Aug 6th Next Stop Aktobe

We wake early next morning and carry out the normal routine of Neil checking over Marvin's engine and cleaning the windows while Jan does the ‘housework’ and prepares breakfast, simple enough – ham sandwich! Leo and Elizabeth soon emerge and when everyone is ready – we set off to the next city – Aktobe. Kazakhstan is in the midst of a huge road building project to link the major cities. Unfortunately at the moment this consists of stretches of pristine tarmac a few miles long separated by many miles of rutted mud made worse by the passage of hundreds of trucks carrying building supplies! The road is also raised 10-20ft above the steppe so getting on and off it is a challenge. Marvin doesn’t seem to have woken up and plods along spluttering and falling to sleep every time we drop below 20mph or so. The ‘roads’ are rough as we cross over ruts and drive through fields, its slow progress but we manage to keep going, taking runs at the muddy hills and sometimes bumping, sometimes flying we get over them. Leo is ahead and we try to keep up, bumping along. Once again Marvin get stuck in a deep rut and after a few attempts to get him on his way a lorry appears and 2 men alight to give us a hand – Jan moves into the driving seat, selects 2nd gear and gets bumped along the track – Marvin starts and Jan keeps driving – not daring to slow down as there is a big hill right in front of her – she picks up speed and flies up the hill, leaving Neil behind running to catch up. Leo and Elizabeth are just over the hill and Leo jokingly asks if we have had an argument and if Jan has left Neil to make his own way to Mongolia. Neil soon catches up and off we go again. We carefully drive for miles along the rutted road, sometimes on a tarmac road that lasts for a mile or so, but then back to the ruts. We come to a sharp hill on a bend and when we have cleared them we come across a wedding party in the middle of nowhere, where they have left the minibus and are lining up for photographs, we are included in the photos and are invited to the celebration, which seems to have already started as all the men in the party are waving bottles of vodka at us. Its with regret we decline their offer as Leo and Elizabeth prefer to drive on.

Soon Leo and Elizabeth drive on ahead and we limp behind at a slower pace. We approach Aktobe and almost at once receive a text from Leo as they have seen us pass the garage they are parked in. We arrange to see them a little further down the road and when they arrive they are ready to continue straight away, but we need to get some money, food and fuel and as we will be in Kazakhstan longer than the permitted 5 days we also need to get our visas stamped. Also a day in Aktobe will give us a chance to find a garage see if we can get Marvin looked at. Seeing an ATM machine Jan and Elizabeth head off and to her amazement Jan's bankcard works in it. There are even instructions in English so our money problems are sorted. Leo and Elizabeth decide not to get their visas stamped at the moment so we wave them on their way.

We decide to stay in Aktobe for the night and book into the biggest hotel there. It costs us a whopping £16. There is secure parking behind the hotel so we leave Marvin there and are lucky to find a receptionist who speaks some English so we are soon sorted! After a much needed shower we make our way to the hotel bar on the 7th floor and discover its just an converted bedroom with a tv, 3 or 4 tables a bar in the corner and a big fridge with lovely cold beer in it! We order drinks from the girl who seems very surprised as we sit to enjoy them and tell her she can carry on watching tv – not much else for her to do as we are the only patrons. A well deserved large brandy and sprite for Jan and a couple of beers for Neil land us with a surprisingly large bill ... almost as much as the room! But they are much needed and we wobble back to the room, wish Marvin goodnight from the window and enjoy sleeping in a real bed!