Back in Tashkent and ready to go, but as is often the case after a delay, a check of my documents revealed a snag. My Kirgiz visa has only 4 days left on it … no problem if I was exclusively going to Kirgizia on my way to Almaty, But I want to go to Tajikistan and the Pamir first … and it will be 7-8 days at least before I am out of Kirgizstan. So I spent yesterday running around filling in forms queueing and making exhorbitent payments into banks accounts for the Kirgiz consul. The upshot of it is I should have a new visa ready to collect by close of business Friday, allowing me to get on the road by Saturday morning.
Today was a chance to play with the bike, and take it out for a ride to Chimgan, high in the mountains, near the Kirgiz border. I had really missed the bike. Vlad had arranged for my front fairing to be professionally repainted in my absence. Its now looking better than all the other panels … but for how long.
Up at Chimgan, I saw a small glacier about 2km off the main road. I needed a off road goon about on the bike, and a few quad trails in the general direction of the glacier were all it took for me to tell Vlad and his friend Gali to wait for me … i had to get some gooning out of the system. As it happens the glacier-ette was rideable in its lower stages. There was a lot of grit and rocks in the ice and that provided enough traction 🙂
Late Friday update … got the Kirgiz visa late this afternoon. Also killed time today by going to a hairdresser and spicing up my haircut with an uzbek boyband look. The things you do when you have been too long on a motorcycle! For a few moments i even contemplated the mondo enduro look, going surfer bleach blond, but only for a few minutes. I never for a minute considered the ‘Claudio’ look from Ulan Ude. So the Uzbek boy band look it is.
Rock on !!
Welcome back… Taking a break from all that posting on ADV Rider & UKGSer ??!!??
Glad to hear you managed to get the paperwork sorted and are set to ride as and where you wish again…
First stage in my adventure starts today as the bike gets dropped off this am, to be flown to Anchorage next week. You will be glad to hear it goes resplendent in its “Sibirsky Extreme” stickers obtained from Jon… I’ll spread the word…
Nice to be onroad again. Great landscapes!
Welcom back on the road again
Simon: hope you have enough Sibirsky Extreme stickers to plaster North America in them!!
Safran: Thanks mate … but in this part of the world its hard to take a bad photo. 😉 Looking forward to Tajikistan.
[quote Walter]
…So the Uzbek boy band look it is…[/quote]
Where is that picture? You might start a new trend 😉
Be good mate
Walter, fuck blyat`.
Very sory for my tenses. It is already 15 to 2 o`clock after midnight in Samara. I`m completely shoked by your last photos. There is amazing nature on them. i`m full of regrets that i can`t see it with my own eyes. Now we are spending our humdrums in Samara. But summer is coming at our city too. There is an info from official newschannels that border between Uzbekistan and Kirgiziya is closed now. There was an terror acts there. I hope you don`t have any problems. I`ll try to write you about situation out there. And we have good contact at Kamchatka. I`ll check your ruote and contact you via email. To let you know a good guy there.
With best wishes. Andy.
Here i`am… on the road again…
(C) Metallica.
Walter to Simon: hope you have enough Sibirsky Extreme stickers to plaster North America in them!!
Hey Simon – if in Northern California, may I get that sticker??
should i say anything…