19
The sun was shining when we woke up, so it was into the things we had to do before we hit road again tomorrow. First was the visa for Mongolia,and that turned out way easier than we thought. Ride to the embassy, fill out a form, hand over $68 USD each (in US dollars only), and a couple of photos, and in 15 minutes it is done. From there we caught up with Anton again at his garage, and got the tyres out and fitted them, then another welding job on my pannier bracket that broke on the super highways of Kyrgyzstan. That took most of the day, and at 7.00pm we were meeting Yeldos, a friend of a friend who had a restaurant in Almaty, and was also a biker. His restaurant, The Eldorro, was less than a kilometre from our hotel, so walked, and had a great night with him, a really nice guy. We ate far too much, but the food was good, and the talk just flowed, before we knew it it was after 10.00 pm, so we walked home and had a fairly early night.
20
The day started off OK, then went downhill from there. Lyn and I had words for a while, so the mood wasn’t particularly good, and then I got forced off the road by a truck and went down, breaking the windscreen and a pannier bracket, and bending a few things, but nothing major. The bike still ran OK, I came out of it with just a sore ankle and hip, no bark off, as I had the full suit on, and it did its job. The truck didn’t stop, and neither did the next 20 or 30 cars, but eventually someone did and helped me pick the bike up. Lyn was in front of me, and didn’t know I’d gone down, but eventually came back looking for me. A slower ride from there to Taldykorgan, where we found a hotel room for the night, and re-assessed things for tomorrow. A good feed in town, and a couple of beers, and sort things out in the morning.
The sun was shining when we woke up, so it was into the things we had to do before we hit road again tomorrow. First was the visa for Mongolia,and that turned out way easier than we thought. Ride to the embassy, fill out a form, hand over $68 USD each (in US dollars only), and a couple of photos, and in 15 minutes it is done. From there we caught up with Anton again at his garage, and got the tyres out and fitted them, then another welding job on my pannier bracket that broke on the super highways of Kyrgyzstan. That took most of the day, and at 7.00pm we were meeting Yeldos, a friend of a friend who had a restaurant in Almaty, and was also a biker. His restaurant, The Eldorro, was less than a kilometre from our hotel, so walked, and had a great night with him, a really nice guy. We ate far too much, but the food was good, and the talk just flowed, before we knew it it was after 10.00 pm, so we walked home and had a fairly early night.
20
The day started off OK, then went downhill from there. Lyn and I had words for a while, so the mood wasn’t particularly good, and then I got forced off the road by a truck and went down, breaking the windscreen and a pannier bracket, and bending a few things, but nothing major. The bike still ran OK, I came out of it with just a sore ankle and hip, no bark off, as I had the full suit on, and it did its job. The truck didn’t stop, and neither did the next 20 or 30 cars, but eventually someone did and helped me pick the bike up. Lyn was in front of me, and didn’t know I’d gone down, but eventually came back looking for me. A slower ride from there to Taldykorgan, where we found a hotel room for the night, and re-assessed things for tomorrow. A good feed in town, and a couple of beers, and sort things out in the morning.
Sammy's windscreen after the stack, it didn't do much after that.
21
From Taldykorgan there is not much to see, just miles of nothing, but the road is really bad, full of potholes, so you are focused on where you are going, not much time to look around. You can dodge most of them, but there is always one or two you can’t miss…. We wild camped that night, about 500 meters off the road in a little hollow. We thought no-one will see us here, but the farmer came calling in the middle of the night with his dogs to see who was on his land. When he saw it was just a couple of poverty stricken bikers he was fine, I think he was worried it might have been someone steeling his cattle. It rained all night, but was gone in the morning, and the wind soon dried out the tent.
From Taldykorgan there is not much to see, just miles of nothing, but the road is really bad, full of potholes, so you are focused on where you are going, not much time to look around. You can dodge most of them, but there is always one or two you can’t miss…. We wild camped that night, about 500 meters off the road in a little hollow. We thought no-one will see us here, but the farmer came calling in the middle of the night with his dogs to see who was on his land. When he saw it was just a couple of poverty stricken bikers he was fine, I think he was worried it might have been someone steeling his cattle. It rained all night, but was gone in the morning, and the wind soon dried out the tent.
Our campsite just off the road, which is behind me as I took the photo
22
While packing up in the morning, the farmer came by driving the cattle out to feed, and checked out the site to make sure all was good. Whilst we couldn’t talk to each other, we both knew what was going on, and shook hands as we left. Rode from the campsite to Ayaguz, fuelled up, and headed north to Semey, where we scored a room for the night for about $20 aud, ensuite, not bad. The road from Georgievka was gravel with corrugations for the first 12 kms, then was the best road we rode in in the country from there to Semey. From Ayuguz to Georgievka it was absolute shit, asphalt with corrugations and potholes is the best way to describe it. If any government wanted to promote flying as a way to travel their country, this would be the way to do it. We lost count of the vehicles broken down beside the road with tyre and suspension problems, and the reinforced subframe on Lyn’s bike broke again. We passed a burnt out semi and its trailer, still smouldering, beside the road, and a dog trailer with the drawbar bent up and the front axle torn out of it in the middle of the road, with the cars going around it. It was impossible to travel over 80 kph anytime, and sometimes we were down to 1st gear through some of the sections. It was without doubt the worst road we had ridden on the entire trip.
While packing up in the morning, the farmer came by driving the cattle out to feed, and checked out the site to make sure all was good. Whilst we couldn’t talk to each other, we both knew what was going on, and shook hands as we left. Rode from the campsite to Ayaguz, fuelled up, and headed north to Semey, where we scored a room for the night for about $20 aud, ensuite, not bad. The road from Georgievka was gravel with corrugations for the first 12 kms, then was the best road we rode in in the country from there to Semey. From Ayuguz to Georgievka it was absolute shit, asphalt with corrugations and potholes is the best way to describe it. If any government wanted to promote flying as a way to travel their country, this would be the way to do it. We lost count of the vehicles broken down beside the road with tyre and suspension problems, and the reinforced subframe on Lyn’s bike broke again. We passed a burnt out semi and its trailer, still smouldering, beside the road, and a dog trailer with the drawbar bent up and the front axle torn out of it in the middle of the road, with the cars going around it. It was impossible to travel over 80 kph anytime, and sometimes we were down to 1st gear through some of the sections. It was without doubt the worst road we had ridden on the entire trip.
The farmer who's land we camped on
We would leave Kazakhstan tomorrow, and have mixed feelings about the country. The people are probably the friendliest and most helpful we have come across, and they are all trying hard to improve their country. The government has done a good job instilling pride in their country, and you can feel it when you are talking to them. But, with limited funds, they cannot improve the roads over such a vast area, a problem they have to face, but with no easy solution, and as long as the roads are as they are, people just don't want to travel across the country. Catch 22.
Just a small one, photo doesn't give any indication of depth, there were hundreds bigger and deeper.
