upwithit

Almaty to Zharkent Kazakhstan On June 3rd we rode through Kazakhstan from Almaty to Zharkent. Part of the ride included a jaunt down into the “Grand Canyon of Kazakhstan”, which is small by US Grand Canyon standards, but had an extraordinary number of tourists. (Why would tourists flock to see that canyon when they could…

Almaty Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, the land of Borat, is not what the movie depicts. Almaty, formerly called Alma-Ata, is a prospering modern city growing rapidly (approximately 12% in the last three years) with a population of about 1.7 million in a country of perhaps 13 million. It has a gross per capita income of approximately $2,260…

Kyrgyzstan We left the hotel in the Issyk-Kul Kyrgyzstan region and rode into the mountains and foothills that were high summer pastures for shepherds. There was snow high in the mountains. We reached an altitude of about 7,000 feet and then visited a shepherd family. They put on a display of horsemanship that was quite…

Departing Uzbekistan, Transiting Kazakhstan, Arriving in Bishkek Kyrgyzstan and Lake Issyk-Kul Kyrgyzstan We left early in the morning on the 29th, crossed three borders, and traveled 400 miles. It was a tedious day. Exiting Uzbekistan took four hours; officials searched our duffle bags and panniers. In the United States, the government searches people coming in,…

More about Turkmenistan In Turkmenistan, one can fill up their gas tank for about $1.00. I believe gasoline costs a little less than 10 cents per gallon, compared to $8 or $9 a gallon in Turkey. All trucks were filling up at the border before passing into Uzbekistan, and diesel fuel flows all over the…

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan borders Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the north and has the difficult neighbors of Iran and Afghanistan to the south. It is eighty percent desert with a population of 5 million, 90% Muslim. The fertility rate is very high – 35% of the population is under 15 years of age and only 4% is…

Tbilisi Georgia to Baku Azerbaijan We felt sorry to leave the wonderful people in Tbilisi and fully appreciated the difficult struggle they will have entering a market economy. They have been abandoned by the Russians, and saddled with a heavy hangover from a long period of Russian domination and the lack of a free market.…

Tbilisi Georgia I forgot to mention the tour of the Stalin Museum at Gori. Stalin was born in Georgia. The museum traced his life as an early revolutionary, and showed us pictures of his boots and his hat and pictures of him with his various commanders. Omitted from the presentation was that he was the…

Trabzon Turkey to Tblisi Georgia We left Trabzon in the morning and passed through the bureaucratic border crossing – four different Turkish officials and three different Georgia officials – with 20 motorcycles. There was quite a Byzantine snarl of red tape. No one had to unload, but some suspicious looking young French boys in an…

Amasya to Trabzon This was a glorious day riding over (I believe) the Caucasus Mountains in Turkey running along the Black Sea – approximately 400 miles of beautiful mountain riding curving through switchbacks with long inclines and descents. The roads were carved out of the side of the mountain with rock ledges overhanging the road.…