In the morning, I was happy to see herds of cows and sheep moving outside of the window by the Khazak people.
Today we went to Kanas Nature preserve to view the bays below the lake. You have to transfer to a bus that takes you to the hub of the preserve. From there, you take a bus that goes into a specific direction. Before we left the hotel, we noticed the car. We were really hoping we were wrong, but we weren’t. I positioned myself in the back of the bus to take selfies. It is the black car.
We went to Moon Bay and from there we walked to the next bay.
By this time we were enjoying the scenery but noticed we were still being followed. It really was unsettling. We did not see any other foreigners on this trip and it is really ridiculous considering we are on a guided tour. At Dragon Bay we made sure to look at them. They might as well know that we know they are watching.
In the park they had cool monitors to tell you which bathroom was open. Funny.
Back at the transfer center, there is the car.
We then traveled to Hemu Village where the Tuva minority lives. Very peaceful. We stayed at a place 3 km outside of the village.
We took a shuttle bus to the village to look around and get something to eat. The people were very friendly and wanted to take pictures. They said that they had not seen foreigners in a few years.
We noticed that there were many eagles staying and swooping around. The restaurant owners would take chunks of lamb and throw it in the air for the eagles to catch or glide along the ground to pick it up.
I ate mushrooms and greens grilled on a stick and seasoned with a spicy mix.
I paid to wear a Tuva costume and take pictures. We did have a lot of fun.
And yes, we were still being followed but this time they changed cars (or there was always more than one). They sat in the car for some time. I only had seen the one person but think the other may have followed us into a building on our return to the hotel but just turned around and left again. I know, pretty risky, but we were pretty upset about it all.
