Enfin en route!

The time has come. The first leg for us now being Almaty to Zharkent on the Kazakhstan China border. According to the road signs there are at least four Latin alphabet spellings of Zharkent. Some magnificent mountain ranges en route and eagles/falcons, whose size you don't really appreciate until they are just above you.

It was a cool morning and we just missed the rain showers. The road was very bumpy and ideally suited to donkeys and carts, of which there were a large number. Sunday roast was also being bought live at the markets and taken back to the oven in the back of the carts.

Our supper that night was the difficult bit. Sign language can only go so far!  We managed a couple of salads and a cup of tea. We also coped with a general electrical failure across the part of town we were in, just as we were packing away.  Our hotel did not really resemble a hotel as we know them and the rain on the tin roof outside our window helped keep us awake a large part of the night. The tin roof helped keep the rain off the two oil drums underneath, in which they burned their rubbish, so we could also benefit from the aroma whilst there.

Why are frontier towns so often dusty? Is this the future for Gretna?

Monday was an early start so we could hit the border. We arrived before nine for the usual routine of hanging around, stamps, documents and questions which could be accomplished in ten minutes, but take three hours. In the meantime you are charmed by the questions from the locals using Kazakh Google translate on their smart phones; how much, how fast, how much petrol? Occasionally they ask where you are from too.

 

And all this time you hold it in because you don't even want to look at the toilets, let alone pay to visit them!

Customs Officials and Border Guards tend to think themselves as not being very photogenic, so all cameras should be hidden from display. Strict instructions!  Instead they are busy taking photos of you or the Kazakh equivalent of a 'selfie' with the bike. Suppose not many Harley's cross from there to China...

We then reached the China side, which is relatively new and not dusty. What a surprise! The Customs people literally ran out to the parking shouting, ' Welcome to China!' Amazing! For a split second we felt we were somewhat special.

It was hot and we nonetheless had to hang around for a multitude of things mostly to do with photos of us. Of the Officials. Of us with the Officials. Of the Officials with the bikes. Of us with the bikes and the Officials.

 

We still had 100km to ride before getting to Yinning for the evening. We weren't aware that Reliant had sold the Robin patent to the Chinese - any colour as long as it is red! Traffic very slow in towns, which is probably a good thing. Absolutely everybody taking photos of you. Either they wanted us to inaugurate a motorway or keep us away from the locals, but they hadn't got round to painting the white lines on it. Riding the 'chrome lady’ in the city was a real spectacle: bumper to bumper with whole families on a scooter, mopeds driving on the wrong side of a busy road, three wheeler carts loaded up to the sky, horns blaring out from every corner.  Plenty of opportunities for photo shooting at the back of the bike!

Hotel was great as was the evening meal at the restaurant round the corner. No kebabs. YYESS!! Hotel room also comes equipped with courtesy condoms: how thoughtful!

Next day is more hanging about as we need the bike to have its Chinese MOT, which consisted of testing head and brake lights, indicators and horn. Luckily they didn't ask Paul to turn right... Driving license was an eye test from which foreigners are exempt as they can't read the Chinese script, so Paul just had to sign the form. Then more hanging around for the Chinese Registration Number for the bike which blocked a bit. So lunch in a street food restaurant and a very tasty evening meal. Busy day!

Wednesday was quite an amazing trip to Kuytun. Stunning bridges, lakes, yurts, horse riders, friendly police officials, snowy mountain ranges and excellent roads. We were cruising along, except for the many photo shoot stops. 

 

All in a five hour ride climbing to 2135m where it was quite chilly, before dropping down to the desert where it felt quite hot. All in all perfect riding day!

It was very difficult to get to the bikes after parking them up at the hotel as there were crowds all day taking photos - the security man was still there at ten at night doubtless telling the onlookers all about them.

 And finally a cracking meal to finish the day with a wonderful variety of dishes, including bits of chicken with its head perched on the plate.  A delicacy apparently!

Might be getting the hang of this...

Paul & Francoise.