No probs. I spent 2 days in Semey getting my radiator rewelded after the mounts broke as a result of vibration from corrugations. No one was real keen to tell me much about the Polygon at all. On the island in the middle of the river that runs through town there is a HUGE memorial to the people affected by the radiation - it seems to be something of an embarrassment and the Kazakhs feel some pretty strong enmity to the Russians as a result.
I had a wheel bearing failure on the road to Pavlodar and had my bike vandalised overnight in Pavlodar. After riding down to Karaganda I realised the roads were getting worse so that put the kabosh on my plans to ride down to Almaty.
In Karaganda I visited the ecology museum where they gave me a pretty good run down on how badly managed the whole Polygon site had been and told me a few horror stories of the risks involved in visiting. Apparently they can organise tours but I believe you do require a fair bit of notice.
Karaganda (like most ex-Soviet towns) is a bastard of a city to find your way around. It took me two hours to find the city centre 9and a hotel) after arriving from Pavlodar.
I've also visited Woomera around 10 years back enroute up the centre to Darwin. Emu Field, which is the test zone near the Beadell Highway, is a long way from town though.
Garry from Oz.
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Garry from Oz - powered by Burgman
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