We met up with fellow Ford Fiesta ralliers on our first night in Almaty. At 2am having drunk far too much to drive we came to the realisation that we had nowhere to stay. Deciding that the car was preferable to a park bench we camped up for the night on Almaty's main street. We were rudely awoken by the parking attendant at 8am and proceeded to have our breakfast on the pavement as commuters hurried past. We undertook a planned mechanic trip with the Fiesta couple and a team of four Irish boys. It turned out our diagnosis of needing a new fuel filter (not difficult to diagnose having seen some of the 'petrol' we had put in the car) was correct. The look on everyone's faces as black gunge dripped out of our filter confirmed our suspicions. Whilst everyone else waited patiently at the garage we were whisked off by the mechanic in his blacked-out four wheel drive and treated to drinks en route to finding a fuel filter. It was late afternoon by the time all the cars were finished so we headed back into Almaty for another night. At midnight when everybody else had retired to their respective hotels we felt it was time for pudding. In a 24hr supermarket we located the bakery section and selected a delicious looking banoffi pie. Having asked for one piece we began to panic when the bakery lady, having cut and wrapped it, proceeded to box up the entire rest of the cake and attach it to the already cut piece. Frantically trying to explain we only wanted one piece we were soon surrounded by 12 bakery attendants all informing us we must buy the whole 14 inch cake. Half an hour later we were leaving the supermarket crying with laughter at the ridiculous parcel we carried in our arms. 

Once again we were woken by the parking attendant and after a breakfast of cake set off in a 3 car convoy for the 3 day trip through Kazakhstan to Russia. We managed to dispose of the rest of the cake as the others gladly...[Read More]