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“Happy days are here again..............”

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Yes, we are now back in Almaty and ready to roll again.  
And I am now armed with a nice K and C from ‘Mrs Davies of Arrowtown’. Work that one out.! 

Just as well we are leaving I think ........




We brought three spare tyres back with us from Auckland. 
Three?  Yes, two for the bike and I have over the last two weeks in NZ started carrying a new spare one around my waist. 

But let’s go back two weeks. As soon as we got to Almaty first time round and found that new tyres and wheels would take 5 to 6 weeks to get here to the BMW dealership. I yelped and said that won’t work. So we got through to Cyclespot in Auckland by phone and they were able to fast track new wheels (and other spare parts) down from Malaysia  to Auckland. And they got to Auckland in just 5 days. I ordered new tyres at the  same time (which was always part of the master plan) and got them fitted on the new rims. 
Then a little bit self consciously we fronted up to the Emirates counter at Auckland airport with hand luggage for our clothes and a 26 kg package containing new wheels. We almost got rejected because the tyres had air in them which is a bit silly as I have airfreighted my bike all round the world always with air in the tyres. Anyway after half an hour at the check-in counter common sense prevailed. 

The mechanic at Bavarian Motors in Almaty did not speak any English. However, through a translater who was actually a car salesman I  asked what condition the old wheels were in. I suddenly found the mechanic knew one word of English after all. The word starts with a capital F and is 6 letters long! OK, we are all adults here. Straight  from the horses mouth the old wheels were somewhat Fucked ! 

But now we have new wheels, new tyres,  new electronics protector, front lights bolted on, an oil change, new filters and new brake pads. 
The Redhead is positively purring again. 

The new wheels are personally delivered by yours truly. The mechanic is on the right. Both  gentlemen received a bottle of duty free vodka from me for storing the bike free of charge whilst we were  away.  Just think of it as another form of lubricant. Vodka is to Kazakhstan as wine is to New Zealand! 





We are now ready to roll out of town. We now have visas for Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. The other Stans do not need one and we are not going through to Iran now. 

But a few words on Almaty. It is a nice city. In fact Kazakhstan has a nice feel to it. 
Here are a few photos from the city 

Apparently I am not the only one with a spare tyre. Yes, it is Botero. We have come across his work also in Paris and Buenos Aires (name  dropping now!) 


One can never forget the Soviet past ( and rightly so )  Remembering  wars and the fallen is I think one of the best ways of preventing another one.


A beautiful Russian Orthodox cathedral 



And the markets in town were well worth a visit.


Almaty is a major fruit growing area and apparently this is where apples originated from 



And as the sun sets all is seemingly turned to gold - 


And may our path be paved with gold as we leave tomorrow for Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.

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