The beauty of Kyrgyzstan

First of all, to all the STRAVA followers and Blog readers, family, friends and maybe colleagues: Thank you all for your very inspiring Nutella, lots of knuffels and hygienic advices.
It's truly a moral boost and increases my average speed at least with 1km/h!

Extra thanks also to Mr. Everything, also called Laifu: tour operator, weather forecaster, tele-operator, party-organizer for his great support along the way, specially when he sent me until midnight through a sandstorm in no man's land. But don't worry, your delicious German salami makes everything good, yeyeye!


I am now exactly 2 months on the way. A right time to make again a short summery:

• 7200 km
• 52 days
• Average 138km/day
• Still only 1/2 day rain

The beauty of Kyrgyzstan

As you might know, I decided to go southbound into Kyrgyzstan.
It took extra time and distance but it was definitely worth it!

Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, was just a lay-over. The city itself is quite Western and clean. The prices are Western too.....A night in the Hyatt hotel starts from 150 USD...sure too much!

Bishkek center.

 

The single cow farmer

The next day, I continued late and stopped after a short ride in Sosnovka, just before the start of the mountain. I could stay with a single cow farmer who was doing some exercise by plough-ing his land by hand.....

At 7 am the next morning I was on the road again because it was expected to be a though day crossing the Too-Ashuu pass at 3000 meter.
But luck was around the corner. I met 2 horse riders guiding other horses. One of them wanted to try my bicycle so we swapped vehicles. I didn't mind at all, it was anyway uphill!


A horse man on a bike....

....and a biker on a horse

For a while I was riding the horse and it went well, until the horseman on my bike and my horse got a little too enthusiastic.







Time to swap again and to continue.
The ride uphill was, let's say, challenging but with the wonderful scenery, more then worth.

 

The horse riders took short cuts strait through the mountains so I met them several times.
Riding a horse must be a very stressful and tiring job as my friends took every 5km their well deserved Vodka rest! 

1 shot for the road....

I was invited too and obliged to take 3 shots. Half drunk I continued and reached the top. 
Back in the valley I was again a witness of the wonderful scenery and virgin nature of Kyrgyzstan.

Just wonderful.....

I plan to sent the CEO of that famous German tire company with orange logo a request to built here a new headquarter. And for the employers: all get a company horse instead of car.....

Let's guess: what's worth more....his Mercedes S600 V12 or his yurt?

Kalashnikov bread

I arrived late and exhausted in Otmok. On the crossing there was  just what I  needed: a restaurant/hotel owned by Bulack, a Kyrgyz man with Russian roots.
Bulack seemed to be a friendly, serious man who assured me that he does not drink while running his business.
He joined me during dinner and we had a nice talk. In fact it was a very interesting monologue like: "Pang-pang, bandit, Kalashnikov, prison, boksing, vodka".
Bulack admired the Kalashnikov! I learned that during his high-school he got 70 hours military course, learning everything about that Russian gun.
As far as I could understand, even his self made bread had something to do with Kalashnikovs.....

Bulack, the friendly and very serious restaurant owner/Kalashnikov lover

Later that evening the local police officer, also called "General", passed by and suddenly 2 bottles of Vodka appeared...


The next morning it was time to pay may debt.....but that went different then anticipated.
Clearly still under the influence of a great Vodka night with the General, Bulack's brain did not work properly anymore.
He wanted to charged me twice for the overnight. When I explained him 3 times that I paid the day before, Bulack came with a very smart alternative: he wanted to charge me 500 SOM (+/- 7 Euro) because I used a tree outside instead of his toilet....

Also this didn't work and I left quickly before my friend got his Kalashnikov doing pang-pang....

To the Kazakh border

My plan was to go to Taraz, right over the border and back in Kazakhstan.

Cold and snowy.....indeed the Otmok pass

The first 1.5 hours were again though as I had to cross this time the Otmok pass at 3300 meter.

After that it went all downhill, back to 700 meter. The scenery was nice but not as beautiful as the day before.
The day was as usual: seeing a lot of good old Russian Lada's and 5th. hand Audi 100, enthusiastic kids and shepherds everywhere.....

The robust Russian Lada. A full option version: Roof rack, up side down towing hook and clearly life time rust warranty

Supporting kids along the road



Kyrgyz shepherd with a great taste of fashion! Brand name glasses: Dolce&Gabbana

Near the evening, at the Talas lake, the wind became strong.....

A present of Lening (bust in background)  during the Soviet time: Talas  lake used for hydropower.

With already 8pm in the evening, a little delay and darkness coming, I decided not to cross the border but stay 6km. before in a small town with again a very friendly, welcoming family.

Next time I will talk about a very famous TV and movie personality I met along the Kazakh road.....

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!

Crossing the border, part 1

May 8th: The sole border crosser....

That morning, I was on the way already around 9:30am. So, with only 10 km. to do and the border opening at 10:30 am., I was well on time!

It was a beautiful morning, nice temperature, no people and no traffic at all!
"It seems that out of the 1.3 billion Chinese people, only a Belgian guy wants to cross the border today" I thought.....
Great! "This is going to be a quick peace of cake".....

However, the more I approached the border, the more something seemed not to be right!
And indeed, that day, as well as the previous and the next 3 days, the border was closed.
Reason: on Kazakh site they were celebrating the "end of the West War", which is the same as the end of the second world war.

Bad luck: border closed....

Sayram Hu paradise

I had to stay for  another 3 days in Korgas. Too much!
Then let's move on to plan B!

I was told that there was a nice lake, Sayram Hu, some 90km. North-East.
And what can you do if you have a bike, tent and cooking gear: camping!

There I went.  But what I did not check was that the lake was at an altitude of 2000 meter, so I had to climb for about 1500 meter.

A little bit Holland in China. Broken windmill with chimney

 

I was biking in 'relax mode', which means arriving 11 hours later, having a lot of stops for the nice scenery along the road.

Arriving at the lake gave you just another amazing view:


Sayram Hu lake

Yurt camping

I saw a man which offered me to sleep in one of his yurt....which I gratefully accepted. 

No tent camping but yurt camping....

 

He gave me 2 blankets for the night and the next morning I knew why! I woke up with -9.6°C!!!

Inside the yurt

After breakfast, I went back from where I came the day before. And as it was all downhill, I arrived 3.5 hours later....


Tomorrow the border is open again......let's see!

Done with the (Chinese) dessert, there are the mountains again.....

The last couple of days were just great!


I had a plan!

That evening in Tikanlik I checked the weather forecast which did not look very promising for the next day. Winds of 30km/h, gusting to 40km/h at 8 am. in the morning and coming from the North-West.
And where do I have to go? ....right: North/North-West!
Towards noon time the wind should drop to 10km/h coming from the North-East.

So, this weather forecast gave me a very good excuse not to wake up early.



Sandstorm near Korla

I started as planned around 1pm. with some tailwind. Along the way that little tailwind became a "nice" tailwind, ending in a sandstorm, this time in my favor.





My plan worked out and I did that day over 200 km. thanks to slightly (read opposite) wind conditions.....

I arrived in Korla which seems to be another Sinopec Oil city.

May 1st. is labor day, also for the CrazyBelgiumBiker, so no ride that day...

The "military secrets" of  Balguntay

 

I decided not to go via Urumqi as  I had enough of big cities for a while. Instead, the plan was to go via the G218 to Yining/Ili.
This route turned out just wonderful.





My next planned stop supposed to be Balguntay. Beside passing some copper (or iron) mines it was an uneventful day, except...... 



I am not a geologist but I think this is a copper mine (sister, please help me out...)



........arriving at Balguntay and looking for a place to stay there seemed to be an issue. I was again in a "no foreigner" zone.

Balguntay, I was told by the police, has a lot of "military secrets". Discussing and negotiating to stay did not work this time....I had to go back to the previous town, Heijing, 60 km South.
My bike could stay at the police station where I could pick it up the next morning...

The police was already "arranging" my deportation. This goes like this:

• Police man and me jump in car
• Police car chase random passing car in town
• Police car block road and car
• Police man ask if car goes to Heijing
• Police man arranges fee (20 RMB ~ 2.5 Euro)

On the way to Heijing it was a deja-vu.....seeing the road for the second and the next morning third time.....

That morning, the policeman already was waiting for me and we went together for breakfast.
Curious about the Balguntay military secrets he told me: there is a tank division and some IT intelligence operations.
Waaaaooohw......I was really impressed!
He must have pity me because he paid for my breakfast.

Wild horses, wild cows and.....wild women


The following 2 days were again great and the cherry on the Chinese cake: Perfect roads, almost no traffic, nice weather & beautiful scenery!
And it seems that Aeolus, the God of the wind, must be in a good mood as well as he also rewarded me for these last couple of days....


Wild horses...
 



Wild cows....
 

and (a little) wild women.....

 

 

 

 

 

In camping mode

Camping near the Gongnaisi river

I know that there is a blog fan (F-ke.D from 'Yellow' City...) who is concerned about my light weight tent but with all these nice landscapes, favorable temperature, a lot of wild horses and sheep as potential "military secret" and a perfect place to stay, it was the right time not to stay in a hotel but instead to deflower my tent, going into camping mode.



The next day, the initial plan was to stop at Gongliu but because the sun sets late (9:40 pm), temperatures still around 25°C and it went all well, I decided to continue to Yining.

Along the road: Nomad shepherds with their typical yurt

 

The honey road. As mostly in China: where you have one, there are others

With again more then 200 km. that day I was tired but was treated with a very nice sun-set.

 

JIT

I am in Yining now and preparing to cross the border.

As my Kazakh Visa is only valid starting May 8th., it went all as planned and JIT, Just In Time.....
Let's cross fingers and hope all goes well.

Talk to you next time when on Kazakh soil......


For the once who like biking or hiking and still don't have holiday plans for the next year, I can recommend: do the G218 route from Korla to Yining during April-May time......it is just amazing!!!!