Uzbekistan

During the last few days the landscape around us has changed quite a bit and we have really entered Asia and left Europe behind. The border to Kazakhstan is just about 100km from Astrahan, so after having one lazy day in Astrahan we left Russia for now. But we'll be back... It didn't take too long cross the border to Kazakhstan. Leaving Russia was no problem, we didn't have to provide any proof of registration, and strange enought, the guys there were even really nice... and on the Kazakh side the border officers were quite friendly too and even helped with filling in the forms. The first maybe 50kms of Kazakhstan are still in the Volga delta, and the water, horses, reed and clay (?) houses made quite a nice scenery... after we left the delta behind, the landscape changed to steppe, and everything was flat, dry and the roads just straight for hundreds of kilometres. Besides a few bad parts we have so far had the best roads since Germany on this trip in Kazakhstan, contrary to what we heard before... most of them brand new. On our way through Kazakhstan we passed one city, Atrau, and it is amazing how those new cities are quickly growing out of nothing (but with money from oil and other ressources). It might not be very objective, but cruising along the countryside I got the impression that Kazakhstan has a lot more dynamics and positive atmosphere than Russia.

Also we met some nice animals along the road and crawling over our tent...

It was large! very large. Larger than my hand including fingers...

After a few nights in the steppe in Kazakhstan we spent our last night in Beinju (little place with nice Basar), where we met a German cyclist. From Beinju to the border and about 120km into Uzbekistan the road is just a gravel road. In Russia we were told there would be no proper roads in Kazakhstan, which proved to be totally wrong. In Kazakhstan we were told there would be no proper roads in Uzbekistan. Which proved to be totally wrong. After those 120km of gravel road we were again on brand new roads... and since we are back on asphalt we have found that Uzbekistan actually has a quite good network of roads. But I am not complaining about good roads... I think this will change rapidly once we get to Tajikistan.. but before we can go there we have to get over some little problems... which I will write about in the next post. To get into Uzbekistan took a few hours, but in the end people were nice and let us into their country. And here we are...

phone and photos

From tomorrow we will be back on #1 on the satellite phone. If we manage to cross the border without getting any registration in Russia..

and there are a few new photos in Picasa!

Astrahan

On our way from Rostov-na-Donu via Volgograd (we only touched the outskirts) to Astrahan we met millions of mosquitoes, sandflies and Brian, who is cycling on his own from California to Hong Kong. It's definitely worth having a look at his website http://www.briansride.net/ It was great to meet someone who speaks English. While we were talking to him at the side of a long long straight road to Volgograd (that was before we met the mosquitoes, later it was impossible to stand anywhere longer then 10 seconds, as the little nasty insects were just waiting for victims) some more people joined our roadside meeting. They were on their way back to Volgograd from a biker meeting somewhere around Rostov. We we're thinking about going to Volgograd to meet those nice guys from the photo again, but unfortunately our visas for the Central Asian countries are for a fixed period of time and will expire in the near future, so we have to get going.... and went past Volgograd. As you might see on the photo, motorcycling is not that popular with girls here. But I was told there actually are three girls in the Volgograd motorbike club.


A few more notes from here:
people are really nice when we are on our motorbikes. While walking around here in Astrahan not looking like Kosmonauts, i.e. without all the gear and the motorbike clothes, we had a really hard time yesterday trying to find internet. We actually didn't. No one wanted to help us. Not even wanted to talk to us.

The militia has been nice most of the time and so far we haven't been asked for more money. Once we had to show all documents again and wait around, but most of the time they are interested in what we are doing and let us go after a little chat or even help us to find a nice spot for camping or the right road. Two days ago a taxi driver drove for about 20kms ahead of us, leading us through a beautiful countryside back to the main road - free of charge.

So far we haven't had any problems with petrol, there is a basically a petrol station in every little village, and the motorbikes are doing well. I'll try to change the oil on my bike today, and I think we should give them a wash too and a good check up. I don't want to get stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Kazahkstan. Tomorrow we want to leave Russia and I think from now on things will start to get a little more exotic and different... and the roads will be worse...

So far food is no problem either. There are little shops in every village with essential foods and we often eat some soup or dumplings at the side of the road. Lately we have seen a lot of dried fish... but I don't want to have anything to do with it!

I am trying to get used to the fact that women are not being shaken hands here. Most people take notice of me and at least nod towards me, but some just outright ignore the person at the side THE MAN. I think this will not get better for the next few weeks :) good training for my patience. Harrrrrrrrrr.

With those absolutely crazy drivers!!!!!!! here I have already seen more car crashes on this trip than in the rest of my life. Today our taxi driver almost killed us. But that was not our first accident here. The day after the banja burnt we were staying with this really nice family in Rostov. So these nice people borrowed a car to show us the city... and yes, it happened. We caused a car crash. So first the house burns, next a car crash. We are seriously considering not staying with nice people any more.

We are using the satellite phonenumber 2 now. All good and on the way to kazakhstan