This dainty Russian-style town (pop. 318,000) near Siberia was once the destination of Russian political exiles and the site of extensive underground nuclear testing.
The tests left permanent genetic mutations among the populace: Examples can be seen at the Anatomy Department of the Semey Medical Faculty next to the Irtysh Hotel (not for the faint of heart). The town also has a museum honoring Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who spent five years of forced military service in Semey, and a new museum devoted to Abay Qunanbaev, Kazakhstan's leading literary light.
620 mi/1,000 km north of Almaty.
