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!
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!
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