Nov. 18-19 - the epic train ride begins

Due to the fact that we only got a one month Chinese visa with a one month extension we were forced to take a train for a large portion of the trip across China. Very unfortunate but o well.
We chose to take the train all the way to Xian in order to give us enough time to reach Beijing in time for our flight to Los Angeles. The whole trip was to take about 64 hours divided into a 24 hour and a 40 hour leg.
Because at this time of year all the migrant cotton pickers move back east, all the sleeper cars were sold out, but we managed to at least get a seat for the first 24 hours of the journey. We made some new friends along the way but still wished we could be on the bikes riding through the barren Xinjiang landscape and its rugged mountain landscapes.
In Urumqi we were able to stay with a Warmshowers host from England. It is always a treat to see a western face.
THANKS NATASHA FOR THE HOSPITALITY. GOOD LUCK WITH TEACHING ENGLISH.

Nov. 17- Sunday animal bazaar

I joined a few people from the hostel to check out Kashgar's famous animal bazaar. It was so impressive and a very serious matter. I realized that I was attending the Xinjiang equivalent of a fancy car show. A male camel for instance is worth about $10,000 and a ewe $200, although these prices could still be bargained down. Nevertheless, in this part of the world, animals represent tremendous wealth and are an important investment.

Nov. 17- animal bazaar part 2

More pics.

Nov. 16- Kashgar night market

We met up with Patrick, who we had met on the bus the other day, and his girlfriend. Strolling around the night market was an interesting experience. How about chewing on barbequed cows legs for dinner? Or take your pick off a pile of stomachs and other internal organs and a glass of freshly pressed pommegranate juice to wash it all down.
Patrick invited us to a little restaurant for pigeon, which was  delicious but somewhat odd looking too.

IT WAS GREAT HANGING OUT WITH YOU PATRICK AND JUNJUN. THANKS FOR THE STORIES AND DINNER.

Kashgar part 2

Somsas, baby cribs, slaughtered sheep, historic buildings etc.

Nov. 16- Kashgar

Kashgar is a very dynamic city with a vibe that harks back to the times of active trade one the Silk Road. It is where east meets west. Although it is located in China, the majority of the population is a turkic people group called the Uyghurs whose language is closely related to Turkish, just like Uzbek and Azeribaijani.

Nov. 15- to Kashgar

Location: Kashgar, Xinjiang province, China

100km ride through the desert from Ulugqat to Kashgar. Some nice mountains, barren desert and old Uigur settlements.

Checked into the Old Town youth hostel which looked a bit run down but okay. It is on a crazy busy narrow street full of scooters, carts, and vendors of all sorts. Everyone seems to be in a big rush to get wherever they are going, everyone is in everybody's way, horns are being honked all around contributing to the colourful chaos. It was quite the challenge to ride through all this to reach the hostel but it was quite fun.

Tour of the snack aisle

Chinese supermarkets quickly became one of our favorite attractions, especially the snack aisle. Most products come in vacuum packed bags: marinaded chicken feet, chicken toes, eggs, century eggs, drum sticks and various shapes, various flavours of tofu etc.
It is so fun to try a random selection of these snacks, most of which are actually very tasty.

Nov. 14- Welcome to China

That bus we were supposed to take was the weekly sleeper bus from Osh. The driver wanted $100 per person. WHAT! Amazing how they pull these nice round numbers out if the air. There is no set price list for various kinds of transport. No, the price is just what the driver feels like charging depending on what you look like and I guess his mood. We bargained with him and thank God he relatively quickly dropped the price to 100 yuan ( about $15 ). Great!
There was no room for the bikes in the cargo compartments so they came on the bus with us. It was a fun trip. We met Patrick, a Swiss-American researcher specialized in earthquake engineering and social conflicts. Very interesting guy and chatting with him made the time fly by.
THANKS FOR THE NOODLE LUNCH,PATRICK. HOPEFULLY YOU AND JUNJUN ARE ENJOYING WARMER CLIMES RIGHT NOW.

In Ulugqat we finally got stamped into China. The officials were most professional, polite and helpful. A nice change after somewhat chaotic Central Asia, especially Uzbekistan.

We treated ourselves to a $15 hotel room for one night and then walked over to the big square and celebrated our arrival in China with a chocolate bar and a Chinese milky drink in the pagoda. Then we explored the local supermarket and marveled at the strange products. See next post.

(Sept. 24th-Now) Bicyclette's New Off-Road Make-Over

(This post was supposed to be dated September 24th but accidentally it never made it on the blog until now. However, Bicyclette's look has not changed since then so this post is as relevant now as it was back in September)

The route we planned to ride from Aktau, Kazakhstan, to Nukus, Uzbekistan, is famous for its terrible road conditions. Up until two years ago, most of that route (~700km) was no more than a washboard dirt track full of holes and deep ruts. Now both countries are actively in the process of renewing and paving the road but at least 200 km still have not been touched so Bicyclette was in need of a few modifications to meet the demands of this rough stretch.
First of all, Bicyclette was equiped with the wider 40mm Schwalbe Marathon Mondial rear tire  which she had been carrying since Istanbul specifically intended for this route. This tire was to provide better traction on the dirt roads and cushion the load to reduce strain on the rack and frame. 

Second, Bicyclette required wider handlebars for better balance and control when maneuvering along the dirt track.
The handlebar conversion was accomplished for a total cost of about $5 using the following multinational collection of materials:
-a piece of rebar from a construction site in Tbilisi, Georgia
-bits of foam (for the grips) from a road side construction site in Azerbaijan.
-small blocks of wood from a crushed palette in a parking lot in Baku.
-strips of discarded, old bicycle tubes for the grips from a little bikeshop in Batumi, Georgia.
-four hose clamps and some electrical tape from a small hardware shop on Tbilisi
-strips of thin sheet metal from a discarded peanut tin in Baku to protect the real handlebar from abrasion. 
-a small stick as a new brake lever.

Last but not least, the original rear fender did not fit over the new, larger tire so a Georgian water bottle made for a great new fender. Better than the original in fact! 
All ready, let's hit the desert!

Nov. 13- A bizzare night in no-mans-land

It was still very windy this morning but we had no choice but get on the road and hope that we can reach the border before nightfall. The wind was howling and after three hours we had only covered 16 km. We had gained some elevation and more snow started collecting on the road so that we would soon have to start pushing the bikes on foot. No chance of reaching the border at this rate but we could not go back either. My face was hurting from the cold. I tried wrapping my face to protect it from the wind but then I could not get enough air. I saw two more trucks behind us and in a moment of desperation where my cyclist pride had shrunk to nothing I just stuck my arm out...HELP...STOP!  Thank God the first truck stopped! The driver hopped out, helped us heave the bikes in the empty trailer and shortly after we were sat in the cozy heated truck cabin thanking the guy over and over again. The scenery on the way to the border was gorgeous and we were so grateful to get to enjoy it from a comfy truck cabin because shortly after we got picked up the road was really snowed in and would have been impassable by bike. Our driver was an amiable fellow who seemed to be pleased to help. When we inquired what we owed him for his service he just waved his hand. What a relief because we had absolutely no more cash on us except for a few $100 US bills.

Exited Kyrgyzstan with no problem but the Chinese side was a different story. Probably due to the ongoing conflicts with the Uigur people in western China (Xinjiang province) they tranferred the immigration checkpoint about 150km east of the actual border and the only way for foreigners to get there was by bus, taxi or some other registered vehicle. No cycling or hitch hiking. When we arrived at the Chinese border the guards made some arrangement with a guy in a pickup truck to drive us and the bikes for $60 each. WHAT A RIP OFF! No way we were paying this sly looking rat faced dude $120 to drive us just because the Chinese government decided to move their immigration office to a very inconvenient location 150 km down the road (probably to keep foreigners from exploring this area on their own). I was not really sure what to do but James openly refused and made quite the scene. I admire him for how he puts his foot down when necessary. The guard who spoke some English was very patient and tried to bargain with the driver but eventually he lost his patience, took our passenger permits from the driver, tore them up and walked off into his office. Shoot, what now!? The driver left and the guard was too mad at us to talk. Will they invalidate our visa now and send us back to Kyrgyzstan? We got scared. We should have just paid that guy. But at the same time we were glad we had stood our ground. What rip off! And we really did not like the driver.
We were made to wait for a while. Then the English speaking guard had obviously overcome his frustration (we felt bad for having made it so hard for him because he was such a nice guy) and very professionally explained that there will be a bus tomorrow but we will have to stay here tonight and they will keep our passports because we were still in no-mans-land. His superior then walked us to a little "hotel". We were so tired of fighting but it was so grungy looking that we had to object again. Bed bugs? Eventually the hotel-restaurant owner let us sleep in the storage room where we could at least set up our own sleeping gear. They must have thought we were totally crazy.
What we did not know was that this "storage room" was actally his store, sort of. Until way past midnight people came in to get stuff, mostly vodka. Just customer traffic would not have bothered us but the door could only be locked either from the inside or outside so since we were sleeping in there, we were put in charge of locking the door after us. But that meant whenever a customer wanted something we had to get up and open the door. Then we also noticed an open chimney hole in the roof right above our heads. We had to plug it up in case it snowed that night. Not our best night.