That night, we spent our best night yet. Camped in the back of beyond, deep in Eastern Kazakhstan, only 50 miles from the Chinese border. Rory and his team had caught us up by then. After a fine dinner of Waitrose ready meal venison stew, Uncle Ben's rice, washed down by one warm bottle of Heineken between all of us, and a half bottle of 14yr old Balvenie (between Peter and me), and finished off with a Montecristo No.2, we all settled down to watch 'From Dusk till Dawn' on my MacAir and Bose boom box. Our companions were a family of kestrel like birds in the adjacent wood and a giant eagle owl who was very curious as to what was going on. It was a full moon night.
Next morning I was up early for a bit of flag waving. I'd promised my Sealed Knot mates I'd 'fly the colours', so the 17th century Scots Royal Standard of the Marquis of Montrose (the yellow one), and the Cols. colour of Colonel William Gordon's Regiment (the white one)were duly displayed. The natives, what there were of them, were suitably cowed. I'd brought a collapsible flagpole expressly for this important purpose. Breakfast was freshly brewed Illy coffee. As someone told me before we came, 'enjoy the little things'.
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