Note: actual date of events is 16th September

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Heading to Aktau turned out to be a great decision. We arrived in the backwater town on the edge of the Caspian and checked into a budget hotel. Little did we know at that point that we form a merry little band of travellers and stick together for the duration of our adventure along the Silk Road. Having already teamed up with Nick and a Briony, it was great to have Josep was along as well. Not only did he have a level head and a wicked sense of humour but I felt we shared a similar outlook regarding how we travelled.

We all had a chance to catch up on some much needed sleep in the morning before going out to get our first taste of Kazakhstan. Quite literally in fact as the first thing we did was go for some lunch. Having not heard great things about central Asian cuisine we were pleasantly surprised. We had a slap up meal of Borsch and some meatball things and rice as I remember, all for just a couple of quid each!

From the restaurant we migrated to a very nice coffee shop that wouldn’t have been out of place in Western Europe. This wasn’t the Kazakhstan any of us had expected. Cosmopolitan would be a stretch, but it certainly had some of the western comforts we were all accustomed to back home. The town looked really very normal. A high street with shops, restaurants and there were rows of enormous, fancy looking houses lining the sea front which is where we headed next.

We stumbled onto the Caspian Riviera. It was really rather nice and looked just like any sea side resort you might find in parts of Europe of North America.

Nick, the master of the lonely planet had informed us that there were a few sights to see, the number one being a Mig Fighter jet! How could we not see the best of what Aktau has to offer? Nick continued to prime us with local trivia gleaned from the guide book and the excitement was growing as we headed for Aktau’s number one tourist attraction. It was incredible…..is a phrase I would not use to describe it. Hugely underwhelming is.

Leaving the best of Aktau behind we walked along to discover an amusement park that looked no dodgier than one you might find at a carnival back home and the war memorial which was actually much more interesting.

That evening we went to a western style restaurant/bar and treated ourselves to a decent meal and a couple of beers before we continued the next part of the journey in the morning….