Can't say that we slept much as the camel grass tufts meant that there was actually no flat ground. From the cocoon of our tent the sound of dozens of thundering hooves sounded like an approaching army, and the occasional scream of a stallion meant that we were kept sufficiently awake though out the whole night. In hindsight this did not set us up well for the demanding day to come.
When we unzipped the tent, the view was astonishing. In front of us (less than 4 meters away ) stood a gigantic cow (with pointy horns) and all around us was the most jaw dropping scenery that either of us had ever seen. The mountains, the lake, yurts, horsemen, hundreds of horses, the plains, were simply beautiful. The ride there was worthwhile.
So our destination for the evening was Toktogul lake a mere 230 miles away, it didn't seem far.
It transpired that we had to endure about the another 120 miles of the same miserable off road gravel washboard dirt tracks. It was a tough ride, made substantially worse by the band new high performance (very expensive investment) shock absorber dumping it's intire contents out on the floor. The result was a child's playground giant spring toy effect, which mainly effects the passenger launching them in to the air repeatedly with every bump in the road.
With the sun rising approaching midday, the temperature also rising, and trying to keep a good pace, we were caught off guard by a collapsed buried pipe under the road surface. Our only option was accelerate hard and hang on tight. We were lucky and the Yamaha took the punch.
As it was Sunday the shop's were all closed so we had a nice pot noodle style emergency broccoli and cheese pasta cook up by a river using the petrol stove.
When we finally hit tarmac for the last 100 miles it seemed luxurious. We stopped for a break and met an off duty policeman who insisted on showing us his ID card and more importantly his large pistol. He asked us "where is your gun? Every one needs a gun for the wolves and criminals". Needless to say we got him to sign the bike with the sharpie.
We did have to stop for a quick evening meal. presented with a menu in Crylic alphabet we had absolutely no idea what to order so we selected the first two items from the menu. We got lucky as it turned out to be the same dumpling meal as the day before.
From there to our destination was the perfect motorbike road. 10 meters wide, mostly downhill sweeping mountain roads.
When we arrived at Toktogul lake at 9:30 pm (on a Sunday) our opinions were slim. We ended up opting for a motel/petrol station on the edge of town. It was clean and served beer, they were the positives. On the down side the plumbing and electrics were very questionable, the TV appeared to have the bare wires wrapped around the pins of a very black multi gang adapter, the bed was less comfortable than the camping air bed (sack of apples), no air con, and no shower meant using a sock as a flannel to wash our entire bodies!
No comments:
Post a Comment