World Tour - Europe, Asia, North and South America - Entries for: Kazakhstan
28° | sunny / rainy / windy / sandstormy | km 1493
Kasachstan - Hot and Dusty?
on 2016-07-04 in Kazakhstan
We were greeted by an incredibly friendly and open minded customs officer. After a short stretch of gravel road the street quickly turned into a well paved piece of asphalt. The temperature was great, it was not to hot or to cold but it quickly changed from dry to really wet. We got into a big thunderstorm with even a bit of hail. We kept moving forward because we could already see the light behind the big storm clouds. Our destination was somewhere between the border and Almaty. Fabi wanted to get his bike reprogrammed for bad fuel in Almaty so we knew that we wanted to get there during the following day.
A couple of kilometers away from Almaty we decided to set up camp. Just before we ate dinner at a truck stop and watched a bunch of Asian looking fellows take pictures of our bikes. One of them was especially eager and showed us his passport through the window of the diner. We were too hungry to go outside and he was to shy to come inside. When we wanted to head out to look for our camp spot Fabi noticed that they had written something on the front spoilers of the two Africa twins. We never really found out what, except for that it was written in Mongolian and had some name in it. Nobody was able to tell us what it ment.
The next day we drove to the BMW dealer in Almaty. He spoke very good English which was great for Fabi because it made it easy for him to explain what he wanted to be done. Denis and Basti enjoyed the taste of great coffee in the luxurious dealership and so everyone was happy. Sadly Fabi had to find out that they had broken the cable that allowed them to connect bikes to their system. So there was nothing they could do to help him. After some calls the manager confirmed that the BMW dealer in Astana had a working cable and would be able to do the proper changes to the bike. We decided it was necessary and planned our route to Astana.
We jumped back on our bikes and headed out of Almaty. After a short time we were hit by the biggest sandstorm we had seen so far. The storm did not just bring sand with it but a lot of tumbleweed and even some corrugated metal that was not properly stored. The storm ended with a big shower and some hail, just to be replaced by sunshine in the next minute. Hot and sandy?! No not really! We had all sorts of weather except for snow.
In the last kilometers towards Astana we had luck with the weather. We also managed to try some local food like dried and smoked fish as well as some horse meat instead of ground meat for our spaghetti Bolognese. What else could anyone wish for?
A couple of kilometers away from Almaty we decided to set up camp. Just before we ate dinner at a truck stop and watched a bunch of Asian looking fellows take pictures of our bikes. One of them was especially eager and showed us his passport through the window of the diner. We were too hungry to go outside and he was to shy to come inside. When we wanted to head out to look for our camp spot Fabi noticed that they had written something on the front spoilers of the two Africa twins. We never really found out what, except for that it was written in Mongolian and had some name in it. Nobody was able to tell us what it ment.
The next day we drove to the BMW dealer in Almaty. He spoke very good English which was great for Fabi because it made it easy for him to explain what he wanted to be done. Denis and Basti enjoyed the taste of great coffee in the luxurious dealership and so everyone was happy. Sadly Fabi had to find out that they had broken the cable that allowed them to connect bikes to their system. So there was nothing they could do to help him. After some calls the manager confirmed that the BMW dealer in Astana had a working cable and would be able to do the proper changes to the bike. We decided it was necessary and planned our route to Astana.
We jumped back on our bikes and headed out of Almaty. After a short time we were hit by the biggest sandstorm we had seen so far. The storm did not just bring sand with it but a lot of tumbleweed and even some corrugated metal that was not properly stored. The storm ended with a big shower and some hail, just to be replaced by sunshine in the next minute. Hot and sandy?! No not really! We had all sorts of weather except for snow.
In the last kilometers towards Astana we had luck with the weather. We also managed to try some local food like dried and smoked fish as well as some horse meat instead of ground meat for our spaghetti Bolognese. What else could anyone wish for?
24° | sunny | km 0
Over and Out
on 2016-07-07 in Kazakhstan
The huge fastness slowly got replaced by more and more houses. We found ourselves getting closer and closer to Astana until we finally arrived. Just in 1997 Astana had replaced Almaty as the capital of Kazakhstan. And it had been under construction ever since. We experienced the popularity of Astana first hand by the high prices of the hotels. Luckily we were able to find a nice, small and rather cheap hostel right in the center.
The next morning we decided to go to the BMW dealer first and get the GS reprogrammed for bad fuel. The dealer had the necessary tools and was able to do the reprogramming right away. It turned out to be quite expensive (~100 $) but since we were heading to Mongolia with the worst fuel of the journey it had to be done. To make matters worse there was no coffee for Denis and Basti ;)
The rest of the day we enjoyed walking around town. We were looking forward to the game between Germany and France in the European Championship. To our surprise we managed to find a bar that was packed for the start of the game. Sadly the game did not go as planned and ended with the loss of our team against France...
Even though it had been a short night because of the game we decided to go sightseeing the next day. We walked alongside the beautiful alley with the large skyscrapers toward the Bayterek tower to have a good look over the entire city. A little later we walked by the opera towards a weird UFO like looking building.
To our disappointment it turned out to be another shopping mall. At least we thought so at first until we saw a large free-fall tower in the middle of all the shops! It turned out that on the 4th floor there was a small amusement park for kids between 6 and 14. This did not stop us from having fun :) We had a lot of fun on the incredible almost life threatening water slide in the dinosaur park and right after - still pumped up with all the adrenaline - race on real life like motorcycle race simulators.
Totally exhausted we enjoyed the last night in Astana that stood in complete contrast to the surrounding scenery of Kazakhstan.
The next morning we decided to go to the BMW dealer first and get the GS reprogrammed for bad fuel. The dealer had the necessary tools and was able to do the reprogramming right away. It turned out to be quite expensive (~100 $) but since we were heading to Mongolia with the worst fuel of the journey it had to be done. To make matters worse there was no coffee for Denis and Basti ;)
The rest of the day we enjoyed walking around town. We were looking forward to the game between Germany and France in the European Championship. To our surprise we managed to find a bar that was packed for the start of the game. Sadly the game did not go as planned and ended with the loss of our team against France...
Even though it had been a short night because of the game we decided to go sightseeing the next day. We walked alongside the beautiful alley with the large skyscrapers toward the Bayterek tower to have a good look over the entire city. A little later we walked by the opera towards a weird UFO like looking building.
To our disappointment it turned out to be another shopping mall. At least we thought so at first until we saw a large free-fall tower in the middle of all the shops! It turned out that on the 4th floor there was a small amusement park for kids between 6 and 14. This did not stop us from having fun :) We had a lot of fun on the incredible almost life threatening water slide in the dinosaur park and right after - still pumped up with all the adrenaline - race on real life like motorcycle race simulators.
Totally exhausted we enjoyed the last night in Astana that stood in complete contrast to the surrounding scenery of Kazakhstan.