Ka Pai Kiwis

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...

Bike maintenance day. There is a bike shop here called Zorro motors. So we went off to Zorro, some got new tyres, I just needed to do some basic stuff which I did myself but its nicely set up with all the consumables included in the price of $15USD to use the facility. They also repaired my plastic chain guard which had become badly bent. This afternoon I washed all our panniers which were coated with road grime, sand and dust. Robyn got the Blog up to date - and sorted photos. Last minute shopping for some replacement T shirts for Robyn  and my 3rd new cap so far. (Others lost). The local park leading to the Bazaar Some serious games of chess Some of the other guys who are joining Jason and Kurien for the China leg have arrived. Nice blokes so there are few of us together at the moment. Having a cull of some of the now surplus paperwork we have been carting around. Sometimes it seems endless and largely pointless but all the same necessary for th...

The M41, which is as rough as guts took us to the Khyrgistan border. I have to admit I have underestimated just how rough the sealed roads are. We are probably only averaging about 40km/hr and no matter how vigilant I am the front suspension bottoms out occasionally. The day didn’t get off to a great start, Robyn kept reliving how close to the edge we were at times and was suffering slightly from the altitude, consequently didn’t get much sleep, when she got up she put her t shirt on inside out AND back to front. Sadly the little camera we bought in Dushanbe no longer functions as it is full of dust and sand. A couple of days R&R in Osh is due. With the tee-shirt on the right way now.  The hostel/hotel in Murgharb Petrol station in Murgharb Anyway off we set and I will say right now that if I die in my sleep tonight I will have died a happy man. The scenery was absolutely sublime. The area around Lake Karakul just spellbinding. It was hard turning...