China, Russia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan come together in the Altay Mountains. I guess everyone wanted a piece of this beauty.
The first waterfall our guide us showed could only be enjoyed from the boat.
For the second waterfall, we had to disembark and hike.
The hike was short and they took money from us for using the wooden walkway that took us over the tic-infested brushes.
Near natural attractions like this waterfall, Russians love tying pieces of cloth to the trees. Some just tear the strips right off whatever their wearing, others come prepared. The idea is that if you leave something behind you'll have a reason to come back. This tree illustrates how much of a tourist trap this waterfall is.
When we got back on our boat, our guide offered to take us to a second waterfall for an extra charge. We weren't in a rush so we took him up on the offer and it was well worth it.
We were the only people there for most of the time and we spent a lot of time there soaking in the tranquility.
We even got our feet wet.
We made it back in time for lunch. At the resort we were staying, breakfast, lunch, and dinner were included and everyone was served the same thing. I don't know what to call this style of service but its great cause it eliminates the stress I often experience when I don't know what I want but am forced to decide from a menu of a hundred choices.
These cows wandered the resort like the owned the place. Normally, there would be somebody playing volleyball here but this afternoon it was the cows turn to hang out.
After lunch, we tried searching for a beach away from our resort because my parents didn't like the beach that was right next to our rooms. We took a walk along the lake but after I got bit by one too many of the vicious flies that can make you bleed. I turned around early and went back to the beach next to our rooms and read there until they came to pick me up 3 hours later for dinner.
After dinner we took a walk along the beach in the opposite direction. We walked past a couple of people having camp fires on the beach and decided to make one of our own.
On the way back we saw a bar on the beach so we stopped in for a beer. They turned the music on real loud and it turned into a dance club. The people there could dance a lot better than at our resort and we stayed all the way until closing.
On the way home I almost stepped on this ugly little fellow.
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