Zahariz vs 9000km

mmmm…. Last Post..? :)

zahariz — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 07:48:08 +0000

After a long silence, I decided to write the last entry for this season. Im writing this very sexy last post at the same location when I wrote the first entry of this blog, inside my room at home, sweating under the hot weather and my aircond isn’t working as usual :) Yes, Im back home in KL, my home country of Malaysia. Hmmm feel quite good to be home. Feel good to sleep comfortably on my own bed at home, under the pleasant warm weather. But I miss the mountains so much…

the condition during winter just outside my house

Reason I came back home? Many…. but there are 2 main reason why I came back home. Firstly, I was running out of money. Just nice, by the time I reached KL, I have 12 ringgit inside my bank account :) Secondly, its actually some personal reason that I cant discuss here in this blog, but its something big and most important moment of my life. Cant wait for it to happen :) I found “something” very valuable on my travel, and Im bringing it back home with me :)

during my last days in Kyrgyzstan...

The Winter Impression

I had a good time staying a few months in Kyrgyzstan. The fresh air, beautiful view even from my balcony, my mind felt so relaxed and calm. By early December, the winter season came. Snow started to fall and it gets very cold, constantly below freezing. I have to wear layers and layers and layers just to get to a shop which is 50 meters away from my house. Everything is covered by snow, even the roads. On the snowing day it was still okay. But the next day when the sun is out, the snow started to melt and the road became very very slippery. I had a hard time even to walk the road. Cycling? Forget it. I have to wait till summer to continue cycling again.

cute kyrgyz kids... :)

So as for now, I finally decided to come back home. I need to work again for a few months, save enough money to continue my ride. I left my bicycle and most of my stuff in a safe hand in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. I travel light back home, carrying only 2 bags, my huge backpack and my laptop bag. Of course my body got a bit shocked once I reached KL, with the hot weather after staying months in the snow mountains. Only a few days after I reached home, I started to work again. Hmmm.. lecturing. Kinda good to see the faces of my students again. I plan to teach 1 semester here before riding again towards the continent of Africa, I really wanna spend this one semester to bring up the skill level of my students. Time to hit the keyboard and the mouse again :)

eh slippery!!

The next plan hmmmm…..

Im not sure of this time I wanna try to get sponsors. I don’t want to be dictated by someone, and I don’t like the idea of ppl are watching me while im traveling. The key is to have freedom here. While I was in Kyrgyzstan, I have contacted 2 Malaysian cyclists who are now cycling around the globe! Yerp, theyre cycling the whole planet! Amazing… and sexy!! Only catch is they have to complete it by 289 days or something. So its kinda a race against time. I guess theyre breaking the world record? Guess these 2 guys must be very strong, since one of them is an ex commando or something? Tough guys. As for me, Im not really an athlete. So I will do it at my own phase. And do it really slow so that I can learn as much as I can from the locals. I might try to talk to people here in KL, but if I ever get sponsored, my term is that I can change my route anytime I want and at my own phased. Especially here in central asia, traveling by bike can be very difficult. Getting visa isn’t enough. Some countries like Tajikistan, if I wanna cycle in the pamir highway that leads to northern Afghanistan (Wakhan Corridor), I need to apply for a permit. Well, its isn’t that simple! They have many regions there that I have to cross, each region needs its own permit. Ahaaa… complicated? To get to Iran from Uzbekistan, I have to cross over 600km in the land of Turkmenistan. I can only get 5 days transit visa which allow me to travel solo with bicycle. Don’t think I can cover over 600km for only 5 days of cycling. If I get the normal 30 days visa, they will assign me a tourguide, and I cant travel freely. Yerp I cant expect a tourguide to cycle with me. Turkmenistan is kinda North Korea for central asia. Well, that’s what I read. So my planned route might change here and there. Even land borders between Algeria and Libya is closed to foreigners, like forever!… due to kidnapping problems. Very difficult! Looking at the map, I have to cross into Tunisia, which is safe. So with all these problems, I think I will just do it alone. I prefer freedom, rather than pressure :)

As for now, Im writing a book on this first season of my cycling journey. Its travel journal with a lot of interesting pictures, hopefully will be out soon before I get on bicycle again. Besides, I wanna get myself busy doing a lot of freelance job! Need to earn as much as I can before continue traveling again. And yeap, I managed to get only 1 wedding photography job in Kyrgyzstan hehe. Very difficult to find people who speaks English there, I was lucky to get 1, at least I can experience a Kyrgyz wedding, tho they make it modern style. It was fun to join them. Very long wedding, very tiring, from morning till midnight! Very hot couple, Asel & Tariel. (i hope u guys dont mind i mention u guys in my blog? :)) Kinda easy to communicate with them since Asel (the bride) speaks good english, since she works in the american embassy in bishkek. It was kinda interesting, tho it was a modern style wedding, they still have some Kyrgyz elements on the ceremony. They stayed a few hours in a yurt, and of course, they enjoy vodka! :D

Now, I will get myself busy with many things. So many things to prepare. :) But my mind and my heart are still up there in the mountains. I never regret doing this great trip. I never regret all the pain, the coldness cycling and camping in the snow mountains during snowstorm and the sickness I had while crossing the Taklamakan Desert, as well as the near death experience while climbing the mountains of Tibet. Kinda shocking when some of my friends asked me why I never complete the whole trip, as my original plan was to cycle to Russia. Well, I actually missed the highlight of my journey. The highlight was cycling in the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan, passing Mt. Kailash near the Indian border, and riding the Karakoram Highway of Pakistan. Many problems came during my ride, most part of Tibet are not allowed for foreigners, u have to dodge police checkpoints, and its very dangerous, especially if u get caught. There was fighting and bombings went out in Aksu, as well as the Karakoram Highway on the Pakistan side is closed (and still close till now) because of huge landslide. Because of all these reasons, I have to cut straight into Korgas in Kazakhstan, and from there if I head north to Omsk in Russia, its not interesting anymore. The more north u go, the culture is all the same. Its only the drinking culture. Almost everyone u see on the street, holding a vodka bottle with them. Some of em gets very aggressive, alcoholic problems. So I decided to turn south. Heading to Kyrgyzstan instead, and get close with the nomadic culture. Well, the most important thing I want from this trip is experience, to learn as much as I can, not to break any record. So Im satisfied with the 7000km I did. And of course, I plan to continue, but to the west :) Now before I end my blog for this season, here’s some stats…

somewhere in china, rocking the road! :)

Total Distance cycled: 7136km

Longest ride in a day: 213km (downhill Tibet-Qinghai)

Shortest ride in a day: 46km (sandstorm in the Taklamakan Desert)

Longest time without shower: 12 days :D

Hottest temperature: 52 celcius (Taklamakan Desert, China)

Coldest temperature: -20 celcius (Issykul, Kyrgyzstan)

Highest altitude: 4800m (Tibet,China)

Lowest altitude: -160m (Turpan,China)

Most hospitality people: The Hui (chinese muslim)

Most harsh people: Drunk Russians

The best ride: Tian Shan, China

Worst ride: Getting out of Urumqi

Coolest driver: China lorry drivers (see post china lorry drivers are so cool!)

Worst driver: The Kazakhs (they almost kill me)

Hottest girls: Kyrgyz

Thx for reading… The end….

A New Life in Kyrgyzstan

zahariz — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 09:07:10 +0000

My life here in Bishkek is slower than what i had in KL. This city is calm and quiet, the size of the city is small enough for me to cycle from end to end. The night sky is so clear at night, allowing me to see the empty sky painted with blinking stars and bright moon each night. The sun is shining strong each day, i still feel warm even though winter is just around the corner. Its pleasant at daytime, but i turned to an ice cream at night. People here are more serious and aggressive than the rest of asians, i guess its the weather and vodka that shaped their cold characteristic.

Even this country has gained its independence from USSR almost 20 years ago, Russian influence is still strong here. Cyrillic scriptures are everywhere, almost everybody in this city speaks Russian. Almost half of the people here are Russians, another half are the Kyrgyz, and some small percentage are Uighurs, Kazakhs, Tajiks and some other foreigners like students from India and Pakistan, and….. one… Malaysian… a man with bicycle :) According from a friend, this city was once called Frunze, then Pishbek, before the name changed permanently into Bishkek now.

So far i havent get any job yet. Its next to impossible to get a job here without knowing any Russian. The university that i applied only needs a lecturer on spring next year. And by that time, maybe im already on my bike, cycling away from Kyrgyzstan, away from the great Asia continent, into the great pyramid of Egypt. So what i did, i gathered local friends here, looking for teenagers who speak english and try to tell them what i wanna do. I plan to survive here by teaching computer animation privately, kinda great idea since the field is still kinda new here. Tried to impress them with my skills, so far i only got 1 student. Hes a kyrgyz man, who speaks excellent english since he used to study in Philipines before, and hes living with other kyrgyz girls who are all speak good english, since all of them studied abroad before. Also plan to do wedding photography here, now still searching for an opportunity to start the business. I need a jumpstart, i need to shoot at least 1 wedding for free, since i need the experience of photographing a kyrgyz wedding. Its a lot different than our Malay wedding, need to understand the flow first. Once i know the game, i can dive into it. Been making more and more friends here, telling everyone here that im a photographer and asking them to let me know if theres any weddings going on, im interested to photograph them. So far its still fruitless, but i wait, just like a wolf waits for the right time to attack his prey.

aku rasa nak curik je topi brader ni...

Its really hard to live here in this country. People here earn so little. On average, those guys who are working in the govt earn only around USD 100. I was talking to a man who are around late 40s, married with 3 kids. Hes working with the govt and earning only USD100. He told me, “How can i still live? Its corruption. We have to. Thats how we survive. But we are good people”. Then he smiled. I begin to understand, its necessary then. In other parts of the world, especially in rich countries, corruption feeds the greed, but here, corruption is the way to feed your family, your kids. Its a norm here. Kinda sad to see this. Met another local, a kyrgyz girl who are around my age. She told me, with her salary, everyday is reality. You can forget to live your dreams here. Dreams are impossible to achieve here. So people here started to forget their dreams, and live in reality. How can you survive with earning USD100, while your house rent is USD250. Forget to dream about having a car, even to travel to see the world. But there are always ways to survive, to keep breathing, and one of it is corruption. I believe thats what give them the ability to eat good food, wear good quality stylish clothes, and even enjoy the taste of vodka.

the morning view from my balcony

As for me, its the same thing. Since the people here earn so little. I cant even charge my student the same price im charging in KL. If back home Im charging 50 dollar per hour for teaching, here i charge as low as 50 dollar a month. Nobody here can afford me if i charge the same price back home. Earning so little here, i have to be really careful with spendings, since my flat rent is already at USD250. Plus i have to leave the country every 30 days since im on tourist visa, i have to get to the Kazakhstan border every month just to get the chop on my passport. Another 30 dollar for Kazakh visa each month. China or Uzbek visa might be cheaper, but the transport to get there is expensive, since its far away from Bishkek. Getting to the nearest Kazakhstan border, it can be reached only with bicycle. But im getting a student visa soon, found a place where i can learn russian and get a student visa. So i dont need to cross any border each month.

My mind couldnt stop thinking now. I think i can get a better chance in Kazakhstan. Unlike Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan is far advanced in economy than their other “stans” neighbouring countries, thanks to their massive oil reserved in the Caspian sea. And i believe the Kazakhs can afford me. I might as well just go to Almaty, or even other oil cities along the Caspian sea to find jobs. But my heart feels heavy to leave this country. I already have something valuable here in Kyrgyzstan, something that i will never leave. But if im desperate enough, i have no other choice but to leave.

Eidhul Adha celebration here was massive. Woke up very early in the morning, i cycled to the centre of the city, letting the first ray of the sunrise to shine my face, and the cold but fresh morning wind to blow gently on me. I head to the main road at the centre of the city (Chui Prospektisi) for prayer. I was suprise to see so many people attended the prayer. Suprised because its a norm to see everyone here with a bottle of vodka, but when theres call for prayer, everyone rush for it. Almost the same as ours, the khutbah here is held in Kyrgyz language, others are the same. I can see the unity here, when theres call for prayer, everybody who believe in the One, from different races, Kyrgyz, Russians, Tartars, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Indians, Pashtuns, Afghans, Arabs and one Malay, stand together, facing the same direction, to perform the prayer.

Thats all from me for now. Peace be on you and salam eidhul adha… from the clear blue northern sky…

Riding Along the Wild Mountains of Kyrgyzstan!

zahariz — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 08:17:01 +0000

Hello again guys! Im back! Im alive! And kicking! And still going strong! Still cycling!! Yerrppp… u heard me.. im alive! The Russians didnt kill me! :D But firstly, im really sorry about not updating my blog for a long time. I even received some email from many ppl asking me wether im okay here, worrying about me since i didnt update my blog for a long time. Well, the reason was unlike China, it is really hard to get online here in central asia. I can only get connection mostly in big cities. All these while i was riding along the mountains here in central asia, mostly in Kyrgyzstan, home of the horse lords!

a friendly local kyrgyz herder. He said that i remind him of his son and reminded me to pray 5 times a day hehe...

typical mosque in kyrgyzstan! theyre so small and so cute!

Well, many things happened to me since the last time i updated my blog. I didnt stay long in Kazakhstan. Its too expensive for a poor traveller like me. So after been spending money like water few days in Almaty, i made a desperate move, studied the map carefully and chose to leave the country as fast as i can. I just couldnt stay long in Kazakhstan. I then decided to leave the country via Kordey pass, crossing into the sexy Kyrgyzstan. Kazakhstan is flat, as flat as a pancake. But in Kyrgyzstan, its a different story here. This country is 90% mountainous. Snow mountains are everywhere. And it is much cheaper in Kyrgyzstan, of course its more expensive compared to China but at least its affordable traveling here. One thing i realized about the people here in Central Asia, both the Kyrgyz and the Kazakh, theyre serious type of people. They look serious all the time, unlike in China. I guess its the weather, surviving the winter here gives you a special character.

One bad thing happened to me tho. When i was in Bishkek, my sleeping bag got stolen. Its quite important for me, and that sleeping bag costs me 300 US dollar. Well, 300 USD might be nothing for most of you, but i could survive 6 weeks in China for that amount of money. Plus, i couldnt find the same or better quality sleeping bag in Kyrgyzstan, so i had to replace it with a lousy one. Its getting colder here day by day in Kyrgyzstan, especially in the snow mountains. Surviving the nights here, while camping in the wild, is torturing! The comfort level of my new sleeping is only at 0 celcius. While the temperature here in the snow mountains at night is constantly between -5 to -10 celcius. So u could picture me camping alone in the wild at night… freezing!! Uhhh… what a sexy moment!!

I was also riding around the infamous… sexy Issykul Lake in Kyrgyzstan! Its a very beautiful alpine lake, its a jewel to Kyrgyz people. Its surrounded by snow mountains and lies under the blue sky in the east of Kyrgyzstan. This is the second largest mountain lake in the world after Lake Titicaca in South America (Bolivia and Peru). Riding here is very relaxing, peaceful for me. The road is mostly flat, didnt climb any mountain pass here. Easy ride for the whole 500km ride. Unlike in China, i never worry cycling here. There are many small towns for every 5-10 km, i ride swift without heavy luggage, since i dont need to carry water or food. Food supplies is easy here, and water… i dont need to worry at all. Worst come to worst, i can just take the water from the lake for washing and drinking.

errkk.... elemek... ni apa daa.....

Only sometimes i had hard moments under the bad weather, were caught by heavy rain sometimes, icy rain is very painful when it hit my face. Being wet all over made me very cold. It got worst when i got wet, and still have to face the strong… cold siberian wind. But these are nothing to me anymore, the mountains in China and Tibetan-Himalayan especially had trained me well, trained me to be strong enough to face all these challenge. Now, after riding some 7000km since i started this long journey months ago from Chengdu in China, i think im brave enough to face almost any challenge. I even tried to cross into Afghanistan border but getting the visa is rather complicated, and dont think i can get the visa easily. I need recommendation letter from our Malaysian embassy and i dont think our Malaysian embassy will allow me to get into Afghan border, alone, with bicycle. Local people and other travellers warned me not to go there because of kidnapping problems, but my crazy mind tells me, why not get kidnapped. It might be another priceless experience getting kidnapped by terrorists and living under detention. But when i think again, i dont want to trouble anyone. I dont want my Malaysian government to waste the people’s money just to let me free by paying the ransom. Also, i still have a family back home. Dont think i want to let my parents worry about me living under detention in foreign land. So, i decided not to do it, i need to set my limit.

owhh... patut la they thought im african. Look at me man... so hitam legam! but that kyrgyz guy look a lot like malay man...

A funny thing about the local people here tho, most of them thought Im african lol! People in China always guess that im Pakistani or Arabs, but the Kyrgyz, they guess that Im either American or Africans. LOL! Well, if u see my dressing, I look sooooo…. Melayu! But yea, they never seen a Malaysian cyclist before, i think im the first one who cycle around this part of the world. And my skin is soo…. dark now… uh.. i couldnt find any english word to best describe it. But wait… i think theres a malay word which could describe my condition well. It is… “hitam legam!”. Hehe, well i dont have any protection against the fierce sunlight, my skin burned real bad and yea, i could look like im from black africa. I just laughed when the curious locals asked me wether im american or african.

me with a kyrgyz family. very friendly to me and gave me food and shelter for free!

typical muslim cemetery in kyrgyzstan

cute little kyrgyz riders

One thing about the Kyrgyz people here, the hospitality here is as great as the chinese. Plus the Kyrgyz people here are muslims, theyre happy to meet a muslim brother from another part of the world, from the malayan jungle! :) Thats another reason why i didnt update my blog for so long. While staying in the wild, riding along the mountains, i spent most of my time spending with the people here. They let me live in their house for free. I see this as an opportunity to seek new friends, and to learn about their culture. They showed me around the village, communication is hard since they speak mostly Kyrgyz and Russians, and i speak English. But as usual, I used my magic, we had fun communicating using our body language and scribbling on paper.

Another interesting thing was, while i was riding towards the Issykul Lake, i met some chinese road builders in Kyrgyzstan! Theyre building roads from Bishkek all the way to Torugart Pass, China-Kyrgyzstan border in the south. While i was riding, it was already dark and need to camp. I then passed by them, asking them with my poor Russian wether i can camp near them and asked for water. I then realized that theyre chinese, and proudly speaking to them with my chinese! I was like, “Ni hao… nimen Zhongguoren ma?” (are you chinense people?). Theyre amazed that i can speak good chinese and i told them yeah, i spent 5 months riding in China, im now kinda fluent with my chinese! Thank god 2 of them can speak good english, and instead of camping, they let me stay with them… and even cook me dinner! We then had a long discussion over dinner about my experience riding in China, and theyre proud when i told them the chinese hospitality that i received in China was amazing! Just that they pity me when i told em about the bad experience i had with the chinese police in Xinjiang. They even wrote down my blog address and wants to keep in touch with me. They told me to come back to China and even told me to find a chinese wife lol! They said, if i ever come back to China and have any problem… just give them a call. They will help me out. Looks like they like me so much hehe. But yea, so far, the best hospitality i received is definitely in China. Even tho we are in different religion, but they really treat me well, respect me as a muslim. How nice if the whole world is like that. People respect each other even with different faith.

One last thing i want to mention in this post is, i think i will stop riding for now. Its getting colder and colder here. Winter is coming. And riding at this part of the world at this time of the year is not a very good idea. Been camping and sleeping in the wild at around -10 celcius is not something sexy. I need a rest, after some 7000km of cycling, i think it is time for me to take a rest. I will stay long here in Kyrgyzstan. I love this country very much. Plus, i have the intention to pay back the fasting month of ramadhan when im here. So in few days time, Ramadhan will begin for me. I only fast 5 days in Urumqi in China, i have some 25 days left to fast. I will do it all here in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. I will start looking for a job and will find a cheap place for me to live. I like it here in Bishkek. It is a small city and unlike KL, its quiet, fresh air and surrounded by mountains here. Kinda a perfect place for me. Those of you who know me personally, sure u know i dont like living in KL because of its dusty polluted air, heavy traffic and all, here in Bishkek is perfect for me. I can go anywhere in the city just with bicycle. No traffic jam! Air is so fresh here, its perfect for a cyclist! Even tho i will stop cycling temporarily, I will still keep fit, will do a lot of running, gym and eat good food here.

elemek... sorry for the bad pic... my camera is facing the sun la jack.

And another important thing, my plan might change. I might not cycle to Russia, ive cycled some 500km in Kazakhstan, honestly i dont really like it. I dont really like Kazakhstan. After winter ends, i plan to continue cycling, but i might turn west. Im now eyeing on Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran. These 3 countries are teasing me now, calling me to visit them. I started to study cities like Bukhara and Samarkand in Uzbekistan, and also Isfahan and Mashhad in Iran. I might want to visit these places and its people, of course, with bicycle :) As for now, I dont want to waste my time and money going back to KL. I’ve been emailing a few organization in Malaysia, asking for sponsors to support my ride. But none replied. Guess none of them are interested about what im doing. So thats fine, I will do it with my own power, i will find a job. Btw, i have a job interview later in the evening, theres 1 university here need a lecturer teaching computer animation, and i think im a suitable candidate for it with all my past working experience. I will try to impress them with my strong portfolio and showreel. If i can get a job here, i plan to study russian and arabic language, as a preparation for me to travel thru former russian countries and middle east with bicycle somewhere middle next year. As for now, i will try to survive a winter here in Kyrgyzstan.

Thats all from me now, salam alaikum and peace be on all of you, me, the solo Malaysian rider from Kyrgyzstan.

riding along the autumn color in kyrgyzstan!

local kyrgyz man having conversation in animal bazaar in karakol, kyrgyzstan

Crossing Into Kazakhstan!! The Journey of Central Asia… begins…

zahariz — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 06:16:50 +0000

curious kazakh boys

I rode swift along the beautiful grassland under the very clear blue sky. The wind pushed me hard, and ive no problem cycling at some 35km/hour with my heavy luggage. The only unnatural sound came from my tyres, the rest were sound of birds, horses and the siberian wind. More eagles flew freely above me, then my eyes fixed at a group of birds flying towards the horizon, leading my eyes towards the snow mountains. I then stopped pedaling, watching the incredible view, then I realized, that I was surrounded by snow mountains. On my right, which was north, was the Alatau mountains. On my left which is south, was the Tian Shan mountains. I was heading west towards Almaty which was some 370km ahead of me. The new chapter of my life has begun, the adventure of Central Asia. Long i have dreamed to explore this part of the world, today Im finally here in Central Asia, welcoming this lonely man that belongs to the proud brown people from the southeast of asia…

ni lah dia rupa budak tak cukup tido...

Kazakhstan is famous for 2 things in my opinion, oil and Borat :) This is the land where oil is cheaper than water, yet another big blank space on the map. Some people never even heard of this country. When i was in facebook chat few days ago, i was chatting with 1 of my ex student. She asked me where am i now. I answered im riding somewhere in Kazakhstan now. She asked again where is Kazakhstan? Is it a state of China? I just smiled in front of my computer screen.

my 1st camping site in Kazakhstan!!

i actually tried hard to look cool in this picture but..........

Suprising, crossing the border at Korgas from China to Kazakhstan was very smooth for me. Many travelers reported on various travel forums on the internet that they have difficulties crossing the border that usually took hours. It took me less than 1/2 hour, 10 minutes on China side and another 10 minutes on Kazakhstan side. After only 20 meters of riding from the border post, a big fat Kazakh man stopped me, shouting at me asking me wether Im from Kitai (China) and I said no. I said Im from Malaysia. His eyes then opened wide and said “Malaysia??? Good… good… Malaysia… Kazakhstan… friend.. friend!!” He then smiled at me and shook my hand. Ive learned that the people here dont really like China. The fat notorious looking Kazakh guy then said “Kitai” (means China) while punching his big fist on his palm, a body language that tells me he hates China. After riding another 2km ahead, I was stopped by a big Kazakhstan army, asking me wether Im a Kitai. Again i said Im Malaysian. He then demanded my passport and smiled after he saw my passport is written “MALAYSIA”. He then said he likes Malaysia, then we had some simple conversation and finally he let me go.

My ride from the border to the centre of Almaty only took me 3 days. I rode fast over 100km daily along the vast plain of Kazakhstan. The road was quite bad but flatland, allowing me to ride over 35km/hour on average. But i had 1 big problem, I didnt have enough cash! There was a town called Zherkent, i thought there were ATM machines there where i can withdraw some cash. When i was there, it was nothing more than a very very small tiny little town. Our “Batang Berjuntai” in Selangor is probably 50 times more advanced than this town. Worried, I then continue my ride to Almaty which was over 300km away, and i only have 6000 Tenge (similar to our 180 ringgos.. eh… ringgit).

preparing to camp!

I repeat… Kazakhstan is insanely expensive, when i was in Zherkent, i bought a bread, 2 bottles of 1.5L mineral water, a redbull and 3 cans of coke and that cost me 1600 Tenge! (RM50). Oh god, now i have 3400T left and im still hungry! The second day i stopped in a small village (dont know what it is called), had lunch (which wasnt so much) and cost me 500T! 2900T left in my pocket. Aww no… no banks until Almaty, i had some chinese yuan but to these people, chinese yuan is just a piece of useless paper and i have some US dollar but they refused to accept it. I was hungry, so on desperate attempt, i then camped near a river (free water supply yay!). I was camping all the way until i reached Almaty and guess what… I made it! Good experience for me, Ive learned the art of not spending money while traveling, I made it to Almaty alive!!! (but I smell like a horse yerk). Good thing i only spent around 3000T in 3 days at one of the most expensive country in the world! Well done me myself!! :)

: setting up my tent, getting ready to enjoy the beautiful sunset :)

elemek... almaty jauh lagi la beb...

But yet, there was another problem! I arrived the busy city of Almaty at night on the 3rd day, tired. It was already dark, banks already closed, i dont even have enough money to even stay in the cheapest hotel available. I then decided not to go to the centre town since it was already dark and from what ive heard, Almaty is quite dangerous at night especially to foreigners, so i went for dinner in a small restaurant. The owner is Uighur and after he looked at my condition and realized that i dont have much money, he let me eat for free! I then asked his permission wether i can sleep outside his restaurant. He said no problem but he warned me it is very cold at night and many dogs here. Ahaaa…. i told him not to worry. Im used to it. With my experience sleeping at the snow mountains alone almost every night and sometimes i heard the sound of wolves, sleeping here at the roadside surrounded by dogs, is defintely nothing for me.

China lorry drivers are so cool!!! (Story from 11th sept)

zahariz — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 17:47:00 +0000

1 very important thing i forgot to mention on my last post! I saw a horror lorry accident yesterday, some 60 meters in front of me! While i was riding to Korgas, i rode peacefully listening to my ipod. All out of a sudden, a huge lorry came fast from a junction in front of me to the main road and god knows why, the lorry crashed into another lorry coming from the front like a chewing gum! From the look of it, i think both of them lorry drivers must be dead by now by the scary impact! Oh… and this isnt the hightlight of the story. The best thing was, they survived, came out from the lorry safely, talking to each other, make a few phone calls and…. start playing cards and smoking!!! It was unbelievable! They were so calmed! Its like… getting into a lorry accidents is a routine for them and theyre used to it. i was really amazed by these lorry drivers. sorry i have no photos to share with u guys, since i think its kinda rude to start snapping photos of them who just got into an accident without giving a hand. wanted to help but… they look so calmed… playing cards, smoking and laughing, so i hesitated. Gosshhh… what a moment!!

Korgas: The last town for me in China

zahariz — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 07:49:39 +0000

Both me and pascal have no other choice but to cycle to Korla, after the problem with Hejing police. It was quite easy 130km ride, but tough in the end due to strong wind and some uphill. Its a big city and hotels here that accept foreigners are expensive, some 140 yuan per night. I was tired and need a good rest, had no other choice but to stay in the expensive hotel. Stayed a day there and since most of the villages in the Tian Shan are forbidden to foreigners, we had no other choice but to take bus to Ili. It was the first bus ride for me since im in China, a tedious 18 hours ride from Korla to Ili. This is the second longest bus ride i took in my life after a 28 hours long bus ride from Kengtung in Burma to Bangkok in Thailand some 2 years ago. Was quite sad that i cant ride all the way to Ili from Baluntai, but taking a bus ride for the first time for me in China, gave me a new experience. To get a bus ticket was a nightmare. People here should learn how to queue properly and things can get easier. Everybody is shouting to each other, pushing, fighting to get to the ticket counter. After nearly an hour, i finally got the bus ticket to Ili, sweating… The bus ride went quite smooth, but took a long way to Ili, passing by Turpan and Urumqi before taking the northern route to Ili (the road along the Tian Shan that i cycled is nearer, but bad roads).

okay forget the foreground, i mean, look at that beautiful sunset sky mate...

Arrived Ili early in the morning, took breakfast and spent over 3 hours looking for guesthouse. Many hotels in Ili, its a big town but again, most of them dont accept foreigners, seriously i dont know why and it gets annoying. Pascal got really grumpy that morning. After hours and hours of searching for a place to stay, we finally stayed in a very expensive hotel that accept foreigners, 208 yuan a night!! So its 104 yuan each, there goes my money. Now i think i wont be reaching Russia so soon if i spend my money at this rate, sure i need to find a job soon. Suprising, police here are good. They smiled at me (and it wasnt a fake smile), showed me direction (even tho it was wrong), and they are very polite and helpful. Well done China police! Now my hatred burned less, good to meet some good hearted police in this town.

After having breakfast the next day, both me and pascal finally departed on our own ways. Saying goodbye was hard, but we have to. Pascal finally turned east towards Narati, i head west towards Korgas, the last town for me in China. Watching him from a distance, i hope he will make it. He was quite afraid to ride alone i guess, at first he will ride to turpan, but ended up joining me all the way to Ili here, because i think he hate to ride alone. But i assure him, sometimes, being alone is a peace of mind. Hope he will have a safe journey, ill pray for the safety of this white boy.

some locals chilling in korgas

The 90km ride from Ili to Korgas was good. I rode swift for the first 60km, flatland without headwind, passing by beautiful views of farms and Uighur and Kazakh villages. So many villages in between so i dont worry about water supplies. Fierce sunlight without clouds to protect me, burned my skin so bad, making me darker and darker. Was sweating heavily because it was too hot, i smell like a wild horse. But worry not, nobody wanna kiss me at this point of my life, so i dont really care. hehe.

Reached the border at around 6.50, uhh bad luck for me, the border just about to close. I asked the officer can i still get thru, he said he doesnt mind but it was already closed on the Kazakhstan side, and suggested me to take a day rest, and come back on monday. Erkk, okay then, maybe its better for me to stay another day in China, since i can wander around this last town of china for me, and… uhhh… i got quite emotional, im gonna miss china. To me, china is one of the best country for me. Forget the police in Baluntai and Henjing, and also those hotels that dont accept foreigners. Those are the bad apples. Among all the countries that i have traveled, i can say china is the best. The hospitality by the local chinese here are unmatched. Its from my experience of course, since i never go to beijing or shanghai or any other big cities in the eastern side of china. But here in western part of china, most chinese here are poor people, theyre really good hearted people. They always smile, regardless the hard life they have to go through. So many things i have learned from these local people, about life… and helped me change the way i look at life….

mmmm chinese chess nyummyyyy....

mmm the attack is about to begin!

the pieces are moving!!

A Taste of Communism? Hate those police!!

zahariz — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:58:57 +0000

riding side by side along this beautiful untouched river, it feels like heaven...

The ride along the Tian Shan mountains was simply… marvelous. Uhh.. i couldnt think of any better word to describe the ride. Sorry i couldnt share the experience with u guys, the best i could do is to share it in form of writing and photos. The road was bad and dangerous, so theres almost no vehicles passing by this road we were riding. The road was ours for the whole day, quiet, we only heard the sound of nature, water from the river, the cold siberian wind and birds. Riding under the clear blue sky, sunny day with the tailwind blowing from the north made our ride pleasant. We rode fast because it was mostly downhill and we felt like flying with our bikes, the eagles led us, enjoying the view, listening to our favourite music once in a while, taking a good nap by the river… feels like heaven! Tian Shan ride is definitely better than Tibet, in my opinion.

Sadly, the beautiful day didnt last long. We found a town called Baluntai where it was guarded by army and police. 1 of the police were friendly to me, showing me the direction to the nearest guesthouse. Had a late lunch and took a good rest. Pascal went to internet shop to check emails, i stayed in the guesthouse to rest. Few mins later, Pascal came back with a horrible looking guy in a blue uniform! My ass looks better than him! (sorry for my language but its actually true!) He then explained to us that this is army town, and foreigners are forbidden here. Okay fine, we didnt know, we’ll leave the tmr morning. But he didnt allow us, he wanted us to leave right now!!! I told him its impossible, its already 7.30 pm, its getting darker and its cold outside! Its above 3000m altitude, snowing at night, and u expected us to cycle in the dark and camp during the snowstorm?!?! All he said was im sorry but u have no other choice but to leave now! Both me and pascal started to get angry and we had a serious argument with the police. U police should protect people, not sending them to death! U expect us to ride dangerously at night in these mountains, and camp with below zero celcius? This is unexpected and we are not prepared to camp tonight… ure sending us to death! We are tired now and please be more human, let us stay a night here! We need a rest, then we will get our ass back on our bike and start riding away from this horrible place early tomorrow morning!! But the animal in uniform was inhuman, he didnt care about us, and told us to move to the next town called Henjing. “Oh its not so far its only 80km away. And yes u could rest there, foreigners are allowed there.” Eh, what was he thinking? Only 80km away? We are on bicycle. 80km will take us at least 3 hours to reach “if” the road is good. We had no other choice but to leave the town, and for the first time for me in China, i had to take bus to get to Henjing. During our bus ride, i was sad looking at the marvelous view from the window, and many times i told Pascal, “Dude, look, we should have camped there if we are on our bike now!” But nothing we could do, we were inside the tedious bus ride.

just a little.. urmm.. tired...

It was late at night when we reached this town and we had hard time seeking shelter. We were tired, sleepy and had little energy to pedal. It was another problem finding accomodation here, most guesthouse here dont accept foreigners. We kept finding and it was tough, none of us speak chinese and most of these people are not used to foreigners, so they dont even know how to read our passport. After few times trying, we tried just 1 last guesthouse, if it doesnt allow us in, we will find somewhere quiet and camp. Lucky us, this last guesthouse allowed us in. At least we could smile a bit, a tired smile. The next morning while walking around town, another group of police came to us, and same thing happened!! They told us no, we couldnt stay in this town, its forbidden for foreigners! Again!!! Where was the warning hah? Whats up with all these not allowing foreigners in? Do u have some kind of a nuclear weapon here or what??? And told us to move to Baluntai right now! I then explained to the police with my little mandarin, that the police in Baluntai said that foreigners are allowed here and they sent us here! These Henjing police then told me that maybe that Baluntai police doesnt know that even Henjing doesnt allow foreigners. And they told us to ride back to Baluntai and stay a night there. They said that Baluntai isnt a problem, they accept foreigners. Oh wow.. sweet! You china police are so consistent! Baluntai police sent us to Henjing, then Henjing police wanna send us to Baluntai. Whats wrong with all of you, boys in blue???

Sorry for being rude with my words, but i think i should express my feelings now at the time of writing this. Those police are heartless, wearing that blue uniform really turned them arrogant. Bunch of animals in uniforms! When they smiled at us, its a fake smile. Theyre giving us problems but without solutions. They were rude, and they think wearing that blue uniform and holding the police identity card makes them untouchables. Bastards! We already explained to them what happened, but theyre so arrogant to understand us. Heartless people… useless… brainless… I dont see the difference between people who have no brain and animals. Same categories. Now, i really dont have the mood to continue my ride here in China. Im sorry to all of you cyclists out there who are reading this, but now, finally, i will hitchhike. Im hiding here in my guesthouse the whole day today for the necessary rest, and early tomorrow morning we will ride in the wild again.. and for me… i will seek help from lorry drivers, or trucks to send me close to the border… then will only ride again once i passed Kazakhstan soil. For Pascal, he will try to hitchhike to Turpan or Dunhuang or Urumqi, whichever easier for him, and he will get to Holland embassy to complain about these police. He even took the police ID card number so that he could do something about it once he reach big city. As for me, i will try to email Hu Jintao. Hehe.. maybe its hujintao@gmail.com? or h.jintao@gmail.com? or hujintao@yahoo.com? or maybe hujintao@qq.com… whatever.. i will try :) My first plan is now to hitchhike all the way to the border, if i couldnt do it, then i will sneak through the mountains, escaping those nasty boys in blue. Now, i rather face wolves rather than cops. Wolves are better, theyre sexier, at least theyre not wearing those horrible uniforms. So if you guys dont hear anything from me for the next few days, dont worry, because up there in the mountains, and unlike Tibet, internet connection is hard to get in Tian Shan mountains. This might be my last post about biking in China. My next post will likely be, a new adventure… hitch hiking in China! :) Again, im sorry for my rude words in this post… Salam and ciao! :)

Tian Shan wasnt so gentle to me :(

zahariz — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:58:32 +0000

Climbing climbing climbing! I guess thats the best word i can describe my ride to the peak. Tian Shan was very harsh to me :( Both me and pascal stopped many times from this tough climb. The climb to the peak was the hardest for us. Road was mostly gravels, steep climb and the temperature was below zero! Took us 8 hours to get to the peak! It was a killer climb! We started at some 3000m altitude, climbed all the way to 4280m altitute to the peak. We passed by a beautiful but dangerous glacier. Many people along our way warned us not to pass the glacier and suggested us to take bus instead to go through the mountain. The problem with me is, im a stubborn guy. When people said its impossible to do something, usually i will end up doing it. So it was the same case with this climb. When we were half way to the top, some chinese tourists were impressed that we were actually climbing to the top, and stopped to snap some photos with us.

: dare to climb this with some 30kg luggage? Its a killer climb!!

sejuk dowh...

It was weird today. At first it was sunny, then the evil looking clouds started coming in. It is the end of summer now but it was snowing! It was actually a heavy snowstorm when we were climbing, which makes it harder to climb to the top. We were freezing at about -5 celcius. We didnt expect this and Pascal was wearing short pants haha. Pascal was so afraid at 1 point and said this snowstorm could be very dangerous but i calmed him down. We rode to the top successfully anyway. It was around 6 pm when we reached the top but we didnt stay long, since it was way too cold for the both of us. After done snapping photos with some other chinese tourists at the top, we quickly rode down.

some unknown town, they have a guesthouse here so i slept here for a night

I expected the ride down would be marvelous but the first 15 minutes was horrible! My hand were freezing i actually thought i caught a frostbite on my fingers. It was so painful, didnt know what to do but to continue the ride down from the peak since i need to get to the lower altitude fast. I never felt this kind of pain my whole life. After about 1/2 hour riding down, i managed to get as low as 3400m altitude and the pain was gone, the ride became marvelous. The sunlight and the blue sky finally appeared again and i felt warmed again. The ride was really good, i went fast from 4280m altitude down to some 2000m altitude in around 2 hours. Passed by so many beautiful views of mountains and small kazakh villages under the blue sky and the beautiful sunset. I finally stopped at a small unknown town (never exist on my chinese map) and waited for Pascal, then stayed a night here. We were the only tourists here, most people who stayed here are lorry drivers so the locals here were very curious at us.

beautiful kazakh village along the tianshan mountains

Nancy, if ure reading this, im sorry i couldnt reply ur sms. My phone is barred again, weird, i rarely use it. Just to let u know im doing well here and will enter Kazakhstan from Korgas. U should have joined me, riding along the beautiful Tian Shan mountains now all the way to the border. But it is so cold up here yaiks! Hope ure doing well in Guangzhou, but dont dwell too long in the city. Your place is here on the mountains and u should be with us cyclists :) Hope u will be back on the road someday…

it was snowing n pascal was wearing short pants haha

the scary clouds approaching!!

kazakh mother and son preparing food

at the top of the mountain pass

To the border!! Back on the road again :)

zahariz — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 14:36:37 +0000

us backpackers... our last moment in urumqi...

After 2 weeks stucked here in Urumqi city, I finally got my Kazakhstan visa. It is time, to be back on the road again! After days and days staying here in a city, I finally can hit the road again, back to the place that I should be, the mountains! When i was in the embassy to pick up my visa, many curious kazakhs people came and tried to talk to me. I realized theyre not speaking chinese to me. I concentrated to listen to them and finally i got it… theyre speaking russian! Heck, i know nothing about the language, so i spent most of my free time learning russian on the internet. First i learned about the alphabets, and its Cyrillic… which consists of 33 letters, some borrowed from Greek n Hebrew. Gosh… gonna be a hard time learning russian, with my malay tounge. But i like the challenge :)

taking a rest between rides

I felt quite sad to leave this place, met so many travelers here. Met another Israeli traveler here, very friendly woman. She even invited me to cycle in Israel and she said could host me. I was tempted to show her my passport, that we cant enter Israel but… that might not be a very good idea. Hehe. Pascal is with me now, riding with me for some distance, before we separate on our own ways. Our first day of ride wasnt so pleasant. The first 20km was boring, took us quite a while to leave the city, then slowly, less and less vehicles along our way. The terrain was quite flat at first but it was mostly gravels. The second day, we started to climb, from 900m altitude to some 3000m altitude. Tough ride, we were climbing all the way. The locals here were so nice to us, provided us shelter. We havent camp so far, because the curious local people here wanted to host us. We didnt do much, probably some 50km daily now, since we were climbing all the way. And yes, the climb here is much tougher than our Cameron Highlands road. It was steep, riding at very high altitude, and the temperature?… It was 4 celcius at 1 time.

Stayed in a very warm Kazakh family today. We were riding through the mountains, tired of endless climb, and at some point, we found a Kazakh yurt. Went in search of water, they finally asked us if we wanna stay a night in their place. We agreed and they cook delicious food for us. It was a very nice experience living with this warm Kazakh family, the experience that i will only get when travel with bicycle. Im so glad im cycling, most of these experiences that i had, i can never get it if i book a travel tour and travel by group with other tourists. Me and Pascal spent most of our time playing with their 3 yrs old lovely but aggressvie kid. It is cold here at some 3000m altitude. We are expecting tough ride to the mountain pass tomorrow, getting ready for subzero temperature!!

Boooreeeedd… need to get out from this concrete jungle fast!

zahariz — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 08:11:30 +0000

Warning: The lonely brown boy from the malayan jungle is coming!! right to your doorstep! :)

I got stucked here in Urumqi city for days and days.. and days. Selma and Asli, the turkish girls left to Xi’an some few days back. Elinor, the aussie girl left to Kashgar. The 2 german cyclists left to Tibet, Bruno, the french dude left yesterday to Shanghai. Only few of us left in Urumqi. Selma and Asli, if ure reading this, i wanna tell u, im bored here after u guys left but i managed to get pascal on a bike! :) Its getting colder and colder here in urumqi… yerrk! Be safe n have fun especially when u guys are in my country and make sure u try the beriani rice in a bangsar if u guys are in kl! try using ur right hand to eat rice just like us malays :) Hope to ride together with u guys nxt yr in turkey (Pascal might join us!) if everything goes well for me in kyrgyzstan…

After some time staying here in Urumqi, i saw so many “boys in blue” (police) walking around, and even army! Especially southern part of the city, where most Uighur ppl are. I guess its the consequence after the riot last year… i think… Every shopping mall u go, theres a guy in uniform will check your bag. Sometimes i get annoyed, there was once where i was quite moody, the security stopped me from entering a supermarket to check my bag. I was like, ” Hey boy theres a brand new AK47 inside my small bag, and a bomb. Wanna check it out?”. The security guy ignored me completely, checked my bag and let me go… Well.. i felt kinda disturbed because so many websites cant be accessed here, it gets annoying sometimes…

Im stucked here in the city for almost 2 weeks already i guess, while waiting for my Kazakhstan visa. Uhh.. took them a week to get my visa done… blehhh… Hopefully will get it by tomorrow and on tuesday i can start riding again to the mountains, away from civilization! Been spending most of my time with pascal and bruno these last few days, pascal treated me for dinner on my birthday :) Well, the most interesting thing happened lately? was that i managed to convince pascal to cycle!! At first, it was just a normal conversation, i was telling him my cycling stories, he got inspired, looking at my blog, and suddenly he told me.. why dont he do the same. The next day, he then asked me to company him to a bikeshop near our hostel. And the next day, he decided to get one! Hmmm… 3 days to convinced him to get on bike. Now, he decided to ride from Urumqi to Xi’an, take train to Kunming in downsouth, then cycle again to vietnam, then cambodia, laos, thailand and malaysia! Hehe… he is now my 2nd apprentice, after Nancy :) Taught him many things about traveling by bike, what to take and what not to take and so on. Told him dont worry about not getting the most expensive bike from the shelves, since i met a crazy italian guy riding from beijing to lhasa with a single speed bike! He then bought a quite good giant bike, 2600 yuan (similar to our 1300 ringgit) and all the necessary equipment, and soon will be ready to rock the road, just like me :)

Pascal, the dutch guy posing with his brand new giant bike, ready to rock!

As for me, i hope to get my visa tomorrow! I hope there wont be any problem with the kazakh embassy in urumqi. If everything goes well, i will start packing tomorrow and will be back on the road on tuesday! I will ride with Pascal for the first 2 days heading south through the moutains of TianShan. Then pascal will turn east towards Turpan, i will head west towards the border. There wont be any towns and villages available for me for at least 400km, before Nilke, so im gonna pack tons of food and water. Ill be riding alone, so i will ride as fast as a horse towards the border (i hope).

the path of the 2 cyclists... heading to our own destiny