Today we set off at a fairly decent hour, ten o’clock in the morning. We crossed the great bridge over the Irtysh River and, in exactly fifteen minutes, we were parked right in front of the Orthodox Cathedral of Pavlodar, a beautiful, massive structure with bright blue roofs and golden domes that glistened in the sun. Daddy Edu and Uncle Joan went inside to have a nose around, which apparently was full of icons and paintings, while I stayed to guard the entrance. Afterwards, we moved the car to park in a slightly more central area and headed off for a very long walk around the city and along the lovely riverbank. We walked for ages and saw the monument to the victims of political repression, which they found impressive and very solemn; we passed by some river beaches with very fine sand and walked along the promenade. Along the way, we also discovered several old wooden houses in that characteristic Siberian style and crossed Lenin Park.

When it was time to fill our bellies, Edu and Joan sat on the terrace of a simple burger restaurant. On the terrace was a local lad who had lived in Spain for four years; he spoke excellent Spanish and confessed, looking super surprised, that we were the first Spaniards he had ever seen set foot in Pavlodar in his entire life. We really are exclusive adventurers! With our energy renewed, we went back to the car and stopped for a moment at an office so Daddy Edu could exchange money for Russian roubles, as the border is starting to feel close. The last cultural stop was the Mashkhur Zhusup Mosque, a building with a very strange, futuristic exterior architecture in the shape of a blue star or crown, although they told me that the inside was a bit disappointing compared to the spectacular exterior.

After making the obligatory logistical stops to refill the water and fill the camper with diesel, we left Pavlodar behind and drove about 110 kilometres. It took us almost three hours because the tarmac round here is a bit dodgy, but using the infallible Google satellite, Daddy Edu found a beautiful spot right on the bank of the Irtysh River. The site is idyllic, postcard-worthy, if it weren't for one small detail: there are trillions of tiny, ferocious mosquitoes! It was a nightmare. I don't know if it was because of the bites from these miniature vampires or the insect spray that Dad sprayed inside the camper to try and save us, but my eyes swelled up completely. I looked like a boxer dog. Good thing my humans reacted quickly and put cold packs of smetana (that sour cream they buy round here, which was nice and cold in the fridge) on my eyelids, and that brought the swelling down quite a bit.

I was so focused on my eye drama that I barely even noticed four men arriving by car. They were local fishermen coming to spend the whole night by the river. The guys, who were very nice, invited Edu and Joan to have vodka with them, but my humans said no thanks, as they weren't in the mood for any shenanigans. What I still can't explain with my dog brain is how those men could be in shorts and no shirts, perfectly calm as if the mosquitoes didn't exist, while we couldn't even poke our noses outside the camper. It's a real shame, because the scenery is enough to stare at for hours, but with an air attack like that, we can't enjoy it as we wanted to. We’ll see how my eyes look in the morning!