Alpine setting with hot springs and a hike in Altyn-Arashan

Were picked up in the morning by Russian 4x4 trucks. Day packs, food and cooking equipment had to go with the trucks. Two hour drive up the mountain. First road, then gravel road, then dirt track, then rocks, then more rocks …. our truck and driver seemed to have no problem no matter how steep and rough it got. We had to hold on and enjoy the ride. Some got a bit scared though on the way up, and with some reason since the valley was quite far down and the gravel road was quite narrow

Got to the top – a magnificent plateau in the mountains with a couple of small houses one of them being our stay for the night.

Relaxed and had lunch. Went for a beautiful hike up hill. Came back had a beer and then we tried one of the hot springs with Lotti and David. Four indoor hotsprings. Ours was apparently warmer than the others so it was too hot to really enjoy it. 50 degrees it said at the entrance so we left with the cleanest feet we've had for a while. But also feeling a bit scolded.

Mikkel was on tonight's cook team so he spent the rest of the afternoon doing onion soup and croutons. It seems to be the choice when in the mountains. Also did some local juice – kampot – where you cook dried apples and plums and let it set. Excellent for mixing with vodka.

It started to be a bit cold after dinner so most of the group decided to head indoor for the evening. There was a common room where we could hang out with the local guys. One of them was really good at doing magic card tricks like guessing which card you had chosen and predicting which card was the next in the deck.

Stayed in a dormitory like house with 5-7 people sharing the rooms.