June 1st: Almaty Rest Day

We split up for the beginning of the rest day. A friendly Russian guy named Timur delivered me some 10w-40 engine oil in plastic water bottle and I got to work changing it out. Our old oil was dark and dirty but it flowed out quick in the heat of the Kazakh sun. Afterwards I gave some navigator lessons to our friend Michaels new navigator, Michael. In the meantime my dad took the car to get a wash. 20 000 Tenge for the body, the interior and the engine was not too bad. The whole process took around 4 hours so he wandered around the nearby shops and happened upon Kinahan Irish Whiskey, a favourite of ours! He bought a few of the rare bottles and we met back up at the hotel in the mid afternoon. Our friends Florian and Tim had invited us to dinner in the mountains with their Kazakh colleagues. What a treat! We cabbed to Qazakh-Auyl and arrived at a stone building inscribed with intricate patterns and tile portraits of historic nomadic people.

The mountain air was brisk so we quickly moved inside. The interior of the restaurant was even more impressive, fit with hand woven straw seats and traditional ceramic cooking ovens. We sat on pillows and carpets around a low table as our new friends ordered for us.

The food was incredible! We enjoyed bone marrow on flatbread, horse tartare, 40 hour braised lamb on a bed of polenta and the best pinot noir I’ve ever drank. Dina and Victoria told us all about the traditional dishes and the history and current state of Kazakhstan. 5 hours had passed from the time we sat to the time the bill was paid and it had felt like 20 minutes. I will never forget this dinner for as long as I live, it was amazing.