First Big Hangover  25th June 2011

Urghhhhhh … feeling rough after last night’s beer, vodka and lamb ribs fest.

Decided to hang out here and head for the border tomorrow.

Chilled out watching Russian footie.If Arsene Wenger thinks he has goalkeeper problems he shouls take a look at the Russian top league. Woeful!

Almaty to Zharkent  24th June 2011

Finally hit the road from Almaty. As much as I like the city I’ve been itching to get back on the bike and carry on heading east.

Finally on the road from Almaty

The Russian satnav took the most direct route again and took me along about 55 miles of the worst roads I’ve encountered yet. Which was fun to start with, then turned a bit dangerous. Deep gravel, sand and shale all mixed up in patches. Along some sections the road had been washed out from floods so had to take to drry river beds to get round the holes in the road. And not a soul in site. I didn’t pass another human being for the entire section.

The other downside is the route dumped me the wrong side of the Charyn Canyon with very little petrol and no station between me and the canyon, so I rode as far as I could to the edge of the canyon and then had to spin round to head towards Zharkhent.

Jay (in blue), Abi (in white) and Joe, an American who is running local fruit farms happened to be passing

About an hour later I bumped into two girls, Abi, from Scotland and Jay from the US who are in the process of cycling from Chiang Mai where they have been teaching, back to Scotland. Total respect due! Check out Abi’s site – cycleinstead.com

Turns out Abi’s mum is Welsh and was born round the corner from me in a town called Risca where my dad had a business many years ago … small world innit!

I got to the next petrol station running on fumes and met 3 Kazakh dudes from Almaty called Alex, Alex and Dima. They were heading to the border the next day to sort out a problem with some cars they were importing and knew a good local hotel up in the hills, so I headed up there with them and we all got properly drunk on beer and vodka. Great night just eating, drinking and shooting the breeze. Top night out.

Song of the day – What A Beautiful Day by Thunder … bouncinga round on the bike thrilled to be back on the road with the sun up 🙂

Bike's Back  21st June 2011

Picked up the bike this morning. While I was waiting for Sergey to finish the service, I bumped into a group of Aussies and English lads (and a gal) who are on their way to Mongolia. A couple of the Eglish lads are doing the Road Of Bones as well. I’m sorely tempted to do that one next time. They’d been out on the lash with the garage boss the noght before so they were looking a lttle rough.

The bike’s had a bit of a service and had everything tightened up so it’s feeling much better today. I’ve missed it while it’s been away …. sad but true.

Was having a bite to eat at lunch time and was thinking about the ride so far and what a giggle it’s been. Can’t wait to get back on the road and into China.

I’ve developed a couple of new riding styles over the last couple of weeks since leaving London. As well as the usual sit up and beg, and off road styles the other two look like this ….

The Hill Billy
Leaning back on my tail pack, feet up on the engine bars, arse pushed forward up to the tank and looking like the fella from Wacky Races who’s lost his bear

But my personal fave is what I’ve dubbed The Slump for the long straight smooth roads. I hook the shin guards of my boots on the edges of my foot pegs so my legs are dangling a few inches off the deck, arms and elbows totally relaxed and hanging from the bar grips, arse right back in the seat, chest leaning on the tank bag with chin guard of my helmet resting on top of the tank bag so I’m fully behind the screen. Very comfy. It has the added benefit of looking to the rest of the world that I’ve fallen asleep at 70mph which gets some great reactions from other drivers. Sad, but it keeps me amused on those very rare dull stretches of road.

Bike's in for service  20th June 2011

The bike’s gone in for a service this morning with Leonid & Sergey. Ready in the morning.
After sitting idle for two days, the Tiger didn’t want to start this morning. Took a few goes to get going. The guys are going to check it over.
I’ll admit to feeling a bit bored. I’ve seen most of Almaty and as much as I like this city I’m itching to get riding again and head for China via the Charyn Canyon.
Off to do some shopping and to try to find the musical instrument museum and the military history museum.

Productive Day In Almaty  17th June 2011

As well as getting the Tiger teed up for a service on Monday morning, managed finally to cash some travellers cheques (not easy in KZ) and went for an aimless wander round Almaty.

I’m liking this town. When you get away from the lunatic drivers, it’s a very leafy, quiet sort of town.

I set out to find Republic Square so went wandering in the general direction as I tend to do and stumbled across the KZ Biker’s Club.

Dmitriy Petrukhin, KZ Bike Club President and his Beemer

The President, Dimitry Petrukhin was in and made me very welcome. Top bloke. He spent 5 years travelling the world on a big Beemer which he gave me a DVD of. Will watch that later. From what I gather he is also deputy mayor and a prime mover in the local Olympics movement. Check out his site www.bike.kz

Oh, and allegedly, punk is not dead, but is alive and kicking in Almaty …

Punk lives on in Almaty

Also uploaded some Almaty pics to the gallery and new videos on You Tube

Bike Service In Almaty  17th June 2011

With a little help from Alexei from Horizons Unlimited forum and David from Stantours in Almaty, I found Leonid & Sergey’s motorcycle garage. There are plenty of recommendations online for them and they are working on everthing from old R6 to BMW GS and Ducatis so the Tiger goes in on Monday for a clean and a service.
For those who are interested the map coordinates are
43.206677,76.904640
Time to chill and do some sightseeing.

Taraz to Almaty ... In the rain  16th June 2011

The day started so well. Excellent breakfast in the hotel with fresh fruit salad! Fablus as they say.
Great route advice from Ivan & Dima, two Russian dudes who know the roads well, big smiles and waves from the gorgeous receptionist then 2 hours later the skies opened and it lashed down stopping often and long enough to dry out before lashing down again.
The wind was howling and it got bloody cold. I had the heated grips on most of the way.
So it was head down and grind out the kilometers. 550 of ’em and most of them spent swearing at the weather. 10 hours in the saddle.
The scenery was hidden behind low cloud and mist most of the way, but did lift briefly to reveal the hills and mountains that flank Almaty to the west. I’ll post video tomorrow.
Everything is soaked through so will go through everything in the morning to see what’s damaged. Hopefully the laptop’s ok.
But I’m not moaning now. Celebrating getting to Almaty and way ahead of schedule too so plenty of time to try to get the bike serviced and do some sight seeing.
Hotel here is cheap, £20/night with breakfast, free decent wifi, laundry service and aircon, so Camp Evans is a happy one.
Steve Hotson – if you’re reading this remind me to tell you about the route I took today. Pros and cons, but not ideal for a van.

Pizza In Hotel  15th June 2011

Having a beer & pizza with Alex & John

The Rain In Taraz  15th June 2011

By christ, when it rains here it really unleashes. It’s the hardest rain I’ve ever seen.
Talking of which I hear there have been floods in South China

Shymkent To Taraz  15th June 2011

I’m way ahead of schedule so decided to do a sort run from Shymkent to Taraz and take my time over it. What a ride! By far the best bit yet.
The closer you get to Almaty the more mountainous and fertile it gets. I’ll post today’s videos and pics as soon as I can get my laptop to connect. Truly spectacular. Snow capped mountains loom up at me as I head east.
The traffic is getting heavier and as a result a few more suicide jockies to deal with, but the road is good with some new dual carriage way bits.
Taraz, I’m told, is one of Kazakhstan’s oldest towns, so off for a look round shortly.