2nd July
Leaving Chelyabinsk in the morning we managed to get lost, if you follow one main road you get channelled into a one way street into the parking lot at the railway station, and the traffic there is as frantic as a pedophile at a wiggles concert. No one will give way, no one wants let anyone out of a park, and if someone does get out, 17 other cars all want the spot. Eventually we escaped the mayhem, and wound our way south to the border. It was a good ride, most of the traffic continued east through Russia, or went north to other industrial cities, so most of the trucks had gone. We arrived at the border at lunch time, unaware that they close for lunch! The two entrance gates were closed, and the line up of trucks stretched for nearly a kilometre. Being cheeky bastards, we rode past the line to the front of the queue, and were ushered into the front spot by the guard at the gate. It was just before 1.00pm, and they were opening ready to start the afternoon session, so we got the jump on everyone, I still feel a bit guilty about that. We were the only bikes, that surprised me a bit. Anyway, after clearing Russian customs and immigration, we rode the 5-600 metres to the Kazakhstan gate, where we had to get 2 small pieces of paper to fill in before the next hurdle. Problem was, the forms were printed in Kazakh, so we had no idea what they said! A guard at the gate gave us a hand, the really small ticket size one just needed the basic vehicle details, and the other one our names, address, country, and asked for our letter of introduction, which we didn’t have, so left blank. I had rang the Kazakhstan consul in Kazan while I was there, and was told we didn’t need a visa until the end of this year, so didn’t need a loi. We continued to the next gate, and did the passport thing, where they asked us for our visa. I thought it would all go pear shaped from there, but we explained that their consul in Kazan said we didn’t need one, and they proceeded with processing us with no problems. The guy at the counter was a happy guy always smiling and laughing, and his colleague next to him was the same, so that helped a lot. From there to customs where I had to open the panniers and show him we weren’t drug or weapons traffickers, show bike rego forms, and that was it. It took less than an hour, and most of that time was waiting. We did buy insurance at a separate hut nearby, but weren’t asked for it, it worked out costing about one dollar a day, minimum was 15 days. From there, we rode into Kazakhstan, and into a fuel station, it was a little cheaper here than Russia. 95 ron was about 140 Tengue to the litre, there are 250 Tengue to the oz dollar, so around 60 cents a litre. Most servos don’t take cards, so we found one that did until we could get to a bankomat (ATM) for some cash, which we did in the next town. The next town of any size was Kastanay, about 180 kms from the border, and we made that around 5.30 and found a great hotel on the edge of town, the Ostrov. The room was better than anything we had stayed in for quite a while, it had wifi, (but it dropped in and out all the time), ensuite, restaurant, and secure parking for the bikes, all for about $20 aud. We had plans of eating in the restaurant downstairs, then coming back up to do the blog and computer stuff, but the guys at the next table sent over a couple of cognacs when we were finishing our meal, and we ended up joining them for a while. They didn’t speak English, so there was a communication problem, but we managed to work out the basics, and the more cognacs they ordered, the better we got. Lyn couldn’t drink it, so she finished her wine, then left to go up to the room, while i stayed behind (not allowed to leave by my new friends, Nicoli and Sacha, two brothers), and continued drinking shots of Cognac. I was presented with a new bottle, which they wouldn’t let me open, and kept ordering more, so I had to make my excuses and leave, or it was going to get even messier than it already was. I had the wobbly boot on when I stood up, not a good sign! Finally got to bed and passed out, don’t know how the other two were, but I wasn’t good next morning. Friendly people these Kazakhs! They had either left or were still unconscious when we surfaced, but we didn’t see them again.I hope they got away OK. Thanks for a great night guys!
Leaving Chelyabinsk in the morning we managed to get lost, if you follow one main road you get channelled into a one way street into the parking lot at the railway station, and the traffic there is as frantic as a pedophile at a wiggles concert. No one will give way, no one wants let anyone out of a park, and if someone does get out, 17 other cars all want the spot. Eventually we escaped the mayhem, and wound our way south to the border. It was a good ride, most of the traffic continued east through Russia, or went north to other industrial cities, so most of the trucks had gone. We arrived at the border at lunch time, unaware that they close for lunch! The two entrance gates were closed, and the line up of trucks stretched for nearly a kilometre. Being cheeky bastards, we rode past the line to the front of the queue, and were ushered into the front spot by the guard at the gate. It was just before 1.00pm, and they were opening ready to start the afternoon session, so we got the jump on everyone, I still feel a bit guilty about that. We were the only bikes, that surprised me a bit. Anyway, after clearing Russian customs and immigration, we rode the 5-600 metres to the Kazakhstan gate, where we had to get 2 small pieces of paper to fill in before the next hurdle. Problem was, the forms were printed in Kazakh, so we had no idea what they said! A guard at the gate gave us a hand, the really small ticket size one just needed the basic vehicle details, and the other one our names, address, country, and asked for our letter of introduction, which we didn’t have, so left blank. I had rang the Kazakhstan consul in Kazan while I was there, and was told we didn’t need a visa until the end of this year, so didn’t need a loi. We continued to the next gate, and did the passport thing, where they asked us for our visa. I thought it would all go pear shaped from there, but we explained that their consul in Kazan said we didn’t need one, and they proceeded with processing us with no problems. The guy at the counter was a happy guy always smiling and laughing, and his colleague next to him was the same, so that helped a lot. From there to customs where I had to open the panniers and show him we weren’t drug or weapons traffickers, show bike rego forms, and that was it. It took less than an hour, and most of that time was waiting. We did buy insurance at a separate hut nearby, but weren’t asked for it, it worked out costing about one dollar a day, minimum was 15 days. From there, we rode into Kazakhstan, and into a fuel station, it was a little cheaper here than Russia. 95 ron was about 140 Tengue to the litre, there are 250 Tengue to the oz dollar, so around 60 cents a litre. Most servos don’t take cards, so we found one that did until we could get to a bankomat (ATM) for some cash, which we did in the next town. The next town of any size was Kastanay, about 180 kms from the border, and we made that around 5.30 and found a great hotel on the edge of town, the Ostrov. The room was better than anything we had stayed in for quite a while, it had wifi, (but it dropped in and out all the time), ensuite, restaurant, and secure parking for the bikes, all for about $20 aud. We had plans of eating in the restaurant downstairs, then coming back up to do the blog and computer stuff, but the guys at the next table sent over a couple of cognacs when we were finishing our meal, and we ended up joining them for a while. They didn’t speak English, so there was a communication problem, but we managed to work out the basics, and the more cognacs they ordered, the better we got. Lyn couldn’t drink it, so she finished her wine, then left to go up to the room, while i stayed behind (not allowed to leave by my new friends, Nicoli and Sacha, two brothers), and continued drinking shots of Cognac. I was presented with a new bottle, which they wouldn’t let me open, and kept ordering more, so I had to make my excuses and leave, or it was going to get even messier than it already was. I had the wobbly boot on when I stood up, not a good sign! Finally got to bed and passed out, don’t know how the other two were, but I wasn’t good next morning. Friendly people these Kazakhs! They had either left or were still unconscious when we surfaced, but we didn’t see them again.I hope they got away OK. Thanks for a great night guys!
Our $20 a night hotel room in Kastanay
The country is pretty flat, as far as you can see
3
After doing a guided GPS tour of every street in he city, we escaped into the countryside again for more views of endless grassy plains as far as you can see, with the odd laser straight line of electricity towers disappearing into the distance the only other visible thing. The road was mainly good, but there were sections that were horrible, down to first gear, and go around holes in the road over a foot deep, and over half the road wide. The trucks would stop, then crawl through them, with the trailers swinging wildly from side to side, must have been a nightmare driving them. From that to 90 kph again, until the next shitty section, or other bits that had a string of smaller potholes about a kilometre long, that forced you to swerve all over the road to miss them, and there was always one you couldn’t miss! Kept the concentration levels up. There were showers coming across the plains you could see from miles away, we managed to dodge most of them, but a couple got us just after we stopped for our expensive lunch at a roadside cafe. We had a plate of mashed potatoes and meatballs each, with two cups of tea, and some water, total just over $3 aud. We were heading for Astana, but knew we wouldn’t make it tonight, so stopped before 6.00pm at Atbasar, where a guy at the servo helped us out with the fuel pumps translating for us. Hardly anyone speaks english, and like most of Russia, you have to prepay for your fuel, and we would try to get them to hold a credit card or cash until we had finished, but a lot of the operators don’t get what we want. The guy introduced himself as Adlan, and he found us a hotel in town for the night, with the bikes locked up in a big shed for just under $2 aud extra. Not as flash as the night before, and no wifi, but still good, clean and a little cheaper. Adlan even drove to the hotel so we could follow him, as it wasn’t easy to find. As I said, the Kazakh people are really friendly and helpful. The restaurant downstairs did dinner, and we were set for the night.
4
We got away early (for us), as we wanted to get to Astana by lunchtime, and did the 254 kms of pretty good road without any hassles, arriving in Astana around 12.30. On the way, we clocked over the 60,000 kms for the trip, bit of a milestone. There were a few showers and storms around, but we managed to dodge them, either crossing behind them or just beating them, got to be lucky sometimes! We tried one hotel, but was way too dear for us, and found one on the net that suited us. Finding the hotel was a different story though….. We checked in at 4.00pm, after being given totally wrong directions by locals, mis-directed by our phones, and frankly pissed about by everything and everybody. So much for our early day and a look around Astana. Add to that Microsoft in their wisdom had blocked my email account due to "unusual activity", i.e. sending and receiving emails from Russia and Kazakhstan, and the day was turning to shit really quickly. Hello you fu*^#@ers, I have been travelling now for over 2 years!!!! I am unable to free up my account as I have no phone service here, and the advice from Microsoft has a no reply email, so I can’t even talk or email to a human. One thing you learn when travelling, nothing is geared for it, and sometimes it becomes so frustrating I feel like choking the shiny arsed, pony tailed, pimply faced bastards that decide what “unusual activity” is. Just as well we have wine with us… Rant over……
After doing a guided GPS tour of every street in he city, we escaped into the countryside again for more views of endless grassy plains as far as you can see, with the odd laser straight line of electricity towers disappearing into the distance the only other visible thing. The road was mainly good, but there were sections that were horrible, down to first gear, and go around holes in the road over a foot deep, and over half the road wide. The trucks would stop, then crawl through them, with the trailers swinging wildly from side to side, must have been a nightmare driving them. From that to 90 kph again, until the next shitty section, or other bits that had a string of smaller potholes about a kilometre long, that forced you to swerve all over the road to miss them, and there was always one you couldn’t miss! Kept the concentration levels up. There were showers coming across the plains you could see from miles away, we managed to dodge most of them, but a couple got us just after we stopped for our expensive lunch at a roadside cafe. We had a plate of mashed potatoes and meatballs each, with two cups of tea, and some water, total just over $3 aud. We were heading for Astana, but knew we wouldn’t make it tonight, so stopped before 6.00pm at Atbasar, where a guy at the servo helped us out with the fuel pumps translating for us. Hardly anyone speaks english, and like most of Russia, you have to prepay for your fuel, and we would try to get them to hold a credit card or cash until we had finished, but a lot of the operators don’t get what we want. The guy introduced himself as Adlan, and he found us a hotel in town for the night, with the bikes locked up in a big shed for just under $2 aud extra. Not as flash as the night before, and no wifi, but still good, clean and a little cheaper. Adlan even drove to the hotel so we could follow him, as it wasn’t easy to find. As I said, the Kazakh people are really friendly and helpful. The restaurant downstairs did dinner, and we were set for the night.
4
We got away early (for us), as we wanted to get to Astana by lunchtime, and did the 254 kms of pretty good road without any hassles, arriving in Astana around 12.30. On the way, we clocked over the 60,000 kms for the trip, bit of a milestone. There were a few showers and storms around, but we managed to dodge them, either crossing behind them or just beating them, got to be lucky sometimes! We tried one hotel, but was way too dear for us, and found one on the net that suited us. Finding the hotel was a different story though….. We checked in at 4.00pm, after being given totally wrong directions by locals, mis-directed by our phones, and frankly pissed about by everything and everybody. So much for our early day and a look around Astana. Add to that Microsoft in their wisdom had blocked my email account due to "unusual activity", i.e. sending and receiving emails from Russia and Kazakhstan, and the day was turning to shit really quickly. Hello you fu*^#@ers, I have been travelling now for over 2 years!!!! I am unable to free up my account as I have no phone service here, and the advice from Microsoft has a no reply email, so I can’t even talk or email to a human. One thing you learn when travelling, nothing is geared for it, and sometimes it becomes so frustrating I feel like choking the shiny arsed, pony tailed, pimply faced bastards that decide what “unusual activity” is. Just as well we have wine with us… Rant over……
60,000 kms on the main trip trip meter, bit of a milestone........
5
Left Astana, on reasonable roads, but they still had some horrible sections in them. Still they were bitumen, and I didn’t know what to expect here, so still better than bad dirt roads. A little way out of Astana, we were pulled over by the police, who demanded our papers, but they almost apologised when Lyn took her helmet off and saw it was a woman, they weren't expecting that!’ A look at our licenses and we were waved on. We overtook a Landcruiser troopy in amongst some trucks, so didn’t get a good look at it, but it was as out of place here as we were, Lyn caught the words “ Overlanders Armstrong” written on it, definitely not a local. Further down the road we saw our first lot of wild Bactrians, or camels with two humps. A little while later, after stopping for fuel and a drink, we past through a small town, and on the other side of it were pulled over by the police again, they looked at our papers, and again let us go after they thought we could only speak spanish! Just after we got up to the speed limit, we spotted the troopy parked off beside the road, and a couple eating their lunch. A quick U turn and we met Overlanders Armstrong, Phil and Lisa, a couple driving from Melbourne back to the UK, after living in Oz for seven years. Good to have a chat with someone and not to have to talk in broken English and sign language! They were going to camp they night near Balkash, where we were hoping to make it to before nightfall, so we hit the road again, still a long way to go on unknown roads. While riding the last leg, we spotted a seagull on the road, in the middle of nowhere, eating roadkill, strange behaviour for a seagull, and stranger still as we were a zillion miles from the nearest ocean! We eventually reached Balkash, where we stayed in hotel near the lake, nice and cheap, and had the bikes locked up in a carwash shed for the night for an extra 400 Tenge, about $1.80 aud
Left Astana, on reasonable roads, but they still had some horrible sections in them. Still they were bitumen, and I didn’t know what to expect here, so still better than bad dirt roads. A little way out of Astana, we were pulled over by the police, who demanded our papers, but they almost apologised when Lyn took her helmet off and saw it was a woman, they weren't expecting that!’ A look at our licenses and we were waved on. We overtook a Landcruiser troopy in amongst some trucks, so didn’t get a good look at it, but it was as out of place here as we were, Lyn caught the words “ Overlanders Armstrong” written on it, definitely not a local. Further down the road we saw our first lot of wild Bactrians, or camels with two humps. A little while later, after stopping for fuel and a drink, we past through a small town, and on the other side of it were pulled over by the police again, they looked at our papers, and again let us go after they thought we could only speak spanish! Just after we got up to the speed limit, we spotted the troopy parked off beside the road, and a couple eating their lunch. A quick U turn and we met Overlanders Armstrong, Phil and Lisa, a couple driving from Melbourne back to the UK, after living in Oz for seven years. Good to have a chat with someone and not to have to talk in broken English and sign language! They were going to camp they night near Balkash, where we were hoping to make it to before nightfall, so we hit the road again, still a long way to go on unknown roads. While riding the last leg, we spotted a seagull on the road, in the middle of nowhere, eating roadkill, strange behaviour for a seagull, and stranger still as we were a zillion miles from the nearest ocean! We eventually reached Balkash, where we stayed in hotel near the lake, nice and cheap, and had the bikes locked up in a carwash shed for the night for an extra 400 Tenge, about $1.80 aud
Wild double humpers, (Bactrians), beside the road
Believe it or not, that sign says "Balkash", no wonder we struggle with directions here!
Mig on a stand near Balkash
Cemetry just before we got to a small village, it was neater and more impressive than the village.
A hill.........
6
The next morning started badly, as we found out our friend Jeff had died in Moscow, so there was a shadow over everything we did. We rode over 600 kms this day, not talking much, alone in our helmets with our own thoughts on life, death, and what it all means. Breakfast was at a little roadside cafe on the edge of town and everyone came out to inspect the bikes, and ask a million questions in Kazakh, which we couldn’t answer. We did try, and it must have kept them happy, as they would not let us pay for breakfast, and insisted it was a gift. The road wasn’t bad to bottom of lake, then it was absolute shit to 100kms from Almaty. Coming over a small bridge over a railway line, the cops pulled us over again, and it turns out Lyn had crossed the white line while overtaking a slow car coming over the bridge in what was a 50kph zone. We had no argument, as they had the whole thing on video, even with the recorded speed. Even with our language barrier there was no mistaking there would be a fine involved, the question was how much? Printed forms were produced, which we couldn’t read, but the number was 63,000 tenge, around $250aud. I produced my wallet, which contained a single 500 tenge note, and explained that’s all we had, and did they take Visa? They found another form that had 10,000 tenge on it, and were prepared to reduce it to that, but we said we only had the 500. That wouldn’t do so he started filling out another form, so Lyn mentioned we had some cognac, and the cops smiled. A deal was struck, the bottle given to me by my friends in Kastanay was handed over, and we were on our way. We were stopped again near Almaty, then waved on. There were more storms around in the afternoon, but we managed to miss them all, just a few drops of rain all day. As we were approaching Almaty, mountains appeared as clouds from nowhere. It took us a while to decide if they were clouds or mountains, we had got used to the broad flat landscapes of the last 2,000 kilometres, and weren’t expecting this. We had booked at one hotel for two nights, but had arrived a day early, and there was no room at the one we booked, so we found another for just the one night. Once again friendly people on the street helped us out with directions, translating, making phone calls, anything to help, they really are great people.
The next morning started badly, as we found out our friend Jeff had died in Moscow, so there was a shadow over everything we did. We rode over 600 kms this day, not talking much, alone in our helmets with our own thoughts on life, death, and what it all means. Breakfast was at a little roadside cafe on the edge of town and everyone came out to inspect the bikes, and ask a million questions in Kazakh, which we couldn’t answer. We did try, and it must have kept them happy, as they would not let us pay for breakfast, and insisted it was a gift. The road wasn’t bad to bottom of lake, then it was absolute shit to 100kms from Almaty. Coming over a small bridge over a railway line, the cops pulled us over again, and it turns out Lyn had crossed the white line while overtaking a slow car coming over the bridge in what was a 50kph zone. We had no argument, as they had the whole thing on video, even with the recorded speed. Even with our language barrier there was no mistaking there would be a fine involved, the question was how much? Printed forms were produced, which we couldn’t read, but the number was 63,000 tenge, around $250aud. I produced my wallet, which contained a single 500 tenge note, and explained that’s all we had, and did they take Visa? They found another form that had 10,000 tenge on it, and were prepared to reduce it to that, but we said we only had the 500. That wouldn’t do so he started filling out another form, so Lyn mentioned we had some cognac, and the cops smiled. A deal was struck, the bottle given to me by my friends in Kastanay was handed over, and we were on our way. We were stopped again near Almaty, then waved on. There were more storms around in the afternoon, but we managed to miss them all, just a few drops of rain all day. As we were approaching Almaty, mountains appeared as clouds from nowhere. It took us a while to decide if they were clouds or mountains, we had got used to the broad flat landscapes of the last 2,000 kilometres, and weren’t expecting this. We had booked at one hotel for two nights, but had arrived a day early, and there was no room at the one we booked, so we found another for just the one night. Once again friendly people on the street helped us out with directions, translating, making phone calls, anything to help, they really are great people.
View from the hotel room, Almaty, looking south. The other side of those mountains is Kyrgyzstan.
7-11
Moved into the hotel we originally booked into, 5 minutes down the road from where we were. Finally got decent wifi, flash room with kitchen, lounge, separate bedroom, splurged for a few nights. With the help of Anton and Turgan, bikers who we got onto from a friend who rode through here a couple of years ago, I got the front tyres, oil and chain lube that we needed, and did an oil change on the bikes, as they were due. Anton, Turgan and their friends have a couple of storage sheds they use for maintenance and bike storage, and kindly let me use them to do what I needed to do. The existing front tyres will last a bit longer, so will change them after Krygyzstan. I noticed the top box on Lyn’s bike was loose, and on closer inspection found the subframe had broken through, so welded that up at the clubhouse as well. We caught up with Phil and Lisa, (Overlanders Armstrong) again, and some friends of theirs, so had a few drinks to celebrate making Almaty. We spent a day going up in the cable cars from Medeu, the cities ice skating rink, and the highest in the world. The Kazak people take speed skating very seriously, and they rate highly in the sport. There are quite a few statues celebrating that around the city. The top lift goes up to 3200 metres, well above the snow line, and there was still some snow around even though it was July. We were dressed in tee shirts as it was hot in the city, but it was cool at the top, we didn’t stay long! The cafe/bar was closed anyway, out of season. Hitchhiking is really common, even in the city, everyone picks up everyone, we watched one guy turn down 6 or 7 lifts in a couple of minutes, and at one stage there were two cars lined up to pick him up! They only wait a few seconds before someone stops. After fixing the broken subframe on the bike, a spot of weld had gone into one of the threaded sections used to mount the rear rack, and needed more fixing. Anton came around at 11.00pm with taps and dies to help, but it was too far gone, no more we could do at that time of night. We were to leave in the morning, and wanted to go to see Andre, the guy that welded up my pannier rack, but apparently he was at a funeral. Then we found another guy, (also named Andre), who with his friend did a great job, then wouldn’t accept any payment for it. It was after 3.00pm when we finished, so we decided to stay another night and leave in the morning. We booked in at Free Riders hostel, which has the hardest beds in the world. There we met fellow travellers Dave and Eve from Austria on BMW’s, unfortunately Dave was having a few electrical problems, so the guys in the workshop were looking at the bike trying to sort it out. We were heading off from there to Bishkek, so left them to it in the morning.......
Moved into the hotel we originally booked into, 5 minutes down the road from where we were. Finally got decent wifi, flash room with kitchen, lounge, separate bedroom, splurged for a few nights. With the help of Anton and Turgan, bikers who we got onto from a friend who rode through here a couple of years ago, I got the front tyres, oil and chain lube that we needed, and did an oil change on the bikes, as they were due. Anton, Turgan and their friends have a couple of storage sheds they use for maintenance and bike storage, and kindly let me use them to do what I needed to do. The existing front tyres will last a bit longer, so will change them after Krygyzstan. I noticed the top box on Lyn’s bike was loose, and on closer inspection found the subframe had broken through, so welded that up at the clubhouse as well. We caught up with Phil and Lisa, (Overlanders Armstrong) again, and some friends of theirs, so had a few drinks to celebrate making Almaty. We spent a day going up in the cable cars from Medeu, the cities ice skating rink, and the highest in the world. The Kazak people take speed skating very seriously, and they rate highly in the sport. There are quite a few statues celebrating that around the city. The top lift goes up to 3200 metres, well above the snow line, and there was still some snow around even though it was July. We were dressed in tee shirts as it was hot in the city, but it was cool at the top, we didn’t stay long! The cafe/bar was closed anyway, out of season. Hitchhiking is really common, even in the city, everyone picks up everyone, we watched one guy turn down 6 or 7 lifts in a couple of minutes, and at one stage there were two cars lined up to pick him up! They only wait a few seconds before someone stops. After fixing the broken subframe on the bike, a spot of weld had gone into one of the threaded sections used to mount the rear rack, and needed more fixing. Anton came around at 11.00pm with taps and dies to help, but it was too far gone, no more we could do at that time of night. We were to leave in the morning, and wanted to go to see Andre, the guy that welded up my pannier rack, but apparently he was at a funeral. Then we found another guy, (also named Andre), who with his friend did a great job, then wouldn’t accept any payment for it. It was after 3.00pm when we finished, so we decided to stay another night and leave in the morning. We booked in at Free Riders hostel, which has the hardest beds in the world. There we met fellow travellers Dave and Eve from Austria on BMW’s, unfortunately Dave was having a few electrical problems, so the guys in the workshop were looking at the bike trying to sort it out. We were heading off from there to Bishkek, so left them to it in the morning.......
Some of Antons friends at their clubhouse
The break in Lyn's subframe, victim of Kazakhstan roads
At the ice skating rink at Medeu, the stadium can hold 8,500 people, and 3,000 people can skate on it at once
Speed skaters statues in the carpark
At the top, we were colder than the guy behind us........
All that way up, (3,200 metres) and the bar was closed
