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Another 'seemed like a good idea at the time' idea: Beijing to Paris

Preliminaries

One day to go: .....and Ulla and I lose each other!!

Twas the night before leaving…………: Not panicking - truly

Lightweight luggage: Yeah - right................

Eating our way around Beijing

Unpacking, repacking, unpacking, repacking: The great luggage explosion

Tackling the Kyrgyzstan Embassy: The visa in a day challenge.

China

Beijing to Datong - warming up.

Day 1 -The Journey Begins: Whose idea was this again?

Day 2 - Walking the Wall: Joining the tourist hordes

Day 3 - An ugly ride

Day 4 - Riding through the gunk yet again: To Zhangjiakou

Day 5 - Our first navigational error: Saved by our instincts

Day 6 - A most spectacular ride.: An inadvertent crossing of a mountain range.

Day 7 - Arriving Datong: We meet the Wild Camels

Day 8 - A rest day in name only.: Still in Datong

Day 9 - So we stay another day. Too hard to leave these lovely people: Another day in Datong

Datong to Yinchuan

Day 10 - A most unpleasant day – did I mention the coal dust???????: Zuoyun

Day 11 - NO COAL! Yes, I Said NO COAL!: 30 km past Youyu

Day 12 - Up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down.: 30 km short of Qingshuihe

Day 13 – Ok, so we get the message that it's cold here: 26 km before Lamawan

Day 14 - Spring is sprung!: Jungar Qi

Day 15 - A very dodgy day's riding.: Jungar Qi to about 80 km from Dongsheng

Day 16 - Did I say yesterday was dodgy??: 8 km outside Dongsheng

Day 17 – Off to find internet and shower.: Downtown Dongsheng

Day 18 - A second day of clean: Dongsheng

Day 19 - We farewell Ulla: Pejianghai

Day 20 – Don’t let the headwind get to you! Get your mind right: 20 km past Hanggin Qi

Day 21 – Surviving the dust storm: To a truckstop somewhere.

Day 22 – How black was my valley?: To Shizuishan

Day 23 – A gentle day: To Yinchuan

Yinchuan to Wuwei

Day 24 - ‘Resting’: Yinchuan

Day 25 - A pleasant day's cycling - a gentle doddle: To Qingtongxia

Day 26 - Another pleasant days riding - but it did go on a bit: To Zhongwei

Day 27 - Every day a surprise: Mongolian Village Resort (?)

Day 28 - Into the desert: To the small town of ?????

Day 29 - Up and over – (practising for Kyrgystan): To Dajing

Day 30 – Oh ye fickle winds: To Wuwei if we can make it!

Day 31 – Busy, busy, busy: Staying put in Wuwei.

Wuwei to Jiayuguan

Day 32 – A beautiful day for a bike ride: To as close as we can get to Zhangye (which is 240+ km away)

Day 33 – Discretion is the better part of somethingorother: To Shandan

Day 34 - Mother's Day: To Linze

Day 35 - We meet our first cyclist: To Yuanshanzi

Day 36 - 130 km - a new record: To Jiayuguan

Day 37 – The Fortress at Jiayuguan: The 'Impregnable Defile Under Heaven'

Jiayuguan to Hami

Day 38 – The down-hill we've been waiting for.: To the little town of Chijinzen

Day 39 – A Freeway kind of day – The Gods of Wind smile upon us: To Anxi - or thereabouts.

Day 40 – We pay the price!: To Hongliuyuan

Day 41 – And the wind will not defeat us.: To Xingxingxia, if it exists.

Day 42 – Is there a town out there?: To anywhere that will have us.

Day 43 – The mystery of the disappearing town: To Hami in the rain/storm/gale

Day 44 – Hami

Hami to Urumqi

Day 45 - Straight and flat, but what a view: To Sandaoling

Day 46 – #$%&**%@!*#!!#!: To the sanctuary of a bed in the corner of a restaurant - Yiwanquan

Day 47 – Bad day, good day, bad bad day, good day, good day, great day: To a small town 43 km east of Shanshan

Day 48 - Gently does it (for a change): To Shashan

Day 49 - Into the Flaming Mountains: Down, down, down to Turpan.

Day 50 - That foreign problem again – I just don’t blend in.: Turpan to Turpan – 3 minutes riding time.

Day 51 - Some days you should just stay in bed: To Dabancheng

Day 52 – The first big milestone: Urumuqi

Urumuqi

Day 53 – The visa saga begins: Tracking down the PSB.

Day 54 – Sleep: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Day 55 – Tian Chi or Heavenly Lake: We become tourists for a day.

Day 56 - Thriving Urumqi

Day 57 – Visa pick up day: Or not – as the case may be.

Day 58 – And now the Kazakhstan visa

Day 59 – I really would like to leave here tomorrow.

Some Snippets: With apologies for the toilet humour

Dilemma: I'm gonna be a Grandma

Urumqi to Kashi (Kashgar)

Day 60 – A Spectacular day: To Houxia

Day 61 – Just about as good as it gets!: To an isolated yurt at 2950 metres

Day 62 – A dream accidentally fulfilled: To the thriving metropolis of Wulasitai

Day 63 – Down, down, down: To Hejing

Day 64 – The start of the dash to Kashi: To Farm No. 29

Day 65 – The desert that isn't.: To Luntai

Day 66 – A rather long flat road – but I won’t ever say boring: To Kuqa

Day 67 – Laid low in Kuqa: Feeling poorly.

Day 68 – Recovering in Kuqa: A bright new day

Day 69 – A bus ride: Everything goes right.

Days 70 to 74 Wandering around old Kashgar: Monday 18th to Friday 22nd

Back together again

Day 75 – Heather’s Good Idea (not).: To a shepherds hut at N 39deg 34.541’ E 075deg 24.187’

Day 76 – Not out of the woods yet! (Well, actually, the river.): To Wuxia at last.

Day 77 – Now let’s really head for the border: To a campsite 40 km short of Ulugqat (Ulugchat)

Day 78 – And still that elusive border: To yet another town not on the map.

Kyrgyzstan

Day 79 – Into Kyrgyzstan at last: To Irkeshtam (variously Irkeshtan, Ilkeshstan)

Day 80 – Truckin’ Hell: What a journey.

Days 81 to 83– Osh by gosh!: An amazing co-incidence and a home comfort or two.

Day 84 – A delightful homestay: To the tiny village of Kyrgyz-Abad

Day 85 – Two degrees of separation.: To Leninski - and our first encounter with the ghosts of Intourist

Day 86 – Water melon saturation: To Tashkomur

Day 87 – Up the gorge without a paddle: Camped by a gurgling creek – almost in Karakul

Day 88 – A magnificent day ends on the rim of disaster: To a restaurant bed on the edge of Lake Toktogul

Day 89 – As good as it gets once more: To Toktogul

Day 90 – Plan C is hatched: To a river somewhere.

Day 91 – Up, up, up: I pass 5000 cycled kilometres!

Day 92 - A beautiful high pass: To another great campsite

Day 93 – A downhill like no other: To Kara Balta

Days 94 to 96 – Bishkek

Kazakhstan

Day 97 - Very sad to leave Kyrgyzstan: but Kazahkstan here we come.

Day 98 - Borat is avoiding me: To a house near Podgornoye

Day 99 - Photos, photos, photos: To Taraz

Day 100 - A blistering finish to the day: Camped under a cloudless sky

Days 101 to 103 - Hotting up just a tad: To Shymkent

Day 104 - Heading for the steppes: To a campsite 110 km past Shymkent

Day 105 - Headwind strikes again: To about 50km past Turkestan

Day 106 - 6000 cycled kilometres: Overwhelming hospitality

Day 107 – A bit more of the same: 60 km before Kyzl-Orda

Day 108 – First puncture of the trip: To Kzyl-Orda

Day 109 – Short but sweet: Camped in the wetlands with the mozzies.

Day 110 – NO HEADWIND!: Just past Dzhusaly

Day 111 – A long long long long day: To a yurt in the tiny village of Altai

Day 112 – Be kind wind, be kind: To Aral – and one of the greatest environmental disasters of the 20th century.

Days 113 to 114 – Aral: Resting, eating, planning.

Day 115 – The Aral Sea strikes back.

Day 116 – Temporarily (we hope) separated from our bikes.: To the mosquitoes of Atyrau

Days 117 to 118 – Killing time in Atyrau

Reunited with the velocipedes

Day 119 – Back on the flat, straight, hot, windswept road: To an abandoned petrol station.

Day 120 – Tar, bitumen, asphalt, macadam – they’re all dreadfully gooey when they melt: Almost reached the border.

Russia

Day 121 – To Russia with love: 7000 kilometres!

Day 122 – Tailwind, tailwind, tailwind: To Astrakhan

Day 123 – Internet frustration in Astrakhan

Day 124 – Some smart navigation: And more generous people.

Day 125 – 173 kilometres without even trying: So many kind people.

Days 126 and 127 – We just keep rolling with the wind: To Elista

Racing the baby!

Day 128 – A very uneventful day, but even then stuff happens: To just past Divnoye

Day 129 – Meng and Heather 1 : Russian police Nil: To a campsite just past Svetlograd,

Day 130 – The most uneventful day of all: To just past Stavropol.

Day 131 – So many pleasant encounters: To Amavir, well almost

Day 132 – Tailwind, tailwind, tailwind: Benighted in Maykop!

Day 133 – I hit 8000 km: To the banks of the ???? River.

Day 134 – Goodbye to Meng’s bike stand: To Tuapse (almost)

Day 135 – Joining the Russian campers: Still Sochi is out of reach!

Day 136 – Yes!!!!!: To Sochi – at last.

Days 136 and 137 - Leaving Sochi - Winter Olympic City 2014: Heather and Meng 2 / Russian police Nil

Turkey

Map

Day 139 – Across the Black Sea: Trabzon, Turkey

Day 140 – We hang from the cliff face: Sumela Monastery

Day 141 – Lingering in Trabzon: Turning my head for home

Day 142 – “. . . And alone and unassisted brought them back”: Otobus to Istanbul

Day 143 - Istanbul

Day 144 – Where are you Malaysian Airlines?: A long hot search.

Day 143 – Coming ready or not: A close encounter with excess baggage.

Day 144 – Home

The journey so far.

Arnold and Marieke have arrived.

Baby bean appears

Equipment - What worked and what didn't

      Equipment: What worked - BIKE and GEAR

      Equipment: What worked - CAMPING

      Equipment: What didn't

      Equipment: Medical

Afterthoughts

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"Beijing to Paris - Part 1: Beijing to Istanbul" Copyright © 2007-2010 By Heather and John Burge - (contact). All rights reserved. Website Copyright © 2000-2010 by Neil Gunton Fri Sep 10 12:55:40 2010 PDT      Top    Link    Report