Glad of the Rest Day and extra happy with the single room. Just easier to lie down as I wish and use the full space. My room (602) is at the back of the hotel so spared the noise of traffic etc during the night. And no worries about mosquitos. 
The hotel, Nomad Hotel, is regarded as the best in Semey and centrally located. Semey (pop 300 thousand) was known as Semipalatinsk till 2007.
A thing that I have noticed in hotels since Mongolia is that stairs can be dangerous; not all steps have the same rise. Some, even in the middle of the run, can be extra shallow or extra deep. Need to keep the eyes down or could get a nasty jolt. Also in a few hotels, the room doors open out into the corridor. In the hotel in Moron, I thought I was locked into the bathroom till I found that you turn the handle up to open.
Had the laundry done by the hotel again....getting lazy. Hotel laundry so far has been inexpensive but the Nomad might send me back to doing my own. I had the smallest was ever, really just 3 sets of cycling gear and it set me back over 22 euro. Makes up for getting internet cheap. Some of the lads did their own but they had the rooms at front of hotel for drying. My window just looks out on a wall.
After breakfast the first item on the agenda for the whole group was to go to the nearby police station to register our arrival in the country. In all other countries, the first hotel does that. Kazakhstan still believes in plenty of paperwork. We were given a dedicated official for the group (including our Kazakh local guide) but the process took over an hour and a quarter. Didn't look like happy campers to be spending a Rest Day like this.
The bikes got special attention but mine just needed a good wash. Reckoned that I did a good job with bucket of water, brush and rag. But another reprimanded me for using water; should be using baby-wipes only! By the way, the word Kazakh is a Turkic word that means free rider or adventurer. Must have a drop of their blood in me.
In the early afternoon I cycled across one channel of the Irytish river to Polkovnochy Island. The Irytish is one of the big three rivers in Siberia. It rises in the Altai mountains in China, flows for 4800 km through Kazakhstan and Russia before joining the Ob. We’ll cross it all tomorrow. Typically the rails of the bridge is a site for those love-locks.
My target was a monument on the island. The area west of Semey was the Soviet nuclear testing ground, the Polygon, between 1949 and 1989. Villagers living nearby were given no knowledge or protection as almost 500 nuclear bombs were exploded underground and in the atmosphere. The tragic effects still linger in the form of cancers, genetic mutations and mental illness. President Naserbaev finally closed the site in 1991.
Just across the bridge stands the Stronger than Death Memorial erected in 2001 featuring a mother covering her child while above a nuclear mushroom cloud billows on a 30 m high black tombstone. It's the centrepiece in a large public park on the island.
On the way back I passed through the square in front of the Theatre and the City Hall while the fountains were in operation.
The park just across the road from the hotel was busy this evening with parents and children. Every type of ride and amusement for a warm Saturday evening. One guy in particular was enjoying the trampoline.
For dinner I didn't venture too far, just around the corner, and dined on my own rather than with a group. I wanted to get back early to do this. My dish was quail and salad and very fast too. With a pint of draught beer it all came to less than 8 euro. Not bad.
On the TV in the room I watched Jamie Oliver doing a demonstration and he fluent in Kazakh! Switched to the sport channel and there is Billy Walsh of Wexford in the corner at a boxing tournament in Baku.
Early night tonight; long day tomorrow of 188 km and alarm set for 4 am. Back to the day job!
Thank God for a lovely day.
