Today’s ride on Komoot – to the border
Today’s ride on Komoot – to Zharkent
I awoke with a bit of excitement brewing about the day. I’d finally be out of China. It’s been an interesting ride here, not just in the cycling sense, but I’m very pleased to start a new chapter and visit my first Stan.
I was sick for nearly half of my time here and the hassles (as a result) with putting the bike on trains meant that it was a stressful time. However, Ill expand on China in a separate post. For now, I packed and checked the route to the border.
I had booked the familiar chain hotel, the Ni Hao, up close to Khorgas port, but this turned out to be the old border. So I asked the girls at reception how to get to the new one. Astonishingly, they didn’t know. Nor could they even find it on a map – not on their own phones nor mine. So, I left pretty disgusted with their knowledge. Khorgas is a border town and the hotel is close to the border. At least one of the four could have known.
I rode south from the hotel hoping to see signs, but saw none. I googled it, but kept finding old articles. Then I used the Rolling Around app (for touring cyclists) and off I went.
Even when I got to the border, it wasn’t clear where to go, so I followed a car and went through the first check. As I was leaving a bikepacker arrived behind me and the guards told us to proceed together. That’s when I meet Pope, a Chinese cyclist who really helped me through the Chinese exit.
It was also good to hang out with another cyclist. He spoke some english but our translation apps worked well for conversation.
We both went to Zharkent, stayed at the same hotel, and had lunch and dinner together while negotiating a new language and currency.
Gee the Kazahk side of the border was friendly. Not that the Chinese weren’t, it’s just that the Kazahks went out of their way to shake hands and smile.
I had to remove my bags from This Moment and scan all my gear on the Chinese side, but the Kazahk guard didn’t look bothered and just waved me through. I guess if I’m ok for China, I’m ok for Kazahkstan.
We went through the vehicle entry and exit as we had a piece of paper specifying we were a vehicle. Every man and his dog had to check the piece of paper.
Finally, we were on the main road to Zharkent. It was big and wide with no traffic. The vegetation was a portent of the following days – dry, desolate and flat or slightly downhill.
One guy on the Rolling Around app had suggested staying on the freeway (it’s allowed here) and jumping the freeway fence at one point, then carrying down the stairs, then across a dry creek bed onto the street – this saving 5kms or more.
I found an easier way 400m earlier – doing a similar thing but no stairs and a much shorter and more gentle slope onto a farm road. So that’s what we did.
We were then on a local road, and I saw my first Lada in the flesh, then we passed a mosque and pretty soon we were in Zharkent.
It was soooo different to China. There was Kazahk food, and bakeries, coffee shops and supermarkets filled with different things.
We hung around the town. Pope got a sim card while I tried to sort out the zip on my frame bag. It’ll need to be replaced in Almaty.
Dinner wasn’t far from the Satti Hotel which was a nice place a few hundred metres from town.