Our time in China was coming to an end and we did not end up having enough time to cycle all the way to the border of Kazakhstan. That meant getting on a train from Chengdu to Urumqi that took 35h and included two nights on the train. The ride was fine and after just one day in Urumqi, we boarded an overnight bus that was supposed to get us to the border town of Khorgas. First we had some hassle with the bus driver as he did not want to take our bikes on the bus but in the end we managed to get that organised as well. The bigger surprise waited for us the next day when the bus did not actually drive to the border city but dropped us off 100km from the border without any explanation. We had to get on another bus and eventually we managed to get to Khorgas. In the evening we reached the new border gate into Kazakhstan and left China there. Our time in Xinjiang Province was pretty short but the high police presence and frequent police checkpoints everywhere (every 50km on the highway) mean you need patience to travel there as a foreigner. We did not have any problems with the police but we were still kind of glad to get out.

Just when cycling from the Chinese to the Kazakh border checkpoint, we were warmly welcomed by all the officers with a loud "Welcome to Kazakhstan". Everyone was really friendly and helpful, we felt truly welcome there. In the evening we made it to the city of Scharkent and were positively surprised by how normal the cities looked again. In China you either have tiny villages or cities consisting of ugly high buildings. In Kazakhstan you could clearly see the Soviet history but the towns were much nicer and had more atmosphere.
Our first day of cycling in Kazakhstan was less pleasant, as we had a nasty 40km head wind with rain. After a while we decided to try to hitch a ride and we found a cool Kazakh guy with a truck who gave us a lift straight to the city we wanted to get to that day. The next day consisted of cycling into the mountains and towards the border of Kyrgyzstan and the scenery along the way was just breathtaking. This country is so vast and wild with few people and little traffic, a dream for every cyclist. In the evening we reached the town of Kegen and decided to take a hotel as it was supposed to rain at night. 'Sauna Hotel' was a lovely little guest house with a great sauna that allowed us to relax in the evening. The next morning we had to realise that we did not only have a little rain at night, but that it snowed 15cm and meant that we were stuck. Luckily the weather was sunny and all the snow melted away during the day and we could cycle again the day after that.

From Kegen we went straight for the border and reached Kyrgyzstan that day. Our destination there was the city of Karakol and at sunset we finally got there. Parts of the road were unsealed and quite bumpy and in order to take a shortcut, we decided to take a very steep and rough road over a small mountain range. The climb was hard but the landscape was stunning. We treated ourselves to some pizza at night and kept cycling in the morning again. Our plan was getting to Bishkek by May 10 to meet with Vroni's friend Sarah and her partner Jonas (yay, double Jonas xD) who we will cycle with for three weeks then. The ride took us along the beautiful lake Issyk Kul which is surrounded by massive snow-capped mountains. The sheer size of the lake meant riding along it for two days before we hit the highway towards Bishkek. From the lake the road has a very steady downhill slope and together with a lovely tail wind, it felt like flying. Two short days of cycling got us to Bishkek and we are now really excited to meet Sarah and Jonas!

Keep cycling and always enjoy a tail wind,
Greetings from Kyrgyzstan,
Vroni, Droni and Joni