Now we were officially in Kazakhstan and had about a three more hours’ travel to the capital, Almaty. The drive was boring, through lots of fields, rolling hills and small towns reminiscent of Australian country towns. Arrived in Almaty about 330pm (actually 430pm Kazak time) and were dropped off at the bus station where again we were pursued by cab drivers who demanded exorbitant fees to drive us to our hotel. Luckily Tony had managed to change his Somme into Tenge at the Bishkek bus station, so we had cash. Got a driver to take us for T500 ($5), he drove hunched over the wheel but was only a young guy. Dropped us off at our proposed hotel, which was in the campus of KIMEP (Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics & Strategic Research) which according to
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