Adventures between a Cliff and a Wet Place. Brighty in Central Asia and Mongolia

[chris]

Hi Guys

This summer I took a little trip from Almaty in Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and back, then continuing via the Altai region of Russia to Ulaan Baatar in Mongolia. Since my RTW trip around the turn of the Millennium, only having undertaken short bike rides here and there (some described at http://www.thebrightstuff.com/since2002.htm ) this 7 week trip was longer in distance, harder in terrain and in many ways more adventurous and definitely more eventful than most.

And yes there was a cliff in Kyrgyzstan and a particular wet area in Mongolia involved. Below are some pictures to give you a taste of what I saw and did.

More to come…


Kazakhstan

A bit of audience participation: of this motley crew can you spot the bent copper (a.k.a Corrupt policeman for non-UK-English speakers)? Clue: He's wearing a hat and it ain't blue. The picture is also significant because the Robin-van-Persie-look-alike between the 2 be-hatted gents is called Maarten. Maarten is singularly responsible for getting me out of deep sh!t in my "cliff incident" (More of that later). I owe you big time, buddy!


Kyrgyzstan

Horses going for a swim.

Local men, dressed to impress.

Young local women, dressed to impress.

Horse murderball(!?) (American Football on horses with a headless goat as a "ball")!

Get the kids into biking early.

Horse against machine. Horse wins.


Tajikistan

Pamir views

Pamir Highway after being thrown out of Tajikistan because the authorities were in the process starting a shooting war with their own population and didn't want witnesses.


Mongolia

Smiling girl while I try to take picture of an eagle

Admiring some exceptional views

The whole of Mongolia is one big wild-campsite

Lean on me

A happy Mongolia drunk. A rare occurance. Most drunks (who also seem to love engaging foreign motorcyclists in conversations&#8230 in central Asia/ Russia/ Mongolia were a lot less happy and showed it…

Ernie joins the trip 8-)

More coming soon!

Chris

 

[KTMphil]

Chris - I think that is top on my list of places I want to go ride, everyone says the traditional people and way of life there is incredibly special, you are very lucky, looking forward to more of this.

 

[bigntall]

Keep it coming!!

 

[2wheels]

Absolutely stunning; thanks Chris.

Like Phil, Mongolia is a 'must do' for me.
Sadly, the tour mob I wrote to about a ride this August didn't reply (which indicates they are unprofessional and probably inadequate anyway).
So I'll try another mob next year.

 

[chris]

Yeh, Mongolia was great for the riding. I preferred the people in Kyrgyzstan and Russia.

 

[chris]

Instalment 1: It's as far from me to you as it is from you to me.

I tagged along with a group of Dutch guys and a couple of Brits sharing a container to get my bike to Central Asia. This saved the ball (and ar$e) ache of riding across 1000s of miles of nothing to get to where the fun starts. I never was an iron butt rider type who likes enduring miles for the sake of it. The older I get, the more I seem to like smelling the flowers.

In contrast to the worrying that took place in the run up to, and during the shipping of the container from Rotterdam in the Netherlands to Almaty in Kazakhstan everything actually went really smoothly. I had ridden my bike from the UK to Ad's, the organiser of the container shipping from the Dutch biker's site www.allroadmaniacs.nl , in Holland and he was kind enough to crate it and transport it to the Dutch shipping company warehouse (http://www.mainport-rotterdam.com/ ) for me. The Agent in Almaty ( www.moryldi.com ) was very efficient too and there were no "hidden extras" in terms of costs upon arrival.

Almaty seemed like a fun city with lots rich people (it has one of only 2 Bentley car dealerships in the entire ex-Soviet Union (there other is in Moscow). The people seemed pleasant enough, but not speaking a word of Kazakh or Russian wasn't good. The girls are pretty too, but I was too jetlagged to be in the mood to take many pictures of Floraova and Faunaova.

Here's a few pics:

Just like it says on the tin. The second heaviest pallet in the container. In my (meagre) defence all my riding gear, camping stuff etc as well as a spare tyre were in the box too. The weight is inclusive of the pallet itself.

Despite the bike being freshly spray painted matt black (Halfords own brand), this is the shiniest the bike has ever been (or ever will be). Started first push of the button.

The war memorial to the dead from the Great Patriotic War in Almaty was very impressive. It's also a popular locations for wedding photos.

Many Kazakhs died in 1941. Locals say that it was only the arrival of the Kazakh army divisions at the siege of Moscow that persuaded the Germans to p!ss off back where they came from.

Melons anyone? (Illegal?) street sellers outside the hotel.

Do apricots give you the sh!ts or constipation?

Bent coppers are the scum of the earth,the world over. In my less than empirical study of police corruption, 100% of Kazakhstan police are corrupt. I didn't once get stopped by any coppers in Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan nor Russia. The fat pig in the picture was trying to pull a cunning stunt to extract money for alleged speeding, but he got no money from any of us.

After riding in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for 2 weeks I returned to Almaty and then continued towards Semey and Russia. Riding through a town that was so unforgettable (I recall it had lots of casinos) I got pulled over by another fat cnutstable. The "dialog" went something like this:

Copper: Random bollox probably along the likes of give me money, you were speeding.

Brighty: What? Do you speak English?

Copper: more bollox, straf straf.

Brighty: niet.

Copper: more bollocks, dollar dollar

Brighty: niet

(Other copper sitting in crap looking police car 10 yards away waves me over to him.)

Brighty waves to other copper to come to him, saying: It's as far from me to you as it is from you to me. And you need the exercise you fat pig.

Copper: more bollox, euro, euro

Brighty: niet. Excuse me, what's that number on your badge. B151. I'm just going to give my friend the chief of police in Almaty a call (Brighty gets his phone out and pretends to call: He couldn't, the phone battery was flat).

Copper then wanders off to pester another car driver.

Brighty rides off.

Conveniently English wasn't taught when plod uno y dos were at skool….

Many hours later and after dark (I rode 750km that day: what was that about not doing iron butts… I had had enough of crap Kazakh roads that just go on for ever and needed to leave the country) on the way into Semeh, I see a Star-Wars-like light sabre waving at me (all the plod have these sticks and at night they do Ewan McG impressions). This time the following thought process went through my head: There's no benefit from me stopping to engage this plod in intellectual chit chat, so I'll just ride by without stopping.

Nobody drove after me, nobody shot me.

 

[MartinThai]

Loving this thread Chris, and look forward to more! Many thanks. Have had many similar "Plod" incidents in Cambodia!

 

[Lone Rider]

Wow, great adventure again this time in the not so Far-East. Look forward to the next episodes.

 

[DrGMIA]

Good stuff Brighty. I wondered how your trip over there in western Asia had gone.

Pretty good idea, shipping all your gear inside your crate - saved carrying on the flight. On the downside of doing that, Eric Hawes and his wife found the Russians had sawed into the side of their crate when he got to it in Russia and helped themselves to all his gear, including the spark plugs on his BMW! Another guy I met in South America was in a high end tour group that had shipped bikes in a container out of Huston. They found their bikes scrambled when they got to Chile - crane had dropped the container when off-loading. Dock workers went in to inspect the damage. Upon exiting they helped themselves to boots, jackets, helmets, etc the guy had affixed to his bike.

I think you had good service, good planning, and going into that part of Asia, good luck.

Nicely prepped motorbike btw. Any glitches on the tour with the AT?

Looking forward to your next installment.

 

[chris]

Good stuff Brighty. I wondered how your trip over there in western Asia had gone.

Pretty good idea, shipping all your gear inside your crate - saved carrying on the flight. On the downside of doing that, Eric Hawes and his wife found the Russians had sawed into the side of their crate when he got to it in Russia and helped themselves to all his gear, including the spark plugs on his BMW! Another guy I met in South America was in a high end tour group that had shipped bikes in a container out of Huston. They found their bikes scrambled when they got to Chile - crane had dropped the container when off-loading. Dock workers went in to inspect the damage. Upon exiting they helped themselves to boots, jackets, helmets, etc the guy had affixed to his bike.

I think you had good service, good planning, and going into that part of Asia, good luck.

Nicely prepped motorbike btw. Any glitches on the tour with the AT?

Looking forward to your next installment.

Definitely good service shipping to Almaty. I can recommend the Kazakh shipping agent we used. And the ladies in Almaty too.

Yeh, one or 2 TA glitches. All caused by rider negligence :RE Stories to come. Watch this space...

 

[chris]

A few more pics…

All are in Kyrgyzstan

A slight mishap befell the bike at the Kaz/Kyrg border. The thing just fell over. Side stand snapped… Found this helpful chap who repaired and made it better than new:

Not a Borat Man-kini, but the same shade of green…

Kids who seem happy to see you and no intention of begging. There were loads more like these.

Meeting the locals

Permit to pass. Next stop the cliff…

 

[Ally]

Love the photos, excellent.

Thanks again

Ally

 

[Captain_Slash]

Yes some real stunning photos there Chris, well done

 

[chris]

The cliff awaits…

[video=youtube_share;rzphGscgWaQ]http://youtu.be/rzphGscgWaQ[/video]
A few action clips heading up a river north of Issykul, just south of the Kazakh border.

Jan crossing a river

With a little help

“What the fcuk happened there!” The terrain had been a lot harder previously. This bit was easy… there are 2 possible explanations: 1. Rider error. I’m not the type to blame others or the machinery. It could well have been totally my fault that I rode off the edge of the cliff. However, I wasn’t riding like a tosser, and can’t explain the train of events, so… I have no idea.

Or 2. Blame the machine… (A few hundred miles later one of the CDI units on the bike expired. It’s a common fault, particularly on early Transalps, usually starting with an intermittent fault… I then replaced the CDI with a spare I was carrying). 1/2 hour before riding off the cliff the bike was riding like a dog. It was only about 3000m above sea level, but I took the air filter off. The bike seemed to run better. So possible explanation could be the bike was running on 1/2 power, then suddenly the second cylinder kicks in and as I was slightly misaligned to the track, I was launched off the edge. Or not. See Point number 1 = Rider error.

I leave you to decide. I have my views, but to a certain extent, who cares. I’m very lucky I wasn’t killed.

The mx boot in the foreground ads a sense of perspective. The luggage has already been removed.

Maarten (he’s pictured in the first pic of this RR) stays with me while my soon to become ex riding “buddies” leg it to somewhere more comfortable for the night. He fetches water from the river in the far distance and then convinces me we can recover the bike. My dark mood, influenced by the comments from the missing 3, said it wasn’t possible. Or maybe it was that I had tried getting the bike back up the hill, but without everybody’s help nothing was going to happen. I forget the exact train of events.

Maarten suggested we drag the bike down the landslide and then try to wheel /push / ride it horizontally to a point on the track below and to the right of where the photos were taken (across two huge landslides). This is what happened. The bike had been upside down for about 3 hours with petrol p!ssing everywhere before we tried to move it. When it was on its wheels again it started first push of the button! Aren’t Hondas great! I say “we” toiled for about 5 hours to move the bike a few hundred meters, but it was Maarten toiling and encouraging me not to give up. I did my bit, as much as I was physically able to. At night fall we gave up about 150 meters from our goal of the track. I cooked the food.

The following morning the other 3 reappeared (2 to collect their stuff) and Jan also helped manhandle the bike the remaining distance across the second landslide.

Maarten ended up in a really bad way, vomiting from exertion/sleep deprivation. As we lost altitude he seemed to recover a bit. I felt really bad about this. He knows how grateful I was for his help. As I didn’t kill or injure myself in the crash I would have survived: That is, walk out without a bike or any possessions, just the clothes I was standing in. He is solely to be credited that my bike trip continued.

One careful (lady) owner. Never been abused or off road. Mint condition. Viewing recommended. Lots of interest. Won’t be available for long.:RE

 

[KTMphil]

Those rivers look nasty on those huge bikes, nice job guys.

 

[burnjr]

nice ride brothers thanks for sharing.hv nice days and safety ride

 

[TravellingStrom]

Hi Chris


Hmm, I see you found the edge as well. I am not sure which road you are on as you don't say. I rode south from midway along the south edge of Issy Kuhl up a mountain road that leads to Naryn, could this be the same road? It goes up to 4000m over a number of landslides and river crossings.

Riding a pig of a Vstrom but with 4 other riders on Teneres I can agree it is no fun when you ride over the edge and it took all 5 if us to skull drag the bike backwards up onto the road again

Nice reading and great photos, ps I agree on the police corruption in Kaz

 

[TravellingStrom]

Here is a preview of my troubles

 

[chris]

Those rivers look nasty on those huge bikes, nice job guys.

With help, everything is possible. Interestingly the river crossing pics were taken after the cliff incident. Maybe my "buddies" were shamed into helping?

nice ride brothers thanks for sharing.hv nice days and safety ride

Glad you like the report.

 

[chris]

Hi Chris


Hmm, I see you found the edge as well. I am not sure which road you are on as you don't say. I rode south from midway along the south edge of Issy Kuhl up a mountain road that leads to Naryn, could this be the same road? It goes up to 4000m over a number of landslides and river crossings.

Riding a pig of a Vstrom but with 4 other riders on Teneres I can agree it is no fun when you ride over the edge and it took all 5 if us to skull drag the bike backwards up onto the road again

Nice reading and great photos, ps I agree on the police corruption in Kaz

Nice pic of your bike btw.:LOL With all 5 of us we would have got mine back up the hill too. With only 2 willing people no chance, hence the 8 hour detour across a couple of landslides.

My incident was north of IssyKul in the range of mountains between the Kaz/Kyrg border and the lake.

My trip got to be much more fun after this little event.

 

[chris]

Love the photos, excellent.

Thanks again

Ally

Yes some real stunning photos there Chris, well done

Glad you like the pics and story

 

[chris]

Somebody asked about the bike. It's a hybrid of 2 Transalps. A 1988 frame/engine (hence to black motor (and oil consumption...) and everything else off a 1998.

Mods include:
30 litre African Queens petrol tank with vaccuum fuel pump by some Japanese company whose name starts with a K

Progressive fork springs and harder oil than standard

Rebuilt OEM shock with sleeve so as to increase spring-preload

Wider footpegs (off a xr600)

Bar risers and Renthal Dakar high bars

Heated grips

Lower strung silencer by Scorpion, allegedly off a 125 Varadero (that's what the bike breaker who sold me it said), with a custom link pipe. This enabled the area previous occupied to be used for spares (until they fell off and were lost!...). Also less heat so the reg/rec should survive longer.

Giant Loop Great Basin bag: It leaks, despite seams sealed. Very sturdy though. Will pack more dry bag liners for next year's trip.

Touratwat tank bag. My first ever TT product! :-) It was cheap on ebay, ok!, because the seller could'nt spell. Probably my last too, the zippers broke quite quickly.

Tool roll on bash plate: Massey Ferguson tractor manual holder

Alli bashplate: very strong. Some of the Mongolian rocks that bounced off it were huge!

Tyres: Pirelli MT21 90/90/21 and 130/80/17 with Michelin HD tube in front. Rear has a normal tube as impossible to get a HD one. Rim locks in both wheels

Swingarm and disk brake off a 98 bike as well as double disk front forks

Crash bars (very strong 8-)) with a couple of no name spots mounted.

 

[chris]

Things could only get better…

…and they did.

Sorry, no pictures of bikes in this episode.

After a parting of the ways with the others, I set off to nowhere in particular. Riding along I spotted a German TLC parked on the side of the road. Hans and Ingrid were really nice people and also told me of a big party starting at Lake Song-Kul a couple of hundred clicks down the road. So that's where I headed. Over the next 24 hours about 3000 other people also went my way:

Some rode, some used the horsebox.

They were there to celebrate the 185th birthday of a Kyrgyz hero for whom they had just finished building a monument. A great place to build a monument too:

Horses going for a swim.

Some vehicles sported the not yet released in Europe nor USA 2013-model all new design, high tech, Touratech Alli panniers

They drank and ate…

The most disgusting smelling (and tasting) boiled horse broth. I again had to endure the stuff in Mongolia later in the trip. Conveniently in Kyrgyzstan other foodstuffs were available, unlike Mongolia.

The also came in Audi 80s. There were lots of them in Kyrgyzstan. Some showed off their pets.

They wrestled. The Kazakh and Russian competitors received the biggest boos. Luckily a Kyrgyz won the final.

People would regularly call you over and insist you took their picture. All they wanted was to say hello, shake your hand and look at the picture in the camera display. No requests for money, nor the "Donne moi un cadeau" sh!t as pedalled in central and west Africa.

I had the opportunity to meet young local women, dressed to impress...

...Watch horse against machine. Horse wins.

Spectate several round of "Horse murderball"(!?) (closest analogy is American Football on horses with a headless male goat as a "ball")! You could tell it was a male goat because another part of his analomy hadn't been trimmed!

Said hello to local men, also dressed to impress.

The 48 hours I spent at Song Kul were some of the most memorable from the whole trip. Kyrgystan was my favourite country on the trip.

 

[chris]

More Kyrgyz fun heading to the Tajik border

Down the hill from Song Kul

What do you do when you know there’ll be a power cut. Pump fuel into barrels and dispense using a bucket. No smoking please!

Camel at Sary Tash, an old Caravanserai Fort on the Silk Route, not far from the Chinese border.

Meeting the ladies. Nothing happened. Honest! But they did feed me.

Promoting adventure motorcycling amongst the young of Kyrgyzstan.

After Sary Tash I headed towards Tajikistan…

Dodging the rain storms

Mother and child on the move

A video
[video=youtube_share;4a95K9EKF5c]http://youtu.be/4a95K9EKF5c[/video]
The OSM base map on my Garmin was good, but not 100% accurate

The people you meet: A couple of Dutch bikers. Both bikes have xr250 paperwork. Which one isn’t an XT250?

The people you meet: A crazy Japanese cyclist. I met lots of people on pushbikes in Kyrgyzstan. Most were heading for Tajikistan. They wouldn’t be getting let in…

The people you meet: Some other bloke and his dad. Said his name was Leonardo Di Caprio. Also doing the ADV thing… Apparently the ship sinks at the end of the film.

En route to the Tajik border. Which way was the wind blowing?

 

[KTMphil]

They are spectacular photo's Chris.

 

[chris]

They are spectacular photo's Chris.

Cheers Phil!

As the winter closes in here, I'm regretting it leaving it so late to try and book a flight back to Chiang Mai. The prices just weren't affordable. Maybe December 2013...

 

[KTMphil]

Cheers Phil!

As the winter closes in here, I'm regretting it leaving it so late to try and book a flight back to Chiang Mai. The prices just weren't affordable. Maybe December 2013...

Hopefully see you at the January 2014 HU meeting

 

[chris]

Hopefully see you at the January 2014 HU meeting

Sounds like a good plan!

 

[chris]

A short excursion into Tajikistan

The minor case of an assassination of the KGB chief in Khorog over 1000km away caused the authorities to turn off the phone and internet networks and close all roads and then force all tourists to leave the country. They wouldn’t want outsiders to witness the murder of their own people. A big shame.

And from a personal point of view a PITA. It meant I wouldn’t make it to Uzbekistan (not a biggie: everybody told me how unbearably hot it was there and I’m not actually that interested in looking at architecture anyway). On the plus side, I’d have more time in Mongolia later in the trip.


[video=youtube_share;Z4lGSUQ--tQ]http://youtu.be/Z4lGSUQ--tQ[/video]
A little windy

A slightly spooky shot. I kinda like it. It was really windy. Down hill at 80kmh I had my own dust cloud overtaking me! And the temp gauge was on max too.

Mr Sadat and a Polish Af Twin rider called Robert and his Slovak mate whose name I forget. Nice people.

Full yard at Sadat’s in Karakul: my Trannie, 2 Polish Africa Twins and 5 Russians: 2 Af Twins, 2 Transalps 1 xt250 Baja

Ak Baital Pass at 4655m on Pamir Highway between Karakul and Murgab. The bike was running fine here, over a vertical km higher than when I had my cliff incident. Hence the theory regarding the dodgy cdi unit suddenly kicking back in and launching me into space. Or not?

The gps reads only 4 meters lower. Not bad considering the distances to the satellites.

Long yes, winding? My arse.


[video=youtube_share;3wKDW6z1o-s]http://youtu.be/3wKDW6z1o-s[/video]
A quick panorama

A vaguely artful shot. Or not? Lake Karakul

Crazy Scottish cyclist called Stephen and Marek and Rarek from Poland

A solo (pretty) German cyclist... The following will sound really sexist. It is: On all my travels every time I meet solo female travellers, they tend to be “functional”. All the pretty ones have a fella in tow. This lady was actually very pretty and on her own, on a pushbike in the Pamir mountains!

I first met Christine at the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. We had heard of problems ahead and due to her slow average speed and her visa running out she had a big dilemma as to whether to continue on or not. In the end her decision was made for her: The authorities put her and several other cyclists in a jeep, drove them to the border and said “get lost”. Here she’s with my Polish mates Marek and Radek with whom I rode back to Osh in Kyrgyzstan.

Over the fence behind them is China

Yours truely

Getting gas in Murgab

An artful photo?

End of the road at Murgab. They weren’t letting anyone into the rest of the Pamir region. Bollox


[video=youtube_share;U22H8FW8NH0]http://youtu.be/U22H8FW8NH0[/video]
Leaving the country

 

[KTMphil]

Spectacular!


Can you pick that up on your own?

 

[chris]

Spectacular!


Can you pick that up on your own?

Yep. Mostly. The 2 gear rolls (to be reduced to 1 for next summer's trip) only have light stuff like tents/food/thermarest/sleepbag/shoes etc. The heavy luggage is in the side-compartments of the Giant loop throw over bag.

 

[chris]

A couple of gps maps

Now that I've reached the most southerly point on this trip and have been forced to turn round, here are 3 maps of my gps tracks so far with a couple of annotations. They might be of some interest. From now on, the only way is north... and east... and north east.... and east.... and south east... and east again.

 

[KTMphil]

Thanks for the maps Chris, great to see where you were, what a trip.

 

[chris]

2500km Tajik/Kyrgyz border to Kazakh/Russia Border

Here's just a random selection (in chronological order&#8230 of pictures from the Tajik/Kyrgyz to the Kazakh/Russia border: About 2500km where nothing untoward happened. Just a lot of riding, nice views and people, a bit of drinking and quite a few fun experiences.

Osh was a good place to hang out for a couple of days. Lenin Street had some nice bars and eateries.

A weird looking poster. Not sure if it's for beer or whatever is in those packets. Wouldn't eat or drink the stuff if you end up looking like those 2 Neanderthals.


While taking the above pic, look what walked by…

Beehives and honey selling

Genghis Khan on a horse, on a bike. Note the "superior" side panel mod so that the reg/rec can run a bit cooler.

All uphill and downhill incline signs in Central Asia say 12%! I kid you not. Either the ex-Soviet factory only made this particular 12% sign, or the roads are all at 12%. I don't think it's the later. Some inclines were definitely steeper, some shallower.

Some (new) bag of sh!t Chinese Lonchin 125 thing. But nice stickers eh? A DRZ Gixxer. The ultimate Adventure bike?

What you can buy on the side of the road in Kyrgyzstan. The obligatory water melons and inflatable beach toys (Lake Issy Kul is a 100 clicks down the road).

A couple of interesting stickers (Colebatch's and HU amongst others) on the gate of My Town Motors in Almaty, Kazakhstan. I went there to have a chat and buy some proper engine oil.

Chatting to the mechanic at My Town

Somewhere on road north east of Almaty I had my "It's as far from me to you as it is from you to me, you pig" interaction with a couple of bent coppers, as mentioned at the start of this RR.

While stopping for a comfort break where a gravel road goes off into the distance, who should turn up? Michal Rej and Marek Zarod, 2 Polish hardcore 4x4 people. They told me that down the track there's an abandoned former Soviet nuclear missile launch site. Both were really nice guys. Michal has lots of YouTube videos including Adventure Team- short clip - YouTube

The site mentioned above.

What do you find at the end of a rainbow?

Ooops.

I was getting annoyed at riding through the nothingness that is eastern Kazakhstan. Then it started to rain. The only town I rode through only had expensive hotels and I couldn't be arsed to put my tent up. Just before dark I saw a building on the hillside with no smoke coming out of the chimney. A shepherd's hut. It was locked with a twisted coat hanger, but my Leatherman allowed easy entry
This is me at breakfast the flowing morning. I then rode 750km to Semey, close to the border with Russia. A really glowing (radioactive) town.

Having a nice chat with the locals while buying breakfast on the way towards the Russian border.

Welcome to Russia! Watch out for speed traps.

 

[Just Bob]

Noticed in the pic of you sitting in the doorway of the shepherd's hut - Did you cut the back out of your boot tops? Seems like a good idea.

Fantastic pics too! Thanks.

 

[chris]

Noticed in the pic of you sitting in the doorway of the shepherd's hut - Did you cut the back out of your boot tops? Seems like a good idea.

Fantastic pics too! Thanks.

Glad you like the pics. No, haven't modified the boots. In the pic, I haven't closed the buckles. This does however allow the easy shaggin' of sheep....

.... Although there weren't any there. They must have know of my reputation :RE

 

[chris]

R and R in Barnaul, Russia


In Semey, Kazakhstan I teamed up with Moritz a German chap also riding a Transalp. The border into Russia was easy, especially when the customs bloke, who was from Kaliningrad worked out we could speak German. So could he and he took the opportunity to speak in something other than Russian or Kazakh. It seems to be the policy to station these poor blokes as far from home as possible. It was the same at the Russia/Mongolia border at Tashanta. The bloke at the gate was from Kaliningrad too.

Barnaul was a welcome break for some R and R in "civilisation".

Couldn't find any bars, but saw me people hang out outside a mini-supermarket drinking beer at their cars and acting cool. That was fine by me and Moritz...

Olga is the lady on the left. Her blond friend's name eluded me.

Olga was intrigued why I was taking her picture. I explained it was the shoes. She then impressed me with another pair she had in the boot of the car. They matched her nail varnish.

In the beer shop I couldn't for the life of me work out why the security guard wasn't letting me buy any more beer. Did he think I was under-age or had drunk too much? I think the sign says that you can only buy cerveza with > 5% alcohol until 9pm. So as it was midnight we had to settle for 4.9%. Made all the difference…

More legs

In Barnaul we first came across cars competing in the Mongol Rally. All the participants I met were very pleasant, less than half my age, but actually doing something interesting in their Uni vacation or GAP year. You really don't need a blinged up 4x4 to drive Mongolia...

Lenin the Toreador

The next day we found the Barnaul Biker Bar…

Hey Harley boys: This is what you call ape hanger bars…

Getting a lift home from the bar

Needed a front wheel bearing change, so went to Viktor's…

… Viktor was out of town, but I think this is Sergei, a very competent wrench and nice bloke. The bloke with the glasses rides spoke some English and was able to interpret.

Ok. Finally a pic of a bike and a woman. It is of course a bike trip. Sorry forgot.

 

[KTMphil]

This one should be a caption contest!

 

[chris]

This one should be a caption contest!

Ok, I'll start: "Honey, does my butt look big in these shorts?"

 

[Just Bob]

Damnit! Let go of my hair Boris!