Heading out into Southeast Kazakhstan

We've got a lot to show for our long day on foot through cosmo Almaty. A couple of high quality (1:200 000) topographical maps of SE kazakhstan (from akademkitap 1), good advice from ecotourism information resource centre, a bucket load of central asian dried fruits and nuts from the bazar and some sore feet from strolling through numerous parks and the lovely museum of kazakh musical instruments.

On the 17th we will leave Almaty for a trek into SE kazakhstan. Using our maps and various resources we've pieced together a route. At the very least we should be on jeep tracks through what is hopefully quite pretty valleys and mountain passes.

We'll let you know how it goes in about 2 weeks.

You can download our route and view it on Google Earth. Click here to go and download.

Big in Korea

You know you've made it in South Korea when your friend writes an article about you in the local South Korean cycling magazine. Thanks Will & Jully.

Semey Charmed Life

From Semey

Firstly and foremost, go Cadel! Yellow jersey at stage 8.

The border crossing from Mother Russia to the ‘eldest son that now has a well-paying job with disposable income’ Kazakhstan was delightfully uneventful. A few stamps here, a bypassing of bag inspection due to our heavily laden bikes there and we were through. Kilometres later, outside a road-side shop a friendly “Hello guys, welcome to Kazakhstan!” was being accompanied by two large complimentary bottles of iced-tea. We could grow to like this respect for the cyclists hydration needs.

Russian wrap-up

Total distance: 986km
Distance on unsealed roads: ~80km
Nights spent camping: 7
Days spent cycling: 15
Rest days on the road: 4
Average distance per day: 66km
Longest day: 135km
Maximum speed: 50.9kph
Most difficult section: The swampland between Gorno-Altaisk and Biysk where we hoped to camp, owing to the dense mosquitoes rather than the road
Longest downhill: Although it included some small climbs, overall the 300km from Kosh Agach to the base of Seminsky Pass
Longest uphill: 30km, up Seminsky Pass

GAStronomy – a campstove cooking tour: Russia

From Cooking with Gas - Russia

Having only spent 20 days in two provinces of Russia, we are in no position to attempt to summarise the expansive topic that is Russian cuisine. Instead we’ve included a little on our experience with Russian foods and of course, the mandatory campstove recipe, which for this episode, is borscht.

Tyred of Russian for the border

From Biysk to the Border

(This tattered diary was found near a remote border crossing between Russia and Kazakhstan. Its authorship remains uncertain.)

After being spoilt for scenery in Mongolia and the Altai republic the prospect of cycling through 450km of Russian farmland to get to the Kazakh border was a little unexciting. However, when we discovered we would be sharing the trip with daily storms and hordes of mosquitoes we decided to just get ourselves over that border and start soaking up some of Kazakhstan.

Biking in Tongues

I had a linguistic and numerical victory the other day in a shop in the small farming town of Ogni. Not only did I understand the total of my purchases when delivered to me verbally, I managed to confirm it by abacus. The latter is the primary tool of summation in most shops we have come across, though thankfully they usually have a calculator with good old-fashioned digits for back-up. The fact that the number ‘104’ happens to fall within the range of numbers I have learned – things get a bit tricky between 40 and 99 - was simply happy coincidence. I am still claiming it as a win.