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Back in the groove again

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It was a strange feeling but a nice one. The bike was ready on schedule and we leave the comfort of the very nice hotel in Almaty to venture forth as they might say.

Bye bye to our small (and modest!) guesthouse on steroids! Or was it a backpackers? Anyway we were on the 30th floor! 



The bike is loaded with the practiced familiarity of before. Everything slipped into its place. Diana has her new lowered foot pegs. I have my new phone mount on the handle bars so that I can navigate easier with Maps.me on the iPhone if I have to. 

And talking of Elizabeth who lives in the GPS I have to report that unfortunately she has developed a lisp whilst we have been away.  She has started telling me to go “reft” instead  of “right” Something is not right you might well say. And anyway to solve the problem  how do I find a suitable speech therapist in Central Asia  who understands speech impediments in GPS’s?  Now you are not going to suggest it is my ears are you ? 

So anyway the bike fires up and we are on our way. It is an easy run through Almaty and then a nice run down to Bishkek. The road is good, the traffic is good, the weather is good, we feel good. After about an hour I see a another bike behind me that is “two up”. It is Mark and Robyn Tootill from Palmerston North. We had  dinner with them last night in Almaty and we knew they were on the road to Bishkek today. They are marking time a little as they wait for their allotted day to cross into China. 

The scenes were nicely rural.


 And the road was very good. 



Then is is the border crossing into Kyrgyzstan 

 You are not supposed to take photos at border crossings but Diana just happened to accidentally press the shutter on the camera! Karma prevailed for her indiscretion!  We broke our normal rule of going through border crossings together and she separated to go through the foot traffic line. Bad, bad call!  Mark and I breezed through the Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan borders on our bikes  with no queues, no hassles, minimal paperwork  and we were totally thru in half an hour. Meanwhile Robyn and Diana got stuck in an unseemly melee at the Kazakhstan side of things and took a sweaty and very hot hour and a half at least to get through just the Kazakhstan exit process.  It was almost a case of kicking shins and scratching the faces of some very pushy Polish people and other. Moral of the story - no more photos at the border (to prevent Karma) and in the future we go through border crossings together unless forced apart by officials (which does happen occasionally) 

So now we are in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. I thought the city centre would be old, old (like me!) But no, it is modern and the centre is beautiful with parks and boulevards and stunning buildings. We perambulate (which is a lot better than just plain walking!)  through the centre of the city centre. There is the obligatory (and good to see) war memorial and flame for the tomb of the unknown warrior. And this statue looks almost identical to the New Zealand one at Gallipoli and in western war memorial everywhere. The theme of soldier helping wounded soldier seems absolutely universal to all wars and to all sides. 


And the Soviet theme I think 



And of course who could forget the ubiquitous Mr Lenin who pops up absolutely everywhere.



There were lovely parks with shady trees and artworks everywhere 


And cooling fountains everywhere 




This stunning museum was unfortunately closed for repairs.


And lovely open plazas 


Parliament building, I think.



So it is a nice stay in Bishkek. 
Tomorrow we head into the winding mountains and start our two day trek to by gosh - it is Osh! 








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