We had a lazy start to the day. We went for a walk in nature reserve Stolby and it was shut after the bears had disturbed the area. Must have known we were coming!! So we chatted with a local who drove us to a ski resort to go walking. We went in the ski lifts and got to the top. The only way to walk was down hill and I was chuffed.. But hey the bears had gone potty again here and the walk was shut. So we took the ski lift and came down.

Fame found me at last as a chap walked upto me and wanted to take a photo with me!! He was a worker in the resort. Mojmir took the photo on his mobile and he was pleased.

Then we came to town parked the car and went for a walk. The town is busy and is all modernized. Nice chic shops and all the trimmings of wealth.
On the trams to my great surprise were advertisements from Akbar Brothers Colombo for Ceylon tea. I was proud of seeing that ad. Sadly I could not get a photo as on both occasions I was wrongly placed etc.
We then started off toward Irkutsk. Stopped on the way for lunch as we had no breakfast. Wow what a lunch we had in the cafe off the motor way.

Starters was Uzbek soup Shourpa. Meat with carrots potatoes and some celery leaves. Very good.
Followed by a salad which was accompanied by Armenian Dolma stuffed wine leaves. The stuffing was meat.
We topped it off with Shashlik and that was fine too. It is really a posh word for a kebab. Tea to wash it down.

I then drove the next 250km and our star driver Piotr needed a rest and he had been doing a lot last night.

Road conditions are good. Speeds upto 120 km.
We are expecting to pass another time zone tonight and stop say 300 km out of Irkutsk.

Some of you are asking for more pics. We have loads and video too of clips and will upload at some stage when we have good internet access.