Kazakstan - now it gets serious!

Nic here. We have made it to Kazakhstan! Since leaving Russia we have met a few other teams and have been travelling in convoy with Team Mongolia Adventurers since Volgograd. We are now in Atyrau about to head to the Uzbekistan border today. The border crossing was a much more enjoyable experience from Russia to Kazakhstan; the Russian border guard kissed us on the cheek when we filled out the forms correctly and on the Kaz side there was lots of hand shaking and gold teeth. We crossed about midnight which unfortunately meant we were surrounded by millions of mossies and spiders and wierdly there were also hundreds of frogs. Kaz roads are in a different leasgue to any we have seen before. Although crossing the border did involve a boat it does seem like we are in a completely different place. There are camels on the side of the road, HUGE pot holes and the people are beginning to look mongolian rather than causcasian.