The Aigaikum Guest House, in the tiny village of Basshi, was ideally located for visiting Kazakhstan’s Altyn-Emel National Park.
However, it was a slightly strange place, with seemingly no central reception area, and various blocks dotted around the grounds with the 18 rooms. Our block, where shoes had to be removed at the entrance, had six rooms and a communal area with casual sofas and a large dining table. There also appeared to be a stand-alone shower/toilet block, so maybe not all rooms were ensuite.
Our basic room had two single beds with an empty duvet cover, a fleecy bedspread, and one pillow each. We had a shared bedside table, a useful open wardrobe/cupboard and two lime green chairs, which on arrival were bizarrely stacked on top of the desk, possibly for floor cleaning purposes. Having asked for the WiFi password, it was said to be complicated and entered for us, which meant I didn’t have it for logging into my laptop. When I asked why it wasn’t widely available, I was told it was to prevent people in the village accessing it. On the plus side, the WiFi worked well.
The walk-in shower was good, but there was only one bath towel each and as the curtain was missing, the floor flooded. Having mentioned this to our guide, a shower curtain was put up and additional towels were provided. It was one of the few places we stayed during our five weeks that didn’t provide a hairdryer.
The restaurant, in a separate block, was a rather grand large room with chandeliers and six long tables down either side, each seating eight.
The no-choice dinner, served at 7pm, was reasonable, particularly the main courses which were a little more inventive than the food we’d experienced to date. On our first night we were served a fried aubergine salad, lentil soup, and stuffed bell peppers, whilst on the second we enjoyed tomato and cucumber salad, meatball soup followed by manty (steamed dumplings), served with a chilli and garlic sauce. On the table were lots of sweet and savoury nibbles.
Breakfast at 7am was a more standard affair with porridge and fried eggs, although on the table were plates of cheese, ham, bread and jams.
Whilst there were some lovely gardens with colourful flowers, the place lacked outdoor seating, and our experience felt a little odd.
