Kazakhstan

We were so happy to be back in Kazakhstan. We were trying so hard to leave Uzbekistan and finally we were out. It took us almost a week. We had a very good time, met amazing people and visited beautiful places, but we knew it was time to start moving towards China to be in Himalayas in time.

We were sad that we couldn’t go to Kyrgyzstan. We met lots of cyclist who went there through Kazakhstan or Tajikistan. We could still go through Alma-Ata. There are few borders we could cross but we decided to skip it this time and go straight to China.

The border officials in Kazakhstan were nice; they were impressed about our journey and made our crossing very smooth. We got the stamp and were only one gate away from Kazakhstan. The guards by the last gates wanted us to give them some money but we told them we didn’t have anything, they smiled and let us through.

After crossing the border we turned right towards Shimkent which was still a 100 km away. We stopped in a chaikhana for lunch and a little break and than continue cycling.

It was a nice and a hot sunny day.

It was nice to be able to move again. The day was beautiful and we were ready to explore this part of Kazakhstan which was very different from the flat desert part close to Uzbekistan.

This part was hilly and very green with beautiful mountains all around.