Hello dear bicycletouring community
Last time I wrote to you from Gansu province in China, after being on the road for 9 months. Click here to get to this post in case you wanna read up on that. Many people asked for an update, so here we go for part two: Central Asia!
After reaching the city of Jiayuguan in Gansu, we took a train into Xinjiang province to its capital Ürümqi. I was running low on time on my visa and honestly, after almost 6 months in China, we were ready to move on, so we decided to skip the most boring desert part. From Ürümqi we followed the main road west (G312). We were aiming for a border crossing called Alashankou, which is the Chinese name for the Dzungarian Gate. We favoured this crossing because it was closest to us, and because it seemed that no one really goes there. So we thought: Why not try? Well… Apart from the fact that you can’t cross the border by bicycle and we had to take a bus across, we were battered by brutal headwinds on our way into Kazakhstan. Sometimes it was so strong that we had to push our bikes… I guess now we know why everyone crosses at Khorgos 😉
Between the border and the famous Alaköl lake, there was a stretch of about 100km with absolutely nothing: No shop, no trees, no shade, no water… Nothing, except for the heat and wind! We carried about 20l of water in total and rode through the brutal heat. Quite the introduction to the Kazakh steppe. Finally, our camping gear was getting used 🙂 What stood out to us from day one were the people: Kazakh people were truly amazing and helped us forget how hard the cycling was. Cycling in Kazakhstan in summer might not have been the greatest idea…
Unfortunately, my wife has had some health issues since the beginning of our trip, and due to the harsh conditions in the steppe, it was very hard on her. Twice, we had to turn around and go back to the town we came from because she felt terrible: Her health problems combined with the heat and barren landscape did not mix well… We had to plan accordingly and – even though we were looking forward to camp more often – had to choose to stay in hotels more often than we initially planned: One problem we faced was that the sun rose very early, around 4AM. Sleeping in the tent meant that we usually woke up this early and had to leave the tent around 5AM because the sun was already baking us alive… That meant that camping was just not restful enough. Maybe we’re just not hardcore enough, haha!
We decided that we had to adjust our plan a little bit and we headed straight to Almaty. We had to admit that heading to the Pamir Highway was probably not such a great idea since it’s very remote and demanding. If my wife needed some medical assistance it would be very difficult, and of course health, safety and ultimately fun should always be prioritized. Not going to Tajikistan led to another problem however: We planned our trip in a way that we’d be high up in the Pamirs in summer. Now we were staying in the lowlands where it was extremely hot.
We left our bicycles in Almaty and took a 2.5 week vacation in Uzbekistan to recover and think about what to do next. Uzbekistan was absolutely beautiful but we were happy not to be cycling: It was even hotter than Kazakhstan… After returning to Almaty we cycled east towards China, our goal was to reach Kyrgyzstan via the Karkara valley. We passed by the famous Charyn canyon before crossing into Kyrgyzstan. It was also this part of the trip where we started to meet other cyclists and it was great to have little chats on the side of the road!
Kyrgyzstan was like a different world: No more endless desert and steppe, but lush green fields, forests, water, herds of animals, mountains… Exactly what we needed! Due to the higher elevation, the climate was much more pleasant to cycle. Not so pleasant were the bad roads and the even worse drivers. Most Kyrgyz drivers had absolutely no respect for cyclists (or other road users for that matter) and passed way too close and too fast. Apart from that, we had an amazing time there. Kyrgyz people were also extremely kind and hospitable to us, and we had many great encounters. Lake Issyk Kul was stunning and we took it slow riding along the southern shore. We were headed to Song Kul as well, but unfortunately the road was blocked for some mysterious reason and the police forced us to turn around. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time left for the alternative route.
We’re now in Bishkek and we will fly to Baku this week. We wanted to cycle through Iran but since the situation is too unstable for our liking, we chose to fly to Azerbaijan and continue riding west from there. We definitely want to come back to Central Asia in the future and cycle Pamir Highway, and come back to Kyrgyzstan and explore more as it’s absolutely stunning here! We’ll bring less (=lighter) gear though!
Some quick stats: 11118km cycled, 50152m climbed, 765h in the saddle. Almost 12 months on the road 🙂
Here’s the link to our blog, instagram and route. I also put a link to the FAQ on our website (translated by google): https://linktr.ee/steeldonkeys
I again selected 20 pictures (out of a few thousand), and I tried to show the different facets of touring in western China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The pictures appear chronologically.
Kind regards, and happy & safe touring
Damian & Vivi
by Fahrrad-Reise