Location: only 11 miles past our tunnel under the road, Kazakhstan.
Strong headwind is really one of the best ways to keep a cyclist in one place. It was already blowing hard at 7 in the morning and just got stronger with every minute. Shoot. Our 30 dayUzbekistan visa started today and we were still about 5 days away from reaching the border. Every gust meant less time in Uzbekistan. Very frustrating. If the Azeris had not detained us we would not have been so pressed for time.
Some nice Kazakh truckers invited us into their warm, cozy cab for breakfast. What a treat.
After about 2 hours of fighting with the wind we reached a lonely little restaurant 11 miles from our sleeping spot and decided to try and hitch a lift from a passing truck. We sat there all day trying to get a ride. Meanwhile the Uzbek visa clock was ticking along.
Eventhough we had no success in getting a ride, people were exceptionally generous. At one point a car stopped next to us, the guy handed us a 5 liter water jug, a meat pie ( still warm) and a bag with vegetables and drove off. Right after that two truckers insisted we join them for lunch and tea in their cab. We were so stuffed.
In the evening the wind was still howling and we were getting really cold so we went into the little restaurant to warm up.
Setting up a tent outside would be difficult with this dust laden wind and since we had no tent anyways we opted to pay to camp in the unfurnished room upstairs. With a bit of bargaining we got the room for 800 tenge (~4€). That price included the use of a breezy, smelly outhouse and the outdoor washstation. The waitress came into our room several times during the rest of the day to make phone calls because the upper corner of our window was the only spot where they could get cellphone reception. Quite amusing.
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