Crossing the border part 2

The customs "market place"

4 days of Kazakh holidays and a border closed means lots of people wants to cross the border on May 11th.
I arrived again on time and met 3 other cyclist, Dan & Jess from Australia and Hanna from Japan, also going to Almaty, Kazakhstan but with London as final destination.

Gate open and inside customs

Exact at 10:30 am the gate opened and people where almost running to be first.

Complete chaos.....

Inside the customs we waited quite long and it seemed that the line in front of us became longer instead of shorter.
The reason was simple: we did not follow the right rules: negotiating with the officers, pushing as hard you can and overtaken as much as you can. It was just a market place....

Welcome to Kazakhstan!

 
 












Dan, Jess and Hanna crossing the China-Kazakh border by bicycle!

After almost 4 hours, we finally passed the last checking point and to our surprise we even could cross the border by our bikes! Great!

In Koktal, around 50km. in Kazakhstan and after lunch, we split already as Dan, Jess and Hanna wanted to do some more kilometers that day.

First and last meal together with Dan, Jess and Hanna

For me, due to the heavy wind, it was not worth it and decided to look for a place to stay. I found close by an hostel. Later I figured out that this hostel was in fact also a farm and disco club.
Around 10 pm, 3 goats entered my room. 1 hour later, the cook/DJ on duty gave everything he got to satisfy the 3 and only guests who just arrived.

Ms Cook

If it was a kind of compensation or not, I don't know, but the next morning I was invited to have breakfast together with the hostel family...








I started late. The road was not good and biking was more slaloming around holes.  
140km. was enough for that day and stopped in Kokpek.

Kazakh main road to the capital....

With a better sleep then the night before and a long trip on the agenda, I woke up early and was at 7 am already on the road.



Morning view

Gasoline prices almost half the price as in Belgium

I should consider next time to come by car. Kazakhstan has oil so gasoline prices are cheap, almost half of the price of Belgium.

Also along the road: a well known brand

I was now 20km before Almaty, had a break and suddenly saw someone on a bike waving towards me....Who is this? No way, it's Hanna, the girl from Japan who I last saw 300 km. when we split. Apparently she also separated from Dan and Jess and we arrived together at Almaty.



Kazakhstan efficiency?? 3 documents needed to stay in the country

The next day was an administration/restday: immigration police, local market and bookstore for more detailed maps.

 

Local market. Very big and clean

Haidy and his time problem

Hanna also needed to go to Bishkek but was not sure if she could do it in 2 days. She decided to come with me and if she could not follow, she will go her own way. The plan was to go at least to Targan, around 100 km from Almaty.
But this was without Haidy into consideration.
Haidy was the 26 year old guy standing aside the road while screaming: "STOP, STOP, STOOOOOP".

"I am a horse-man, this is my range. I study English and want to practice and talk with you and I would like to offer you a place to stay overnight.....".

With 20 km from our planned stop place, we accepted the offer.
It was definitely the right decision: we had just a great evening with an extremely friendly family.

Treated like kings....delicious fresh and self made  food

 

 We were treated like kings, eating fresh bread and delicious tomato (with a lot of other things) sauce, all self made by Haidy's mother.



"The horse-man" family

Haidy had only one problem, it seems: Time. That day, he explained, he came just back from Almaty where he had a job interview for flight attendant for  the AIR ASTANA airlines. But he arrived 2 hours too late.....so bye-bye interview and job.


Welcome to Kirgizstan!

The next morning we woke up early again to catch up the 20km of the day before. The roads were again in acceptable condition.
With a strong wind, good roads, downhill and my afterburner on, I was almost flying and even reached a speed of 0.0715 Mach (See also @ STRAVA of May 16).

The world is small: 10 km. before the Kirgizstan border, Hanna met an other Japanese biker, coming from Spain and going into the opposite direction, back to Japan. It turned out that this guy was her ex-boyfriend. They needed to talk, Hanna said, and decided to stay.
There I was again: The sole Belgian biker, but I didn't mind!

This time, in less then 30 minutes, the whole customs stuff was done: Welcome to Kirgizstan!

I am now in Bishkek, capital of Kirgizstan and will stay only 2 days before entering again Kazakhstan.
You might ask why...
There are 2 reasons. First because Kirgizstan is known to be very beautiful. Second because by entering the second time on the most western side (and only allowed to stay 30 days in a row) I reset my visa, gaining 7 days.

Talk to you again when back in Kazakhstan!