I started today not knowing whether I’d be riding the whole way or being bundled into a police car like the trip up here. Either way, it promised to be interesting.
I left Sayram Lake nice and early. The person on the 24 hours reception was sound asleep in their stretcher in the foyer. It was cold too. There was still plenty of snow on the peaks and a breeze to spread the chill around.
My G312 shared the same road as the G30, so I took it. The alternative was to go through the gates and ride on the lake road. I was unsure About an exit so I stayed on the main road. After all, the lake is surrounded by a 2 metre fence. As it turned out, the lake road would have been better, still I had wonderful views from up higher.
The strange town that is undergoing some major construction looked surprisingly good in the early morning mist and there wasn’t even a ripple on the lake. It was absolutely stunning.
It was 20kms or so before the road swung away from the lake and got to business. A short uphill was followed by views of some major Chinese engineering feats including the Guozigou bridge. I couldn’t ride over it, but riding under it gave me a sense of its scale and height. Just amazing. I had a big smile as the road switched back and forth descending through a small village. And then I was in for a long downhill on a busy road. At the start, it was pretty windy and I had to pedal to make much progress, but the wind abated and it was a lot of fun.
The cars coming up the mountain weren’t having such a great day though. There was a 4.5km traffic jam due to a truck stuck in one of the lanes.
The road levelled out finally and I pulled into a service area for some lunch. A guy with a security or police uniform approached me and suggested the coffee at his mate’s caravan setup. Definitely needed that, but I was after food first. After asking me lots of questions, he paid for my pot noodles, took my photo and sent it to his manager – I’m still confused as to whether he was a cop or a coffee tout.
The noodles were rubbish but the coffee excellent for this part of the world.
As I left, the police eventually directed me back to the G312 and from there it was a flat run to a hotel in Khorgas. Along the way I met Alexandra from Poland who is a young bike tourer heading to Urumqi. She was tired and still recovering from food poisoning and had done some amazing things like travelling the Stans in winter – that’s a bit cold for this guy.
Finally at the hotel, I cleaned up and went to the supermarket for some essentials – coffee, biscuits and mango. I had a nice meal not far from the hotel and got prepared for the border in the morning.
