Ka Pai Kiwis

There are many similarities between Almaty and Bishkek. There are obvious ones like the spectacular mountain backdrops, they both are striving to become vibrant modern cities. They are quite tidy and clean with good roads and infrastructure. If you delve a little deeper you see friendly, open people and modern commerce mixed with traditional traders. They have their issues with unemployment but it seems that they are trying. There is not too much by way of tourist attractions to attract the hordes of tourists from the west, but if you like mountains for hiking or climbing or even just to look at them and enjoy the atmosphere you will be spoilt for choice. This morning we had a wander around the Osh market, if you can’t find it here you don’t need it. I found jandals woohoo. We then headed into the centre of town to some lovely parks with many statues of past civic leaders as well as Lenin and Marx of course. Beautifully manicured flower beds and fountains set a nice sc...

Set off for Bishkek not really looking forward to the roadworks etc. I’m not sure if we were hallucinating or just having a bad day on the way to Almaty the other day but the road back to Biskek  today (reverse route) was just fine We caught up with Diana and Dick on the road and shared the ride. On the way we stopped for a cold drink. There was a van load of people going to Issyk Kul lake for a weekend break. One of the girls spoke very good English and it was her birthday. Lots of selfies with the bike. Diana gave her a 'kiwi' pin to keep. She was very overwhelmed. Casualty of the day was my jandals, lost overboard, only held on by a bunjee. So that makes 3 caps, 1 tee shirt, 1 pair of togs and now the jandals. I suspect the jandals will be the hardest to replace. Not too many billabong shops in Bishkek.  We got to the border and joined the queue of cars. It looked like there was going to be a bit if a wait so it was decided Robyn and Diana would joi...

Our breakfast this morning was delivered to our room on a tray. It has been a lovely place to stay. And what an absolutely delightful morning to follow. Up onto a desert like plateau with herds of horses, camels and cattle. The mountains in the distance made a wonderful backdrop and the air was cool (ish). We just took our time, waving to the locals and taking photographs. Looked at us as if we were an intrusion .... and then up and away he gracefully flew. We stopped in fairly industrial town for refreshments at a little shop directly opposite what was once an old soviet apartment complex, it was all bricked up and even the bricks are now falling out. Why someone hasn't just blown it up is beyond me. The last 160km were back onto a motorway through the flat lands. Lots of crops and haymaking going on. We rode through a little town called Kapchagay which is beside a lovely lake, very popular with holiday makers with nice parks and children...

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 ...