Nearby lakes

Well, we're on our way back to Almaty today to get our Kyrgyz visas and then head off to Karaganda. Should be good.

However, we had an interesting day today. We went to the beach for a while - yes, there is a nice beach just outside of Shymkent, it's bordered by a dam and there isn't much shade, but it's really nice. We went swimming for a bit but then a bunch of Kyrgyz guys came over and started talking to us. We were just sitting there and having a great time, they loved the look of my hat, Bert's hat, Bert's shoes, my frisbee, Bert's Diablo (pictures to follow - but this is a diablo)

- in a phrase, we were feeling pretty special. We all started throwing the frisbee around and this one guy suggested going up this big hill near-by so we could "throw it further." Right.

By the time we got there, he was wearing Bert's hat, his buddy had offered to 'trade hats,' and one guy was wearing Bert's shoes. After playing for a while with Naq (Kirk's new Kazakh name, which I'm thinking will soon become his real name) and me, I got tired and the two of them were throwing the frisbee up and down this massive hill. Finally, I get tired and come back. Naq shows up about 10 minutes later with the words 'he's gone.' It was a 40 minute ploy to edge further and further away from us, up the hill higher and higher and then - bam. So, we lost a few hats and shoes - no big deal but they definitely held up Shymkent's reputation of being full of rascals!!

I ended up swimming with a family and teaching them how to play 'Monkey in the Middle' which they just couldn't get enough of!! A great day, but I'm afraid the only picture of my sexy white hat will be from the blog two days ago. I hope you'll all be fine with that. I'll try to find a new one though.