotel is a modern comfortable somewhat soulless. I share the ...

... asks me a question. It takes a long time before the penny drops. Do I have a pump? I get the small compressor from the pannier. <br><br>"No, no, a pump." Says Vladimir making furious pumping motions.<br><br>With infuriating superiority I said "Okay, okay, calm down, I know what you want."<br><br>They both fall about laughing.<br><br>Tyre pumped, fanbelt working Serge drives us through rain, mud, minor country roads and six laned carriageways and we ...

... and 4 lanes in places, but it does make it hard to slow down when they have a 40k limit on a dual carriageway. Yes, we got 'pinged' and we are now looking forward to the border to see how good they are at collecting the fine. It was a fair cop this time although we were only doing what all the locals do. The one in China was less than a fair cop. So we had our usual lunch stop en-route, a little off road to watch a couple of very Soviet trains ...

Um ein paar Dinge bezüglich der Neuorganisierung unserer Gesellschaft zu besprechen ging's noch mal einen Tag nach Astana. Die schwierigsten Entscheidungen werden offensichtlich auf den Gebieten fallen, von denen man es nicht unbedingt erwartet hätte. Umsatz, Kostenverteilung, Gewinn, über das alles wurde nicht so lange diskutiert wie über: - Die Jobbezeichnungen auf den Visitenkarten. - Die Business Class ...

... bis vi** Wohnblöcke benannt; den Rest d** Beschreibung muss man dann noch dazu **klären. Wenn man dann noch in einem Wohnkomplex bestehend aus ca. sieben Hochhäus**n wohnt, d** dazu noch drei von v**schiedenen Straßen zu befahrende Zufahrten hat, ist es um so schw**** sich zu finden. Ab** wir haben es gleich beim **sten Anlauf geschafft. Und um es vorneweg zu nehmen: Ich habe ihm auch **folgreich mit Händen und Füßen **klären können, dass ** mich bitte um 23 Uhr ...

... and shoving big plastic bags full of.....um, goods...into the top luggage racks with their feet. I had to grab my shoes before they were squished under 500 pounds of stuffed animals, mannequin parts, or socks and t-shirts. Once my heart stopped pounding and I no longer thought that the train was under attack, I slept soundly as we clattered through the snowy night. There is a major difference between riding a train in Kazakhstan and riding one in China. In China, every ...

... not actually taken from basecamp they were taken 8 km away from the parking lot due to the cloud cover when we were at basecamp........Hope you enjoy! "So I'm repelling down Mount Vesuvius when suddenly I slip, and I start to fall. Just falling, ahh ahh, I'll never forget the terror. When suddenly I realize "Holy ****, Hansel, haven't you been smoking Peyote for six straight days, and couldn't some ...