We are no longer "foreigners" but "tourists" or sometimes "travellers"

 

The road out of Bishkek was very busy with traffic and full of potholes, to complicate matters President Putin was in town and all traffic was diverted off the main road but we were allowed to walk on the footpath with our bikes, police everywhere.  We were heading back into Kazakhstan to ride to Shymkent where we plan to catch a train to Aktau, then a boat across the Caspian Sea to Baku in Azerbaijan. Kyrgyzstan is quite a poor country, it had a rundown feel about it as we rode past dilapidated houses and untidy parks.  Once we crossed the border without incident back into Kazakstan there were open grassy plains, mountains in the distance and friendly local people.  The first couple of days were reasonably flat and intermittently we had a good four lane highway which would disappear and we would be back to a narrow bumpy road. Livestock, mainly horses and sheep, grazed along the road watched over by men on horseback who herded them down every morning and rounded them up in the evening.  The Kazakhstan authorities require people on a tourist visa to register with the police and have their visas stamped within five days of crossing a land border so when we reached Taraz,  a small city of the Russian style, we had to do this.  By the time the visas were processed , we think they have so few requests here they had trouble finding the stamp, it was too late in the day to start riding so we had a rest day.  The weather is now very hot every day and we try to ride early in the morning, have a long lunch at the hottest part of the day then continue.

After Taraz villages were few and far between so we learnt to stock up on water. We were amazed at the generousity of people between Taraz and Shymkent. One day we were looking for somewhere to have lunch and a man invited us back to his house and we enjoyed a social lunch with his family.  A couple of times we were in a shop and another customer bought us drink or chocolate. On another occasion we stopped for a meal at a small family business and they refused payment, saying we were their guests.  Once we were looking for somewhere to camp and we asked a young man if it was alright to camp near his house and he insisted that we come in and sleep inside.  While this is embarrassing we could not refuse for fear of offending people.  The flat road changed to rolling hills along this stretch, we would just get up one and there was another one waiting with strong head wind just for good measure, but we had lovely scenery which included many wild flowers

Shymkent was a pleasant surprise. There was a lot of new housing, modern shops and vibrant feel to the place. A monument  to celebrate twenty years of independence dominated the city square and is well maintained with fountains that actually work, which is not the norm. We booked a sleeper to Aktau,but the train did not leave for two days so we had a couple of days rest while we waited, eating nice food and enjoying the comfort of a hotel.

 

The road out of Bishkek was very busy with traffic and full of potholes, to complicate matters President Putin was in town and all traffic was diverted off the main road but we were allowed to walk on the footpath with our bikes, police everywhere.  We were heading back into Kazakhstan to ride to Shymkent where we plan to catch a train to Aktau, then a boat across the Caspian Sea to Baku in Azerbaijan. Kyrgyzstan is quite a poor country, it had a rundown feel about it as we rode past dilapidated houses and untidy parks.  Once we crossed the border without incident back into Kazakstan there were open grassy plains, mountains in the distance and friendly local people.  The first couple of days were reasonably flat and intermittently we had a good four lane highway which would disappear and we would be back to a narrow bumpy road. Livestock, mainly horses and sheep, grazed along the road watched over by men on horseback who herded them down every morning and rounded them up in the evening.  The Kazakhstan authorities require people on a tourist visa to register with the police and have their visas stamped within five days of crossing a land border so when we reached Taraz,  a small city of the Russian style, we had to do this.  By the time the visas were processed , we think they have so few requests here they had trouble finding the stamp, it was too late in the day to start riding so we had a rest day.  The weather is now very hot every day and we try to ride early in the morning, have a long lunch at the hottest part of the day then continue.

After Taraz villages were few and far between so we learnt to stock up on water. We were amazed at the generousity of people between Taraz and Shymkent. One day we were looking for somewhere to have lunch and a man invited us back to his house and we enjoyed a social lunch with his family.  A couple of times we were in a shop and another customer bought us drink or chocolate. On another occasion we stopped for a meal at a small family business and they refused payment, saying we were their guests.  Once we were looking for somewhere to camp and we asked a young man if it was alright to camp near his house and he insisted that we come in and sleep inside.  While this is embarrassing we could not refuse for fear of offending people.  The flat road changed to rolling hills along this stretch, we would just get up one and there was another one waiting with strong head wind just for good measure, but we had lovely scenery which included many wild flowers

Shymkent was a pleasant surprise. There was a lot of new housing, modern shops and vibrant feel to the place. A monument  to celebrate twenty years of independence dominated the city square and is well maintained with fountains that actually work, which is not the norm. We booked a sleeper to Aktau,but the train did not leave for two days so we had a couple of days rest while we waited, eating nice food and enjoying the comfort of a hotel.