Tian Shan wasnt so gentle to me :(
- 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
Diary Of A Traveller 
Beautiful scenery!
Onward ho!
Looking at the Google Map, I was wondering why you didn’t take Route 312 from somewhere near the Urumqi Airport, all the way west to the Kazakh border, unless you chose to show Pascal the rope & the way, to Turpan & then turn westwards again towards Yiling (Ili). Route 312 is more than 3000km long, starting from Shanghai, westwards towards the border. It’s expressway all the way i.e. Wukui Expy & continuing onto Lianhuo Expy, passing places like Shawan, Kuytun & Jinghe. This way you won’t encounter loose gravel road. 2 years ago, I read a book entitled “China Road” by Rob Gifford, a British journalist who described his 2-month road journey – using cars, taxi, buses, hitching rides on lorry trucks or motorbikes, etc – along the whole Route 312 starting from Shanghai.
Here’s wishing you an exciting journey. Salam Ramadan. Puasa tak masa relax 1 minggu kat Urumqi?
zulsim – G312 is boring. Too many towns in between, flatland and less mountainous. Too easy. And those guys in the guesthouse in urumqi told me to take 312 road since its well paved. The problem with us cyclists, we usually prefer the tougher ride. and since everybody warned me about G216 passing by the glacier, thats exactly the road im taking :) plus the G216 road is along Tian Shan mountains, it gives us better scenery :)
the puasa thing, i did but not everyday, since i got travelers diorheaa in urumqi. Guess im gonna have a long ramadhan soon for me in kyrgyzstan :)
hey hari
thanks you told me this. i am fine in guangzhou. yeap i will cycle again later, its the best way to see the world. hope your guys have fun&good luck^_^
cool bro … are u back in Malaysia……if so like to meet u up…
shahrin – surely bro!… yep im back in kl now. u can reach me on my mail for now, zahariz@gmail.com