We have fallen in love with Kazakhstan!

Cycling through Kazakhstan

Died and Gone to Kyrgyzstan

Heaven is a concept that I've always struggled with.  A paradise, a garden of eden, but also a place that can be all things to all believers.  I don't know anyone who could vividly describe what heaven is to them but I'm petty sure it's in Kyrgyzstan. When people say 'I've died and gone to heaven' after eating a particularly rich piece of chocolate cake or some other such thing, what they really mean is they've been transported to Kyrgyzstan.  They mightn't be aware of it, but believe me, the scenery that we've just cycled though, is out of this world, heaven-like, totally breath-taking and had I not seen it with my own eyes, it'd be hard to believe that such a place exists, so natural and unspoilt by us humans.  Instead of trying to contort the surroundings into a way that better serves people, or more usually, better serves more people and helps richer people get richer, here the people live in nature, with it and aware of it, taking what they need from it and no more, leaving it to continue giving and providing for generations to come.  The Kyrgyz nomads have it right.

**Photos are at the end this time instead of in amongst the text.  Feel free to scroll to the bottom to see them and skip the wordy bit!

A Most Hospitable Place

Kazakhstan has come and gone and we're in Kyrgyzstan now.  A place where I never imagined myself being.  A place where, before we started planning this trip, I'm quite sure I couldn't place on a map, name the capital city or even spell, yet here we are!  But first, let me talk a bit more about Kazakhstan...

I didn't have many expectations of Kazakhstan before getting there.  I knew that our route through the country was short and that our time there would be quick.  If I'm being honest, I had kind of thought of Kazakhstan as just a means of getting to the Pamir Highway.  Actually the only real thought I had was that the food was going to take a serious nose dive from the tasty treats we'd been used to in China.  How wrong I was.  The food was delicious and varied.  And so far in Kyrgyzstan we haven't been disappointed either.  The beauty of the countryside in Kazakhstan is hard to fathom, at least the small part that we went through anyway. The huge open spaces, the towering mountains, the quietly grazing herds of animals and the lack of too much human intervention into the natural world immediately brings with it such a sense of calm.  Being in Kazakhstan just felt good.  It felt relaxing.  It was a world away from the modern stresses of life, as we've come to know it, in the west.  The air was fresh, the sun was warm and I could actually feel my body and mind relaxing and slowing down.  Despite all this though, for us, it was the the people we encountered along the way that really made Kazakhstan the place it was.

The real last video from China! From Jinghe to Khorgos: the border with Kazakhstan.

Our Final three days in China were spectacular. We had some great experiences, made new friends, and we have left China with wonderful memories.

Kazakhstan - A Breath of Fresh Air

It felt great to get back in the saddle after our time off in Urumqi, although my body wasn't quite as excited as my mind was, if truth be told.  The 500km or so from Urumqi to Jinghe were fairly uneventful but then the mountains reappeared on our left, and all was right in the world.  The highlight of that stretch was without doubt Sayram lake, despite the fairly brutal climb up to it at 2100m. Making brekkie the morning before we arrived at the lake we were sitting in our camp chairs in shorts and t-shirts. Three hours later we were piling back on the layers and hoping that the ominous looking clouds that had rolled in weren't going to dump on us, and they'd roll back out again as quickly as they'd rolled in.  Still later in the day, while we were tucking into a nice big bowl of noodles in a little shed of a place that appeared on the roadside just as we'd run out of water, it started to sleet. The variation of temperature in just one day was hard to believe, and in hindsight, even harder to remember if it really happened that way.  From shorts and t-shirts to thermals and waterproofs in a matter of hours.  We waited the sleet and hail out and made a dash for it when it stopped. The people in the restaurant told us we were mad to be considering camping at the lake saying that it would be very cold and the forecast was bad but, we were determined.  We'd camped in the cold before and were pretty sure our gear was up to it so we thanked them and headed off anyway.  Ten minutes down the road the sleet started again but the lake had just come into view and we knew we'd made the right decision. The view was immense.  The lake is huge and surrounded on all sides by massive mountains.  The tallest peaks of which were snow-capped and the lower slopes were covered in grass so green it looked like someone had painted it, as well as a dense smattering of buttercups.  The moody grey sky, the almost turquoise-coloured water, the green grass, the yellow buttercups and the brilliantly white snow, made for some view.  Each time we camp we think we've hit campspot nirvana and this time was no different. We cycled around the lake to the side closest to the direction we'd be going the next day.  It was all action.  Nomads, their yurts, horses and camels were everywhere.  It seemed to be moving time.  We think lots of families were on the move for the summer months, coming from lower down where they'd spent the winter, to set up camp by the lake.

The mountains on our climb up to Sayram lake

Lunch, sheltering from the hail and sleet outside.

Arriving at the far side of China

We're gonna miss you China!

China: between X'ian and Urumqi