A dash through Kazakhstan

I arrived in Kazakhstan and was made welcome straight away. I was given a free drink by a lady who asked me where I was going and people were very friendly. I went to a police station to try to get my visa registered. They said it wasn't possible here, even though they had told me at the border that it was. They advised me to go to Taraz, which is over 300 km away in the wrong direction - great! I cycled out of Korgas into the desert. I wasn't expecting desert so soon and hadn't bought enough food and water. I resorted to buying snacks from very expensive petrol stations and asking for water at houses then purifying it with cholorine pills.

I met an Aussie cyclist who had some bad news for me. The OVIR office (where you get your visa registered) in Almaty is closed at weekends. It was Thursday and I was at least a full days ride from Almaty so I'd arrive on Saturday afternoon at the earliest. The process takes a full day, so I'd have to stay in Almaty until Tuesday morning which would be 3 nights in a pricey hotel (it's a very expensive city) and I couldn't afford to wait that long. Unfortunately the alternative was a dash through Kazakhstan in 5 days. I'd already wasted most of one and I had about 550 km still to go, to cover in 4 days. The headwind was so strong and
I was making hardly any progress. I was in trouble!

I camped in some trees on the side of the road and the morning I woke up very early, determined to get a big day in. The wind hadn't started yet, it usually kicks in about 11ish so I had almost a full morning cycling wihout wind and a long downhill. The afternoon was sheltered on a good road with trees on either side. I stopped at a cafe for a big lunch and managed to get to Almaty that evening. I'd made 110 miles, the biggest day for a long time. I found the cheapest hotel I knew about, from a Japanese cyclist I'd met, for about 15 dollars a night in a shared room. I shared with a Norweigian and we went to an internet cafe together. Almaty looks like a nice city. Not too much to see for tourists but a great night life and a lot richer than anywhere else I'd seen in Central Asia. Kazakhstan's oil wealth is centered here and there are a lot of nice cars and money around. I got a kebab for dinner and got some rest, preparing for another big day tomorrow.

The next day I cycled along a poor road out of Almaty and don't really have much to report. It was a boring day where I tried to cover as many miles as possible. I managed 90 and slept behind some trees on the side of the road again. In the middle of the night a car crashed right next to where I was camping. It was a minor accident but it gave me a shock in the middle of the night and I couldn't get to sleep for about 2 hours while recovery crew turned up and cleaned up, oblivious to my presence about 10 meters away!

I continued the next day on the same pattern, although it was more interesting scenery. desert and a gorde then a plateau with the headwind again. After finally crossing the plateau, I descended to the Sharyn river (there was no time to make the detour to the canyon unfotunately). The climb out of the river gorge was steep and I made it to a town that night, where I found a shop, bought loads of food and a beer then cycled out and found a campsite which was teeming with mosquitos!

With loads of new bites to add to my collection I got going the next day at sunrise. It was about 100km to china and I wanted to get to the border at a reasonable time to make sure I got in today. If not I'd heard it was a 200 dollar fine for not having the visa registered. After another non-eventful morning I made it to the border! Fantastic, I was chuffed to have crossed the country in time, it was a big effort and hard work and I planned to have a good rest in Khorgas, the Chinese border town. I had one more obstacle to cross though. The Kazakh border gaurds don't usually allow cyclists to cross the border and load them into a bus for a ridicolous fee for a 1 km ride. I'd heard cyclists have crossed the border by bike though so I gave it a go. I want to cycle around the world, not the world minus 1 km! After a lot of explaining and negotiating, they let me go, more to get rid of me than anything else I think! I was delighted and let out a whoop when I got into the 1km of no mans land! I got into China after about 10 passport checks and was welcomed by some delighted looking police.

Everything was in a new language I couldn't read, I was a bit nervous of entering a new world, I'd got used to Central Asia but I'm looking forward to seeing how I cope in China!

Krygyzstan

I set off from Sary-Tash after an early start from the homestay. I left Martin and Paul behind. I'm in more of a rush than them because I'm planning to meet my cousin Phil in Urumqi, China in 3 weeks. The road from Sary-Tash to Osh climbs over a double-headed pass, which was difficult but compared to the Pamirs, much easier. The landscape was totally different, much greener, birds of prey swooped around and there were loads of shepherds in yurts on either side of the road. The descent from the top of the second pass was great. Switchbacks weaving down a hillside into a valley with lots of towns and shops, cafes and people! It was great to be back in civilisation!

The headwind was still there though, it seems it doesn't matter which direction I'm cycling in, there is always a headwind! I met a couple of Americans who were loving the tailwind heading to the Pamirs. I had to really pedal hard to go downhill against the wind which was really frustrating. In the end I made it past a fair sized town, to a river where I asked a farmer if I could camp in his field for the night. I had a wash in the river, washed my clothes, cooked a decent soup for dinner and got a good nights sleep.

The next day was a great climb up to the top of another pass at 2,408m, then a 50km descent to the city of Osh. Osh is a ancient Silk Road city, older than Rome apparently. However, recent events have turned it into a pretty unpleasant place. Recent riots between Krygyz people and the 40% Uzbek population has caused much of the city to be burned down, including the old famous bazaar, which is a massive shame. I sensed a bit of tension in the people living there as if they were on edge that it might happen again. I found a really cheap hotel with a lovely lody who ran it. She kept giving me medical stuff to add to my first aid kit! She spoke good English and told me that I was lucky to come from a country where people don't fight.

I didn't stay long in Osh, there didn't seem to be much point, so I left the next morning into the Fergana Valley. It's called a valley but really its a plain between two massive mountain ranges. I was heading to the Tian Shin in the North of the country. The mountains extend to Kazakhstan and China. The ride through the valley was really hot. It was like being back in the desert in Uzbekistan. The thermometer on my speedometer got up to 46 degrees. I cycled all morning then was invited over by some melon sellers. They gave me chai and melon and I sheltered there from the sun for a while. I left there about 2 when it was still too hot to be riding, so I went for another chai in a cafe and had a siesta for a couple of hours. I'd worked out that if I could do around 100km per day, I'd get to Urumqi in time to meet Phil. It's a fairly fast pace, with enough time to chill out a bit and take siestas!

That evening I found a phone on the side of the road and did a good turn by finding an English speaking woman who I explained that I'd found it to. She called the last number and arranged to leave it in a
shop while the owner came to pick it up. Karma was favouring me after that because I found a fantastic place to stay! An old man and his wife invited me over and gave me a delicious meal of potatoes mashed up with bread and meat, followed by laghman soup (soup with noodles). Then the old man played his home made 3 string guitar for me and sang. It was a great moment, even if the quality wasn't amazing! I slept on their patio with a mosquito net protecting me from 100s of them.

The next day I left after a quick breakfast and rode until lunchtime where I stopped for a siesta. I ate another melon and read a book. It's too hot in the middle of the day to eat too much, I just tended to snack on stuff all day rather than have a big meal. In the evening I started climbing and at dusk asked at a petrol station for a place to camp. They said I couldn't cook near the petrol station because of the fire risk so the owner took me to a nearby house and asked if I could camp there. They let me put my tent up in front of the entrance and I started cooking. They kept bringing me food, bread, cucumbers, tomatoes. Then I started eating my pasta and the lady said I should come and eat with the family. By that stage I was ready for bed but I went and left the pasta for the next day for breakfast. What was for dinner? More Plov! I didn't want to be ungrateful so I ate it but the greasy rice dish that every one in Central Asia seems to eat was really getting to me now. It's OK but every meal is a bit much! I thought of my pasta, which I'd have much preferred! Anyway, the family
were lovely and the kids tried out the English they'd learned at school. Much to her embarrassment, the 13 year old girl told me she was 30 and everybody laughed! They brought a watermelon for pudding and I had a beer that I'd bought earlier - luxury!

In the morning I was woken by the boy bringing me chai. I started eating my pasta again and last night repeated itself. I went for breakfast with the family and they washed up my pans throwing my pasta away. When I found out I was gutted, even more so when breakfast materialised - more Plov!!! Anyway it was very nice of them to wash my pans for me and the lady washed my shirt - it must have smelt pretty bad because she didn't ask me if I wanted it washing! After leaving them and signing autographs for the children for some reason, I climbed up to a reservoir. I had lunch at the side and relaxed at a cafe with a chai. I had a swim in the reservior which was absolutely freezing. The water had come from the mountains and it took my breath away.

I climbed up a beautiful gorge, with desert scenery except for the hydroelectric dams every few miles with reserviors behind them. I camped at a town called Kara-Kol and shared a paddock with a horse. The dogs annoyed me that night until I remembered Paul had given me some earplugs.

The next day I cycled around the lake of Toktogol. A huge reservoir behind a massive Soviet dam. There were some big climbs over the surrounding hills but it was cooler so I cycled all day until I arrived at the town on the other side of the lake. I was invited to stay by a shopkeeper. It was a nice house, the shopkeepers husband was a vet and he showed me his soviet textbooks. He then got out a photo album of when he fought in the Soviet Army. There was a picture of his regiment in front of a statue of Lenin and he did some quite alarming acting of his job - he was the gunner in a tank. I had a huge dinner!

I thought at first the bread, cream and jam was the full meal so I ate load of it, then the lady brought in potato stew. It was probably the best meal in Central Asia and I ate as much as I could and sneaked the rest into a bag for the next day, I couldn't eat it all but I didn't want to insult them. It made a great lunch!

The next day I was shattered, my morale was low, I think because I was so tired. I hadn't slept well for some reason. I decided to take it easy and cycle a short day. My knees were hurting to and I'd been overdoing it recently. I haven't had a day off for ages. I cycled 20 km in the morning and stopped at a beautiful cafe where I slept on a platform in the middle of a river, shaded by trees. It was great. I read and chilled out until late afternoon then started climbing up a huge pass.

It was around 2.2 km of altitude gain, up to 3,175m over around 80km. I climbed all day and made it to a yurt near the top by early evening. They gave me biscuits and Koosmoos, which is an absolutely disgusting drink! It's gone off horse milk which is fizzy through fermentation. They love it, I didn't. The first mouthful made me gag but I managed to finish 1 cup. It was so horrible! I left the yurt refusing a second cup and  thanking them for their delicious drink! I made it to the top of the pass just before sunset and camped with a nomad family just after the top. I made soup and got a good nights sleep, it was snowing outside.

I woke up and found the 80ish year old lady who lived in the yurt in this really harsh climate pumping milk through a contraption with a wheel. I assumed it was for the koosmoos. Her daughter was milking a cow. I left and descended into a valley. To begin with it was beautiful, then the yurts became shops aimed at truck drivers and it was a bit artificial. By lunchtime I'd reached the bottom of the final pass before Bishkek, the capital city. I started climbing and could see the weather closing in at the top of the mountain.

Sure enough, after a few km it started raining, which turned to snow after I got high enough. I was getting cold so I stopped for a bit in a yurt and bought some cheese balls from them. They were very nice, salty, also made from horse milk I think. The snow stopped after an hour or so and I carried on climbing. After another few km, the wind picked up and the snow started again. It was being blown into my face horizontally and I was getting really cold this time. I didn't have the gear to be riding in these conditions so I stopped at the next yurt and was welcomed in with a chai and after the snow carried on for a few hours, a tasty dinner. At one point the entire extended family who were passing by car, came in and there were 14 of us in one small yurt! I camped outside, pitching my tent in the snow, but was warm inside it.

In the morning the snow had stopped and I climbed up the pass in the clouds. There was about an inch of snow on the ground that had fallen in the night. At the top of the pass there's a tunnel to save climbing the remaining 300m of mountain so I went through, a bit nervous. A few years ago someone broke down in this tunnel and the stupid lorry drivers didn't turn their engines off. The tunnel filled with smoke and 4 people died from carbon monoxide poisoning. I didn't die though and got through fine! There was another fantastic descent on the other side. I overtook lorries and whizzed down to the main road to Bishkek.

I covered the final 50km in a few hours and arrived in Bishkek around 7. I found a cheap dormitory for 2 dollars and went to get some food.

I decided not to stay in Bishkek long, again there didn't seem to be much to see and I was feeling quite well, I wanted to get to China, I've been in Central Asia for a long time now and I'm ready for a change. The next morning I had a quick look round, got breakfast, then headed to the nearby border with Kazakhstan which I crossed easily, except they wouldn't stamp my registration paper which meant I had to either cross the country in 5 days or register in Almaty, which could take a while.

Krygyzstan was beautiful, I took the main road route through the country which was great and varied but I'd like to come back one day to see some of the more remote areas. I'd loved the country though. I wasn't particularly looking forward to Kazakhstan, it would be little more than a ride through monotanous scenery for a few days, with Almaty to break it up. I'll see what it's like though and there is the possibility of a detour to Sharyn canyon, which is supposed to be impressive.