Lovely day in Burabay

Doug and the taxi interior

A perfect day out of the city! After taking a sneaky photo of the hat with a large diameter, we took a taxi with a lovely interior, modelled here by Doug. We visited Buravoe lake and the scenery was really stunning.

Baravoe lake

It was low season but unseasonably hot, in the low 20s. We toured the perimeter of the lake in taxis, stopping off to see rocks which supposedly looked like an elephant, hedgehog, and camel - all light hearted fun.

Apart from the scenery, the weather, and the laughs, the highlight for me was attracting a golden eagle from the wild by holding a rat up. It came down and grabbed the rat and my friend and colleague Joe was quick enough to get this snap.

I made a friend.

Plastic tied to a tree - this
is a tradition when
making a wish

Of course the eagle was actually tied up and I paid the grand sum of 350 tenge ('ten-gey') - a little over a pound - to have a go holding it. It is remarkably heavy but even more striking was the look it gave me and the strength of its claws as it balanced on the leather glove. Amazing!

I love the woods!

Some of the School of Engineering crew.

Unsurprisingly, this Kazakh squirrel didn't understand me!

No comment. This one's just here for my mum.

End of a great day.