Ka Pai Kiwis

Desert day today. Unfortunately our hotel didn't do breakfast and the lovely cafe next door wasn't open, so we set off in search of the Charyn Canyon view point as marked on Maps.me. We found the turn off ok but hesitated when it indicated 24km down a gravel track and there wasn't a sign post to be seen to indicate we were on the right track. So with everything saying don't do it, off we went. Wasn't all that bad but boy was it isolated, nothing but desert and the occasional abandoned building. The lookout when we got there was really nice, the views were stunning. We resisted the temptation to descend the narrow track into the canyon, ( we're not really risk takers- yeah right). So back the 24km on the rough dirt track with only a couple of "I'm sure it was that way" moments. Know how she feels when it all goes south. Back to the main road for cold water and ice cream for breakfast. While we were feasting a...

This morning we said goodbye to Chris Eden, we have enjoyed his company and wish him well for his journey to the Pamir. We then headed into town to buy insurance which I had neglected to get at the border. The girl behind the desk was so patient with us, so between the odd word of English and Russian, a bit of sign language and Google translate we skipped out the door  with 1 month of insurance for about $15. We then adjourned to a really nice little cafe to reassess our plans. (real coffee what a treat) The central area of Almaty is really nice, there seems to be one arterial route which is extremely busy and manic. Away from this there are wide tree lined boulevards which can be busy but the craziness is not there. So we hit the road to the Charyn canyon area, destination Shonzhy. The first 150km were dual carriageway, perfect concrete road. The area is flat with crops in the fields but nothing much to see. The mountain range on our right is obviously impressive but we...

After a leisurely breakfast we offered Chris some route info for the Pamir area. We then caught a taxi into the central city area and had a wander around some nice parks and a beautiful cathedral. Almaty is a nice place, mainly for domestic and Russian tourists I suspect, also it is set to a spectacular mountain backdrop which supports winter skiing. The war memorials are very impressive monuments and they depict the war heroes as larger than life colossus' of men but in reality we all know we send off 18 year old boys to die in these conflicts. Certainly most of the soldiers we have encountered in our travels in this area fit the latter category. We had a nice lunch then back to the hotel for some planning, which has thrown up a couple of things that we need to do back in town, so we may end up there tomorrow as well. Chris has spent most of the day planning as well, we will meet up for beers and dinner shortly. On our way to dinner we caught ...

Happy birthday to me. Great treat this morning, face time with the grandies. As I have mentioned we are ahead of schedule. It was difficult to know how long it would take to get through the Pamir region. So we have decided to collect another Stan. So today we head to Almaty in Kazakhstan. This was not on our original schedule but neither were Georgia or Azerbaijan and overlanders are flexible right? We have been following along a fellow Kiwi called Chris Eden who is far more experienced in this business than us and as it happens will be in Almaty tomorrow. The border seemed to arrive quickly, hadn’t really cleared the built up area really. All straightforward but today I just couldn’t resist my Tiger quip.  Goes like this.  Bike Passport Yes Model  Teeger Teeger? Yes Teeger.  GRRRRRRRR.  Managed to get a small laugh from those inside so I consider that a result.  That's about the highlight so far though. The road is long, stra...

This morning we bid farewell to Jason and Kurien. We couldn’t have wished for better travel companions through the testing Pamir region. Heaps of fun and memories that will endure. Hopefully we’ll meet again. So Darby and Joan set off for Bishkek. And what a treat it was. Up up up and over a mountain range, very scenic with a lovely fast flowing river for company and beautiful mountain scenery. The air is cool and clear a welcome relief. Our high point is 3200m and its a little cool but not enough for another layer. Mark leaving a Ka Pai kiwi sticker The green meadows up high and on our decent are dotted with yurts and many grazing animals, horses, sheep, cows and goats. It is picture postcard stuff (again yawn). Not as dramatic as previous days but very very nice. The roads are generally very good and the standard of driving equally as good as other nearby countries (appalling). We descended for a while and then plateaued and the scene st...

We have shed another 5kg. Not us- bits and pieces we haven’t needed and some gifts and nic nacs including a 5 day old broken camera we have shipped home. So once we got this chore done we set off for Toktogul reservoir We didn’t get off to the best of starts as Maps.me directed us via Uzbekistan, we wondered why all the trucks were lined up along the road. Doh. So route recalculation and we are out of Osh after about an hour. Kurien and Jason are with us for one last day and night so that is nice. They will return to Osh tomorrow. There are some roads you ride on and you think, why the hell am I doing this on a motorcycle, then there are roads and you think, why doesn’t everyone ride motorcycles. Well today we had both. Bumpy and potholed followed by sublime tarmac through a spectacular gorge. This gorge has been dammed in places and forms a large hydro scheme. The surrounding mountain range is devoid of vegetation but the colours are beautiful, shades of grey and...