Kyrgyzstan customs were a breeze and we received a hearty welcome, before rolling downhill to Sary Tash on thankfully smoother roads, the scenery now changing to big rolling green hills, locals herding their horses in this well pastured area, yurt tents dotting the landscape with snow capped peaks in the distance.

Kyrgyzstan is touted as the traveller's favourite of central Asia's Stans, but we are only staying here for 2 days, and noticed some differences. There are Kyrgyz people in Tajikistan and China, in fact the Soviets established the boundaries between the Stans in a way which weaken the groups, ie there are Kyrgyz and their yurts throughout the region and into China here. I would think you're only a man in this part of Kyrgyzstan when you can ride a horse, had a few inquisitive kids gallop across to say hello, met a few on horseback along the road, healthy looking horses everywhere.

Fire in the Hole

Our guest house could very easily have burnt down, Keith had placed one of his panniers (bike bag) on a chair like piece of furniture in our room, we were later to understand this was a heater, as I smelt burning and saw flames. Without our knowledge, the owner had switched on the heater from the bar, lucky I was in the room, as the bag contained Keith's petrol fuel (for cooking). If we'd had been out, the whole place would have burnt down! This left Keith, one pannier short, and re-packed well into the remaining 3, but unable now to carry any extras like beer.

Border

I changed to slicker tyres, however the road towards China, became extremely rough and we stayed in a huge truck park just short of the Chinese border, a real wild frontier place. One Spanish we met had waited since Friday evening, as the border closes down at weekends, he talked Russian (useful in any of the Stans), helping with our meal. A very basic truck stop, no real toilets, a walk to the river being the most pleasant way of doing ones morning duties. People playing football/cards, fixing things, tin shacks everywhere, smoke, I was really looking forward to China.

We'd met a group of five cyclists coming the opposite direction to us, probably having spent 3 months or so from Beijing, and I was happy to hear of superbly smooth roads, good facilities in the towns and superb food. In return I promised great scenery, very basic food & accommodation, and very bad roads. Gosh, I think about what they must be going through, every time I tuck into the superb food here in China. Still its the variety in life that counts for me, and we have a huge desert to cross in China. Cool hats though.

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