Off to Aksu-Zhabagly Nature Reserve

Aksu-Zhabagly is fun to say. Aksu-Zhabagly! I may even be pronouncing it correctly, but I don't think it's very likely. Aksu-Zhabagly! Ten points for Griffindor!

My train ticket is actually for Shymkent, near the Uzbek border, but once I started reading about the city, the surrounding countryside seemed much more interesting. I'm arranging to get picked up by some people from a guesthouse in a village in the nature reserve. They do ecotourism, which, honestly, I'm not really sure what that is, but it looks like I give them some money and they give me a place to sleep and a couple of tours to places that are difficult to get to without a car. It works for me.

Almaty's been a good place to rest and get used to this part of the world. I have eaten a lot of plov, a lot of kebabs and and a lot of what I call "street-meat surprise": you point at the pie you want and later you find out what's in it. Greasy mutton is the most popular choice, but sometimes it's potatoes. I also tried horsemeat sausages but they weren't very good. I managed to pull together enough Russian to say "please, what is good for breakfast in Kazakhstan?" and the woman in the cafe laughed at me in a nice way and gave me some blini, which are pancakes which come with sour cream. It's all a bit stodgy, but it's good stodge.

I spent a very pleasant morning at the Arasan baths, where you move between Turkish, Finnish and Russian steam rooms, "refreshing" yourself in between by pulling a rope that dumps a bucket of freezing water on your head. Wowee. The Russian rooms were painfully hot, which was interesting, but not as interesting as the  lobster-red Russian women beating themselves with birch leaves. Apparently it's good for your circulation. (I'm not commenting on whether I tried it.). The bathhouse itself is spectacular; when you swim in the pool, it's under a huge dome.

Almaty looks a bit like this, but with more trees: http://whereistanya.smugmug.com/Kazakhstan/Almaty/