Olympic bicycle ride 2008

Travelling by bike from Greece to China

2008-07-03T08:00:42Z

My geotagged photo gallery is now on http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25750.

See the itinerary of this trip, and details about each destination.

Tracks for Google Earth or GPS-Download:

[*]Greece
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25758

[*]Turkey
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=27454

[*]Georgia (Sarpi to Tblisi)
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=17169

[*]Georgia and Azerbaijan (Tblisi to Baku)
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25640

[*]Turkmenistan
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=26826

[*]Kyrgyzstan and China (Osh to Kashgar)
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25841

Elevation profile Osh-Kashgar

Travelling by bike from Greece to China remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I'm off my bike...

2008-06-01T03:57:23Z

As indicated earlier in this blog, I needed to reconsider my resources and possibilities for this long bicycle tour and I now declare my resignation from BalticCycle 2008 Olympia-Beijing after 99 adventurous and wild days and more than six and a half thousand kilometres of cycling. I admit I do so with a certain sigh of relief. It has been a tightly scheduled, physically demanding tour but also a very rewarding time to literally feel the climate and landforms of the Peloponnesos, the Turkish Egean, the entire width of the Black Sea, the foothills of the Caucasus, the inhospitable Garagum desert, the Silk Road in Uzbekistan and finally the Mannerheim expedition trail over the Tien-Shan mountains between February and May of this year. Not really a relaxing holiday, but certainly an intensive study trip with numerous impressions of landscapes and local populations and besides a real survival exercise in many situations both on and off the road. So it is time to thank participants and organizers of this big project for letting me share in their experience, sometimes dragging me along and always being helpful.

So, many thanks to Sigitas ("Maybe!"), initiator and indefatigable organizer of this as well as all other previous BalticCycle trips, the splendid team of drivers and sleeping place hunters Adam and Marcin and to fietsmaat Mark ("Did you saw the van?"), who taught me a lot of Dutch language on the road and who is and will be the only person with whom to share boerenkool and rookworst at 3400 metres altitude in the middle of Asia.

Farewell in Kashgar. Bon voyage to Beijing, fietsmaat!

Besides these persons, let me wish all the best of luck for a safe and successful completion of the journey to Beijing to all cyclists of the Olympia-Beijing core team, namely Carlotta from Italy ("Incredibile!"), our physician and chief photographer Dr. Valentinas from Lithuania ("You must not drink Coca-Cola. You understand, yes?"), Monica ("No!", with very steep intonation drop), Andrzej and Ryszard from Poland ("Czesc!"), Vassileos ("F...", besides being a lover of polyphonic early chorale music he is the first and only Greek ever having cycled around the world) and Danae ("Are you alright?") from Greece. I deeply admire your perseverance and I will often think of you and the thirty or so other cyclists that have joined and still will join for longer and shorter parts of the route while you cycle the huge and hot Taklimakan desert and along the Great Wall of China for another 5,000 kilometres.

Here endeth my report on the Olympic Bike Ride. If you come back to this site in a few weeks time, you may find some mileage and altitude statistics, links to track recordings with height profiles and more photos and possibly some comments about useful and useless bicycle and camping gear (comment postings by other cyclists welcome). And please bookmark the following links if you want to follow up the progress of BalticCycle towards Beijing 2008:
http://www.bicycle.pl. For English, watch out for "Bob's reports".
http://www.pentacycle.com In English.
http://www.pageline.nl In Dutch.

As for myself, I both humbly and gladly remember the advice (was it a warning?) given to their former teacher of Geography by the kids of 9C in Kulosaari Secondary School in Helsinki earlier this year that

China is a wide and big country.
I wish to congratulate these bright young people on the occasion of their graduation on Saturday this week and I am sure that we will all enjoy a very relaxing summer holiday, many travelling, some at home...

I'm off my bike... remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Down to Kashgar

2008-07-23T17:52:35Z

Wind erosion creates bizarre landforms

Uyghur graveyard. 1906 or 2008 - difficult to tell the difference

180 km and two more days to go until Kashgar. This part of the world's most populous country is almost completely uninhabited, but there are some small settlements consisting of low one-storey mudbrick buildings. Other signs of a cultural landscape are the Muslim graveyards with their burial mounds and mausoleums. Everything looks really like on Mannerheim's photos from 1906.
The road is in excellent condition, practically no private vehicles but every now and then a truck that "helps" lazy cyclists - like me - up the still frequent uphills by allowing to hook on. Only 50 km before Kashgar we descend below the 2000 m line and the scenery turns green, agricultural and populated.
The final day of travelling is thus a fast one, the last twenty kilometres on a six-lane motorway that connects China's westernmost city with the rest of the country.
After an adventurous and exhausting eight days in the mountains we are there. Checking in at Hotel Seman, located in the former Russian consulate, where also Mannerheim stayed after his three month expedition on the same route from Osh. It takes us a while to figure out, when and where we were the previous time in a place with a hot shower - it must have been weeks ago...

Like in Helsinki, all sign-posting is in two languages. But where to go?

For GPS and photos between Uluggchat and Kashgar: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25118

To see the entire route from Osh to Kashgar, go to: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25841

Down to Kashgar remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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To China by bike

2008-07-24T18:21:18Z

See the itinerary of this trip, and details about each destination.

The most exciting, though not the most difficult border crossing of this journey. (That honor remains with entering Turkmenistan in Turkmenbashy.) After 97 days of travelling from Olympia we enter China by bicycle!
After going through the various Kyrgyz control points - including a "health check" - about 7 km of nomansland have to be crossed' the one and only time with full gear on bicycle because we are leaving our car and Adam, one of our two drivers - behind and expect a new car to be waiting for us on the Chinese side. A giant flag mosaic on the slope and a fence indicate that we have entered Chinese territory! A few moments for having some very private feelings after 6300 km of cycling and the customs drag everyone into a small shack and search evrery of our bags rather carefully, paying special attention to books, notes and cameras. Arriving at the modern border terminal building for final passport control and health declaration (avian flu!) we meet our new van, driver and tour guide until Kashgar. And because entering China takes away another two hours of our day and puts us into Beijing time, we start cycling rather late in the afternoon after the very first encounter with Chinese food on Chinese soil.
Still this afternoon is probably one of the most memorable of the entire journey, as we seem to be seeing now the completely different side of the Tien-Shan mountains. An apocalyptic landscape of bare wind-eroded towering cliffs taking the most bizarre forms and presenting themselves to us in a beautiful bright afternoon sunshine. I can't remember any other day or place where taking photos was so easy and enjoyable.

First nighstay in China: a yurt, a few kilometres from the village of Uluqchat. We have entered the Kyrgyz autonomous region within Xinjiang, where the majority of the poulation adhere to Islam. So: same, same, but in China different...

Here our car has to turn around. Good bye to Adam! Chinese border officials are actually very helpful in carrying the extra gear to the border terminal.

Entering Chinese territory, a moving moment

Incredible landforms in the Tien-Shan

Yes, it's China!

Track and photos of this exciting first day in China on http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25065. Definitely worth watching in Google Earth!

To China by bike remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Irkeshtam

2008-06-12T18:08:29Z

Used as a pass on the Silk Road for centuries, one cannot be but astonished by the bumpy and stoney dirt track that leads to China, all the more that an uninterrupted chain of new Chinese trucks carrying modern sea-going containers try to make their way through this remote area. Compared with the the antiquated Kyrgyz trucks going the opposite direction this is a very tangible sign of how the booming Chinese economy is spilling over into neighboring countries.
The Kyrgyz side of the border at Irkeshtam offers a depressing view of an agglomeration of rotting shacks (where probably certain "services" are offered) and lorries. Somewhere in this mess there is a gate that will open on Monday morning to allow us to leave Kyrgyzstan for China...

Kyrgyz children - however remote, this area is not completely uninhabited

Nura - very last village before the Chinese border. The last kilometres to the border are brandnew asphalt.

GPS and photos: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25133

Irkeshtam remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Pamir

2008-06-12T18:56:06Z

Because of the delayed time schedule since the Tajikistan border mess we have now an extra day before the Chinese border as it is closed during the weekends and we couldn't make before Friday. So we divide the remaining 80 km from Sary Tash to Irkeshtam (border China) into two days taking into account the very poor road and possibly bad weather. This also allows a little extra time on Saturday morning for a car excursion 50 km downwards the Kyzyl-Suu to catch a view of Pik Lenina (7134 m), second highest point of the snow-covered Pamir mountain range. This mountain range is visible all along the road to Irkeshtam.
The nighstay is the highest of the entire journey: camping at 3400 m altitude and even some very light snowflakes in the morning. We rearrange our luggage to be sent to Europe with our car that will turn back at the Chinese border.

Pik Lenina

This is the road that leads to China - and to China only

Camping at altitude 3400 m

GPS and photos: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25139

Pamir remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Silk Road - highest point

2008-07-23T19:13:44Z

Elevation profile Taldyk pass

The pass leads to the Kyzyl-Suu drainage basin, which forms a wide east-west extending valley plain at 3000-3400 m altitude. Before entering this completely tundraic environment, you need to climb the Taldyk pass at 3620 m, both the thin air and the gradient being the main challenges. And on the top of course a very strong and chilly wind, not inviting anybody for a long stay.
After this downhill to the village of Sary-Tash at the crossroads to Tajikistan and China.

Serpentines winding up to the Taldyk pass

GPS and photos: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25205

Silk Road - highest point remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Up the Karadaja valley

2008-07-24T14:59:02Z

From the pass down to the town of Gulcho on 1600 m the road is in reasonably good shape, which it tends to be a few kilometres before and after each village. From Gulcho upwards the valley slopes are treeless but fell-like green and an excellent study terrain for landforms of mass wasting in the soft reddish marl-type bedrock and the thick river sediments: screes, solifluction, thalys cones and the like.
Wild camping for the chilly night a few kilometres upwards from the village of Kichi-Karakol. The low air pressure at close to 2600 mtres altitude makes itself felt in frequent breath cathing.

Poor road conditions on a rainy day

Mudflow

Camping at 2600 m altitude. Guess what the brown heaps are.

GPS and photos: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25211

Up the Karadaja valley remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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To the Chigirchik pass 2406 m

2008-07-24T18:03:29Z

Enclosed premises for camping near the city centre in Osh, but the gate unlocked: during the second night the thieves came and stole shoes, helmets, air pumps and camping gear. Nothing valuable, but everything irreplaceble in the middle of Asia.
The road to Irkeshtam starts from Osh with a fairly gentle rise, but the asphalt ends right outside the city. The first 60 km are under reconstruction, making cycling a dusty business. The serpentines up to the pass are not yet affected by the road works, but rotting asphalt with plenty of sizeable holes and gravel is a choice between bad and worse.
The pass area is settled with yurts. On the pass itself we found the only solid building - in yurt style - just big enough to squeeze in 20 people with their matresses and sleeping bags for the rainy night.

Kilometres cycled: 66.8. Height metres climbed: 1437

Yurts in the Chigirchik area

GPS and photos: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25234

To the Chigirchik pass 2406 m remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Osh

2008-05-20T14:47:18Z

Commerce in Osh in 1906 (Photo from Mannerheim collection)

Commerce in Osh May 20, 2008

Last night crossing the border to Kyrgyzstan, a three hour procedure that compares favourably with border formalities in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. They didn't even screen our luggage. The city of Osh is located right behind the border, geographically still part of the Ferghana valley but already at close to 1000m altitude. Thinking positively, 1000m less to climb to the Taldyk pass at 3615m on the upcoming crossing of the Tien-Shan during the next eight days. (It took Mannerheim and Pelliot three months for the same journey but of course they had other business to attend to in 1906.)
So our stay in Kyrgyzstan is short, but Osh is a really lively town with a huge bazaar area and food choice is wider than it was in Uzbekistan - writing this after the first pizza I have had in two months.
Tour management is now busy to sell our support vehicle (Mercedes Sprinter) as it can't be taken into China and everybody has been requested to revise personal luggage and prepare for an indefinite number of kilometres after the Chinese border with all luggage on bike! The time schedule is now to set out into the mountains tomorrow Wednesday May 21, cross the border to China on Monday 26 May and arrive the following Wednesday in Kashgar.
The passes on the way are Chigirchik (KG, 2406m), Taldyk (KG, 3615m) and Karabel (CN, 2931m). We expect very poor road conditions. In fact the entire way up to Irqesh Tam is remainder of the Cold War between the USSR and China. So conditions are really little better than what Mannerheim experienced a hundred years ago...

Rest day in Osh/Kyrgyzstan: preparing for crossing Tien-Shan

Osh remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Mannerheimin tie*

2008-06-14T05:14:06Z

In Central Asia the Silk Road connects not only East and West but also South and North. Amir Timur's empire (14./15. century AD) included a large part of present day India and from India Buddhism spread along the Silk Road into China and other parts of Eastern Asia as far as Japan. The area has been the object of the Great Game between Russia and Great Britain in the 19th century and once their respective spheres of influence had become delimited (and after Russia's defeat in the Japanese War 1905), focus shifted to the northwestern parts of China. In 1906 C.G. Mannerheim from Finland was commissioned by the Russian General Staff to explore the military potential of this area in an allegedly scientific expedition. The scientific part of Mannerheim's journey conducted together with French archeologist Paul Pelliot started in July 1906 in Andizhan and continued from Osh across the Irqesh Tam pass to Kashgar where it arrived in October the same year. After Kashgar Mannerheim continued until Beijing (old spelling in Mannerheim's travel account: Peiping), collecting a large number of ancient Buddhist manuscripts and artefacts mainly from the Xinjiang province that now form the Mannerheim collection of the Finnish National Museum. Commemorating the 100th anniversary of this great Asia expedition on horseback, Tony Ilmoni and Kristian Nyman rerode the entire route on horse from Osh to Beijing in 2007 and it is from their highly interesting website (http://www.mannerheim1906.com/en/The_Route/) that I adapted the title* for this blog entry.

Near Andizhan/Uzbekistan

For short description of the Mannerheim expedition: http://idp.nlc.gov.cn/archives/news15/idpnews_15.a4d

GPS and photos: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25267

Mannerheimin tie* remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Ferghana valley

2008-06-14T06:28:39Z

After our difficulties encountered when entering the Ferghana valley of Eastern Uzbekistan, my impression of the area (others may disagree) are quite positive: a very fertile agrarian area with large villages and short distances between them, farm houses decorated with traditional wood carvings, rose and vine arcades for kilometeres along village streets and a view of the mountains in the distance. Ferghana (region named after the town) could be the Bavaria of Uzbekistan. More correctly one should speak of the river plain of the Syrdarya - Oxus for the ancient Greeks - which has been settled ever since neolithic times. A look at the excavations of Kuva had to be skipped because of the time pressure. Anyway, an oasis on this side of the knot formed by the Tien-Shan and Pamir fold mountain systems, while to the east of it the Silk Road will continue through (or along) the vast desert of Taklimakan.

Crossing the Syrdarya

GPS track and photos: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25287

Ferghana valley remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Uzbekistan continued

2008-07-24T17:54:18Z

With the lost day we now try to increase the daily mileage to make it around the northern tip of Tajikistan as quickly as possible. On Friday Almalyk, Soviet coal mining and heavy industry centre, Angren and finally up the Ohongaron valley into the mountains that separate the Ferghana valley from the rest of Uzbekistan. Its good to be back in the mountains. It adds a third dimension to the view and the camera is reactivated after days in monotonous flat terrain.

Elevation profile Kamchik pass

More than us it is the lorries struggling uphill and after a camping nightstay near the bottom of the river gorge the journey continues up to the Kamchik pass marked with 2267 m on the map but shortcut by a new tunnel construction at slightly over 2000 m altitude. Passport checks by armed troops at the tunnel indicate the difficult situation of the Ferghana region in its relation to the central government. Destination on Saturday: Qoqand, one day behind time schedule.

Camping in the Ohangaron valley

Beating the trucks - and trying to escape their exhaust fumes

For GPS and photos around Tajikistan: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25284

Uzbekistan continued remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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No entry to Tajikistan

2008-06-14T06:42:58Z

Thursday May 15. Preparing to cross the border to Tajikistan and take the ultimate shortcut into the Ferghana valley in eastern Uzbekistan. Four-day visas for the tour along the the Syrdarya valley and the Tajik city of Khujand purchased months ago.
At 9 am at border checkpoint Bekobod. Border closed for citizens other than Uzbek or Tajik. Ex tempore rerouting to Chanak 50 km northwards along the Uzbek-Tajik border. Arrival at 12 am. All land borders with Tajikistan closed for two days for security reasons in connection with Tajik-Kirgyz summit meeting in Dushanbe. Phone calls to diplomatic missions. Special arrangements possible for group entry before evening? Waiting. More waiting. No satisfactory solution possible. At 6 pm tour management decides to continue travelling northwards along the border and go around Tajikistan.
One day and 70 EUR for Tajik visas lost. Detour necessary. Is it possible to catch up with the original time schedule and reach Kyrgizstan before Tuesday May 20 and then make it to the Chinese border before it closes for the weekend?

Waiting for news at Chanak border checkpoint Uzbekistan-Tajikistan

GPS and photos: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25292

No entry to Tajikistan remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Map meeting

2008-06-14T07:09:27Z

Map meetings are part of the daily routine on our tour. Normally held early in the morning (the earliest on record so far at 5.30 am) to describe route, possible sights and meeting point(s), we can also have them in the evening to allow for more flexibility the following morning. Some people really are early birds, others prefer to sleep a little longer and spend more time on breakfast etc.
Yesterday's route would have been a really easy and straight one, but that is when things can go wrong terribly easily. Four of us (including me, the geographer) got out the wrong exit cycling out of Djizzak in the direction of Tashkent - and noticed only after 17 km! Well, with a detour of appr. 25 km we made it well in time to the meeting point, but sometimes orientation is really difficult when there is no (or little) signposting even along the main roads. Asking local people does not always help either. Occasionally two people (locals) get into an argument about the right way and very frequently we get contradicting information about the distances (32 km? No, 15!). And often people are not able to locate themselves on the map, do not know the name of the nearest town etc.
Anyway, a proper map and some language skill (including the skill to communicate with gestures) indispenible, but sometimes compass and GPS prove their usefullness.

Today is day 86, half time between Olympia and Beijing

GPS track and phtos Djizzak to Bekobod, including our little detour: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25302

Map meeting remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Xus Kelibsiz

2008-06-14T07:21:18Z

I've had it all now during the last two weeks: vomitting, congestion, diarrhoea, but things are improving gradually, at least for me. Other people have been hit worse and hopefully all will be able to cross to China by bicycle in less than two weeks from now. East of Samarqand the fertile agricultural landscape continues and the valley of the river Sanzar adds to the aesthetical value of yesterdays and today's bike route (apart from taking us slowly downhill, making cycling very easy.
The entire area is clearly a nodal point on the silk route with a high population density, sizeable towns such as Djizzak and a comparatively modern railway transportation network.
According to the schedule we will pass the border to Tajikistan tomorrow. Tajiks belong to a different language family (Persian) than do most of the other countries that we have travelled. Uzbek is a Turkic language (like Turkish, Azeri, Turkmen): where in Turkey it was Hos Geldiniz for Welcome, in Uzbekistan it is Xus Kelibsiz. The X is borrowed from the Russian Cyrillic alphabet und would be transcribed and prounounced as kh in English. Still Cyrillic script (one tries to read Russian, but of course it mostly Uzbek) is quite common in commercials, but official signposting has largely been changed to Latin letters. Greetings from O'sbekiston!

Djizzak/Uzbekistan. Railway line connecting Samarqand and Tashkent. Photo taken Tue 13 May

GPS track from Samarqand to Tamerlan's Gates: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25304

Xus Kelibsiz remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Samarqand

2008-05-11T13:34:23Z

A hundred years ago: Friday prayer in and in front of Central Asia's largest mosque Xinom Bibi in Samarqand in 1906. Photo from Mannerheim collection (C.G. Mannerheim in Central Asia 1906-1908, 1999)

Xinom Bibi mosque today, a tourist sight. The huge structures are almost impossible to conserve and the interior of the building is not accessible for safety reasons.

A new part in my series on Symbols of Faith and Power: Temple of Zeus in Olympia, Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Trinity Cathedral in Tblisi, Niyazov's mosques in Kipchaq and Ashgabat and now Amir Temur revived in Samarqand. Banned from (or at least condemned by) Soviet historiography, the medieval despot now represents the imagined age of Greatness and Empire of the Uzbeks and Samarqand is the place where it shows. What caught my attention besides the street names and new (!) bronze statues was that in Gur Emir, the mausoleum of the great leader (died in 1405) I saw people praying at his tomb. A rather special branch of what Uzbekistan travel guides call the popular Islam, to be distinguished from two other forms of Islam in Central Asia: government promoted Islam and fundamentalist Islam, both in strong conflict with each other and having lead to unrest in the isolated Ferghana valley in the East of the country.
But still: the grandeur of the medieval Samarqand architecture (Reghistan square with madrassahs on three sides, the observatory of Uluq'beg and others) represent science and political power more than religion and today serve mostly the tourist industry.
And about Amir Temur: they really should let him rest in peace. After his tomb was opened in 1941, Hitler attacked the Soviet Union and the turn of the war at Stalingrad came about only after Temur had been buried again in 1942 according to Muslim ritual. (Story from J. Pelz, Usbekistan entdecken, 2007)
Read more on Samarqand http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/603 and on Amir Temur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur

Wood carving detail from Gur Emir mausoleum

Samarqand remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Rising to Samarqand

2008-07-24T17:20:57Z

Bukhara is a true desert oasis and the land to the east of it is used for cotton and gas production. East of Qarshi the terrain gently rises towards Shakhrisabz. While we have been moving fairly constantly at 250-400 m altitude since the Caspian Sea, at over 500 m the scenery suddenly changes much more friendly: grain fields, nucleated villages, spring flowers, slightly more moderate temperatures, the view of the Pamir foothill mountains, streams with cold (and presumably clean) water and simply more people. People, well: tens of times a day we hear people shouting Atkuda vyi? (Where are you from?) and of course they are impressed by answers such as Finland, the Netherlands, even New Zealand. They also appreciate the fact that we have come cyclingwise all they way from Greece but they are noticably less impressed by the fact that we want to go to China. Another indicator that we're getting closer to our destination.
Shakrisabz is one of the four tourist highlights of Uzbekistan, home to Amir Timur, conqueror and despot of a large central Asian empire in the 14th century.

Elevations between Shakhrisabz and Samarqand

From Shakhrisabz to Samarqand the Kashkhardarya valley takes up to about 1700 before entering the plain of Samarqand which is at about 800 m altitude.
Unfortunately I skipped the sightseeing in Shakhrisabz because since my food poisoning incident on May 1 I have had very little food intake and therefore I am running on my last energy reserves. Three rest days in Samarqand hopefuly will help me to get my stomach working again.

Inside a cotton pile

Hisor mountain range, part of the Pamir-Altai system

GPS track and photos of the route Mubarek-Qarshi-Shakhrisabz-Samarqand: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25325

Rising to Samarqand remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Cotton

2008-06-14T15:30:18Z

From Bukhara on the Silk Road eastwards: no silk today, cotton instead. Along a completely straight road to Qarshi irrigation channels in disrepair from Soviet times and abandonded fields, where thick salt crusts don't allow for any agriculture. Still cotton is grown and processed in the area. Lorries full with the soft and fluffy stuff that is around everywhere and can be used for free to clean bicycles or your -
Antiquated cotton processing plants are apparently looking for investors...

Salinization resulting from grand scale cotton irrigation

GPS track and photos between Samarqand and Mubarek: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25337

Cotton remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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On the Silk Road to Bukhara

2008-06-14T16:49:35Z

Border crossing from Turkmenistan to Uzbekistan was a big progress compared to what we had experienced in Turkmenbashy three weeks ago. Multiple passport controls, bag security checking, yes, but at least no individual visas needed to be issued and the whole procedure was over in less than two hours. With so many Silk Road sights on its territory, Uzbekistan maybe understands the significance of tourism.

Distances to capital cities in Central Asia from TM/UZ-border

Donkey carts are a common means of transportation and so are the many Uzbek-made Daewoo minivans

The Amuderya river now forming the border between the two countries was once known to the Greeks as Oxus, but we are still a long way from the limits of the ancient Hellenistic empire established by Alexander's campaigns.
In Bukhara, archeology has revealed the mutual influences of eastern (Chinese) and western (Greek) influences in the local crafts (pottery) and of course the trading goods passing through this oasis since the second millennium BC. In a cultural sense at least, we are now half way between Greece and China.
The more recent history in turn of the Bukhara Emirate is determined more by the Great Game between Russia and England in the 19th century, resulting into the semi-colonization by Russia in 1868 and the complete incorporation into the Soviet Union after 1920. This helps to understand what you see in Bukhara today: a major centre of Islamic culture, science and religion for centuries, the remaining madrassas (Koran schools), mausoleums, mosques, citadel and caravanserays serve the tourist industry rather than religious revival. (There is one exception: The Miri Arab Madrassa, that now houses a newly established centre of Islamic Studies.)

So the tradition of the early oasis settlers taking their benefit from the surrounding nomads is continued into the present day buzzle of tourists from all over Europe and Asia spending good money in the bazaars and hotels, being taken around in air-conditioned buses and even paying attention to some silk road cyclists. So Bukhara is not so much an authentic place through is splendid architecture but through the people that encounter here and exchange - if not goods - silk road travel experiences.

See the itinerary of this trip, and details about each destination.

GPS stuff added later. I am happy to anounce that by now this blog has been accessed over 10,000 times and I would be also happy if I can make it to Kashgar (=Kashi, see map) by bicycle (still writing with an aching stomach...)
More Silk Road Cycle News in five or six days from Samarkand.

GPS track and photos between Turkmenabat (Turkmenistan) and Bukhara (Uzbekistan): http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25347

On the Silk Road to Bukhara remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Merw

2008-06-12T07:29:37Z

The ruins of Merw are a bit tricky to make sense of because unlike Troy the different historical layers are not peeled off like an onion but rather form a network of clusters next to each other. This makes the entire site a huge area that is impossible to explore on foot, but on a guided bicycle tour over more than 10 kilometres the remains starting from the first millennium BC easily come to life. When Alexander the Great conquered the city in the 4th century he already found a prosperous trading place and it is easy to coolect potsherds and even entire coins from the oldest part of the site, the Erg Kala, a circular complex, surrounded by a fortification 100 metres strong at its base.

Potsherds in Erg Kala

The entire complex is quite well visible in Google Maps. Track and photos of the sightseeing tour: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=20402

Merw remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Crossing the desert

2008-06-26T16:55:09Z

So the first part of the "real" Silk Road from ancient Merw onwards passes the Garagum desert perpendicularly to reach Turkmenabat and the Amuderya river plain. We crossed the 180km desert stretch in two days and it required some guesswork from the map and a good provision of water bottles to get from one supply point to the next. To make things a little more complicated, some of the settlements didn't have a shop, other supply points were closed and yet others had practically nothing to sell. The only companions are the frequent Iranian trucks carrying cars to Uzbekistan, speedy (and dangerous) cars on the straight road, the railway line in the distance and plenty of insects on and above the ground. The Repetek natural reserve about at about half way preserves the zemzem, a threatened desert crocodile feeding on snakes, but luckily we encountered neither.
And because the the supply points (called Kafe) didn't really offer much of a choice for eating and drinking, I managed to spoil my stomach on the last day in Turkmenistan with a portion of manty, the Asian ravioli, here prepared with goat meat that I have found fairly difficult to digest for a while already. The goat meat is present in all of the common meat dishes (besides manty also the meat pies called somsa, soup corba and the omnipresent shashlyk). Hot vegetable dishes are practically non-existent and the salads contain their own health risks caused by poor hygiene. Anyway, it will take me some time to regain my appetite for meat, and leaving Turkmenistan after 16 days and 1300 km of cycling let's me hope for better times.
About eating, there is a simple dilemma: if you can't understand the menu of the day for linguistic reasons, you have to go into the kitchen of the facility (to call these places restaurants just doesn't meet the common definition of the word) and check what they have. Both smell and sight destroy your appetite immediately but of course you have to agree to an emergency solution, because cyclists need quite a bit of energy...
One way to relief problems with food hygiene is vodka but the effect is possibly more mental than physical. Unlike some of the truck drivers we met we stick to the rule:

Courtesy 9C, Kulosaari Secondary School, Helsinki

When getting to the Uzbek border after Turkmenabat, it is saying good bye to a weird country, plastered with gilded statues of nation-builder president [i]Niyazov, his Ruhnama quotations on all roadsides (of course I couldn't read them but their display did nothing to raise my interest in the Turkmen language) oversized images of his successor, backward technology, rapidly devaluating already nearly worthless money coming in huge bundles and hopefully to excessive heat and poor food...

Getting drink and making our contribution to the irrigation of the desert

Camels and barchan dunes in the evening sun

Money doesn't fit into wallet. For 50 dollars US you become a millionaire in Turkmenistan

GPS track and photos of the desert between Merw and Turkmenabat: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=25360

Track of entire route through Turkmenistan (1461 km): http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=26826

Crossing the desert remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Hotter

2008-06-14T17:19:54Z

In Mary, SW-Turkmenistan, I managed to slip into an Internet-Cafe to cover the unbearably hot afternoon hours. Internet is a fairly recent arrival in Turkmenistan (most people don't even understand the word) and public access is only possible in official "Kafes" that exist in connection with post offices in the larger towns. Control is exercised furthermore through passport deposit and dubious filters that are activated upon e.g. uploading picture files. Temperature since Ashgabat is now rising over 40 degrees every day and even local people find this a little hot for the season.
So during the eventless last four days we try to get on to the road as early as possible and cover as many kilometres as possible to find a good cayhana (teahouse and restaurant) to have lunch and then a long and refreshing nap in one of these eating and sleeping ancoves.

This truck with a Coca-Cola and Fanta load did not stop because of thirsty cyclists but because of a breakdown. This is a common view along roadsides in Turkmenistan.

Before Mary we touched the Iranian border and slowly the Kopet Dag mountains receded and gave way to the more fertile plain of the Murgap river flowing down from Afghanistan and fading away in the desert sands. From here the road distance to Afghanistan would be appr. 300 km and from the same southern direction practically all of the water is received that is now used to irrigate the wheat and cotton fields in the area.In Mary we join the actual Silk Road which is a collective term for a number of routes leading from the Mediterranean to China. One main branch started in Syria, crossed Mesopotamia and the Highlands of Iran and then entered the desert in the old oasis town of Merw preceding the modern city of Mary 30 km to the west of the present day ruins.

So from here 30 more kilometres to ancient Merv that bears so much archeological evidence of the once prosperous overland trade relationships.

Check the GPS track and a couple of photos on http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=20277

Hotter remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Hot

2008-04-24T07:16:23Z

Moving further southeastwards along the Kopet Dag mountains, clouds and rain have now definitely gone away and made room for temperatures far over 30 degrees. Somehow against my expectations also the nighttime temperatures are quite warm despite a clear sky. Camping in the desert is an experience!
Approaching the capital city of Ashgabat, agriculture becomes more diverse: besides irrigated cereal crops there are now also orchards for growing grapes. The nearby mountains contain some sulphurous springs (in Kow-Ata we could swim in an underground thermal lake) and so the presidential summer residence was built next to a health resort in Arcman. Interestingly, after Arcman the road changes into a wide motorway turning also our cycling into a presidential (if not royal) event becauce biking on an almost empty motorway beats everything you can ever experience on the most developed cycle track networks in countries like the Netherlands or Germany.

Closer to Ashgabat it is possible to visit the national symbols of the Turkmens ancient and modern. Goekdepe is the site of the defeat against the Russians in the 19th century and has therefore been chosen as the spot for a gigantic modern Mosque in memory of the president's pilgrimage (Haj) to Mekka in 1992. But unlike the manifestation of religious revival in Georgia (see entry More sightseeing in Tblisi) the building doesn't seem to be designed for people. At least there was nobody around except a policemen guiding us to the entrance of this huge structure....

Under the independence tower in Ashgabat

For GPS track Turkmenbashy to Ashgabat with a few more photos: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=19274

P.S.: Roaming with my mobile phone is not possible in Turkmenistan. I hope that this will change in Uzbekistan after May 2. Next update of this blog very likely not before Buchara. It is very difficult to find Internet places around here.

See the itinerary of this trip, and details about each destination.

Hot remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Garagum

2008-04-24T06:42:46Z

While the first three days in the Garagum ("black sands") were desert experience pure with a mostly yellowish (though hazy because of the weather) wide-stretching horizon and occasional camels on and some very basic service facilities (Cayhana) for supply of tea and pies stuffed with minced goat meat, the scenery changes eastwards of Gazanjyk where the Garagum Canal ends that diverts water from the Amu Darya river for a thousand kilometres along the Kopet Dag mountains and is used for irrigation and drinking water supply (which in Turkmenistan is free of charge).

An interesting sight on the way was the Paraw Bibi Shrine, a popular sanctuary in honor of a virtuous young women that lived in the 11th century. Certainly we're in a muslim country, but the shrine seems only superficially islamized and the merchandise sold to the pilgrims at is really quite similar to some of the European Catholic Mary shrines. With the Iranian border just over the hill top one can see that life in Turkmenistan is affected, but surely not determined by Islam. This is also true in comparison with Turkey, a country that appears as the main sponsor for the now independent Turkmen nation in economic, religious and cultural matters. There is a mosque here and there, but no prayer calls are to be heard anywhere and unlike in Turkey women dress in a colorful way.

School kids in Gazanjyk

Garagum remains copyright of the author Lent, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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