Steve's Cycling Blog

Goodbye Russia, hello Kazakhstan

With the added fun of a border crossing today breakfast was even earlier than usual at 0500. Because we were in a relatively confined area it meant that as soon as those eager beavers who seem to need to get up over an hour before breakfast started stirring we were all awake.

Off to Kazakhstan we go.

The now usual routine of trying to get organised, packed and eat breakfast without becoming mozzy food then followed. As usual Grant couldn’t stand it any longer and left without breakfast!

The 38km to the border were uneventful and were something of a taste of what was to come in the remainder of the day – flat…!!

Thankfully getting out of Russia proved to be much easier than getting out of Mongolia, and because we were on our bikes, and arriving at different times, it also made things smoother because we weren’t having to wait for all 30 of us to get through formalities before we could move on.

Getting into Kazakhstan was also very easy, and after only 45 min I was done with formalities. Just after the border was a small ‘shack’ acting as a currency exchange – given the location, the hour, and my mode of transport it was a perfect opportunity to get royally ripped off, but to the credit of the chap there he gave me a very fair price for the last of my Rubbles, converting 3000 RUB into 15,000 KZT.

Onwards and southwards and it became apparent that if we thought Mongolia was broad and flat, it has nothing on Kazakhstan

Oh so flat

Now while flat might sound like a good thing for a cyclist it’s actually hard work, mostly because it gets really, really boring and nothing much happens…!

Ivan and I almost beat the lunch van to the lunch stop, and though Ivan elected to grab some biscuits and carry on I needed real food so hung out while everything got set up during which time a number of others also came in.

Jackie, Grant and I left together but after a while I pulled ahead of them which possibly wasn’t the best idea as by about 100km of flat and featureless I was bored out of my tree and I think it would have helped to have someone to talk with!

For a while it looked likeI was going to get rained on as there was a thunderstorm which seemed to be defying the laws of physics since although I was riding into a head wind it was getting closer to me…!

How can this storm be getting closer?

In the end I avoided the rain (though some of the other riders behind me weren’t so lucky).

Coming into Semey was something of a surprise – it’s a much larger and more modern city than I’d expected – I’d been thinking something much more provincial feeling (like Gorno in Russia) but it’s not like that at all – much more like a Chinese city with traffic and chaos!

As I approached the hotel I had done 159km so I figured I may as well make it a ‘century ride’ and do the extra km to get to 100 miles, so I added in an extra tour of the city to tick that last km off.

By the time I was checked in to the hotel (once again in a single room :-)) and had got my tent dry the lunch truck had arrived with the permanent bags so it was time for a shower and clean clothes (ahh).

The rest of the afternoon was spent with getting some jobs done – local SIM card so that hopefully I can be better connected in Kazakhstan than I was in Russia, a haircut, change some USD to Tenge – it’s a very pretty currency

Colourful Kazakhstan Tenge

I also managed to get a couple of blog posts taken care of, as well as some other ‘administration’ which was required prior to wandering out for some dinner.

Jackie seems to have found a potential solution to her 15-day issue – travelling on a Swedish passport a visa isn’t necessary for Kazakhstan, however it transpires that she can only stay 15 days, while we’re actually in the country for 17 days. Talking with Regine, our local ‘fixer’ in this part of the world, she hatched a plan to hire a driver in Almaty (which will apparently be relatively cheap) to take her to the Kyrgyzstan border where she will leave the country (for five minutes) before coming back in again with a further 15 days to let her complete the trip. A relief for her, since overstaying is reputedly 21 days in jail or a $5000 USD fine!

Tomorrow we have to go and ‘register’ with the local immigration police which means we have to be up and functioning inhumanly early for a rest day (in the lobby by 0845) which isn’t winning any popularity contests that’s for sure.

Riding data

View from my ‘tent’

Ok, so it’s a hotel room, but you get the idea – complete with approaching thunderstorm