Turkmenistan – sun, sand, wind, sun and sun and the odd camel and some sun
Turkmenistan By bike4afuture|January 5, 2017 |0
By our usual recent standards we had a bit of a lie in. The border doesn’t open until 8 and we only had 15 kilometres to go to reach it so there was no point in leaving too early. The couple who’s shelter we slept next to offered us br [...]
Uzbekistan part 2
Uzbekistan By bike4afuture|January 5, 2017 |0
We took the quieter of the two roads out of the city. It took a while to clear Tashkent but once we did it was pleasant enough riding through rich farmland. Wheat, maize and of course the ubiquitous cotton. Uzbekistan is the second largest exporte [...]
Climate Change in Uzbekistan
Climate ChangeUzbekistan By bike4afuture|January 5, 2017 |0
Uzbekistan calls itself the sunny country with more than 270 sunny days per year. It could equally be called the dry country. 70% of the country is desert and the rest doesn’t get much more rain. In 2005 the country had a water deficit of 2, [...]
Into Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan By bike4afuture|January 5, 2017 |0
We’d only been in Uzbekistan for 4 hours and already we’d been given lunch, a watermelon, some toilet roll, 2 bottles of water, and a bottle of coke. The generosity started within a few kilometres of crossing the border. Some farm work [...]
The central Asia visa dance
Kyrgyzstan By bike4afuture|January 5, 2017 |0
Upon arrival in Bishkek we found ourselves a guest house and made preparations to begin the Central Asian visa dance. The dance is long, drawn out and nobody is exactly sure of the steps. It seems to be different for each person. Our first partner [...]
Climate Change in Kyrgyzstan
Climate ChangeKyrgyzstan By bike4afuture|January 5, 2017 |0
Looking at the bright green valleys filled with lush spring grass and the raging torrents of melt water cascading down the mountain sides it’s hard to imagine Kyrgyzstan suffering as a result of climate change but it will. Its mountainous te [...]
Sad News
Uncategorized By bike4afuture|January 5, 2017 |0
When the phone call came I was sitting at the communal table drinking a beer to celebrate getting the last of our visas for central Asia. My mother very matter of factly informed me that my father had died earlier that day. That beer swiftly mutat [...]
Country number 3 – Kyrgyzstan mountains, lakes, mountains, yurts, friendly people and amazingly beautiful (mountainous) scenery
Kyrgyzstan By bike4afuture|January 5, 2017 |0
Kyrgyzstan is beautiful. One of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen. The road in from China is just simply stunning. We left Kashgar and followed the river valley the 90 km to the Chinese border post at Ulugqat. The valley was lush and g [...]
This is the end – of China
China By bike4afuture|January 5, 2017 |0
As soon as your arrive in Korla it feels like a place under occupation. Which of course it is. The Chinese marched in in 1789 – massacring over a million people in the neighbouring Kingdom of Zunghar in the process – and haven’t [...]
After Xian
China By bike4afuture|January 4, 2017 |0
The original plan had been to ride to Lanzhou and then extend our visas because it was the most direct route across China. But the prospect of spending a week in one of the most polluted cities in China wasn’t exactly filling me with joy. Bo [...]
China part 3
China By bike4afuture|January 4, 2017 |0
The first day we spent getting out of Guiyang. The national highway was closed because of building works and some of the alternative routes prohibited bicycles. We took then anyway as there didn’t seem to be another way. Finally we left the [...]
China part 2
China By bike4afuture|January 4, 2017 |0
I awoke early and pulled back the curtains to reveal a grey morning. Light rain was creating a pattern of rings on the water gathered on the flat roof of the building next door. When we emerged into the parking lot I shivered slightly in my shorts [...]