18th day Tues 29th April
Last day in Russia ,made our way from Astrakhan to the Kazakstan border,fairly straight forward drive to the check point .Crossed a bendy bridge – moments of tension!
Border control ,both from the Russian and Kazakstan sides was fairly straight
forward .Making our way to Atyrau
Driving through V dry ,v flat land accompanied with a wicked sweeping wind – and oh my god,mega pot holes on the road for some distance ,travelling time was pretty slow.Rainy and quite cold. This region was meant to have been under the sea ,some time back in its history ,explains the sandy ,dry endless terrain
Reached at 8pm – long difficult driving day,Peter at the helm for a fair bit.Infact because of our journey,we lost another hour GMT – we are now 4 hours behind
The city of Atyrau ,like many others we had seen in the recent past was pretty modern.
Attached ,proposed journey plan for tomorrow

Brief information :It seems the place has quite a history and a pretty bright future

The city is located on both sides of the Ural River. The history of the area and the city has for many centuries. The first mention found in the III – IV centuries BC, and the city begins its chronicle in 1640.
The land is harsh, but generous. The Caspian Sea and Ural River is rich in fish and the depths of the oil. And so the main richness red fish and black caviar, oil and gas. No wonder the crest of the city of sturgeon and oil derrick.
Today Atyrau – the main hydrocarbon region of Kazakhstan, the largest center for oil and gas, a promising market investments. Well, black caviar from Atyrau well-known in the CIS and Europe.