We made an attempt to go to the waterfall but when the GPS mentioned that it was still 56 km at the start of the sandy track and we probably had to walk the last 5 – 10 km, we decided to go back to the main road. The road followed the foot of the hills with on the left side the wide flat steppe landscape. The towns we past were typical farming towns with some shops and eating places. Only Usharal was a bigger town and JJ did some extra shopping. Since the day before we got stopped 2 x for speeding we tried to avoid it today. We drove 70 the whole day and where required 40 of 50 km/hr. On one stretch of bad road (potholes en all) 50 was mandated for 5 km. The road was bad so no problem. Just when it got better we revved up to 61 km/hr and just around the corner got shot with the speed gun. Negotiations were not going well. At last it was $50 which I did not have and was again let off the hook. I am still wondering how long this will go one with this result. Had I paid all the fines then the holiday would already be over.

After Usharal we drove towards the Alakol nature reserve. Some cars with passengers in beach attire encouraged us to drive on. Following a sand road we reached the pebbled beach with nice refreshing warm water. After 20:00 hrs the swimmers left and we had the sunset and night to ourselves.