It’s been a hot and sweaty few days in Almaty, Kazakhstan! I turned up at 2am, without knowing a word or Kazakh, just knowing that a taxi driver would pick me up and take me to a flat. I had the flat address, but no map to show me where it was in relation to the city! Sarah was a day late, so my first day was spent trying to get used to dripping with sweat 10 minutes after I came out of the shower, trying to decipher street names in Russian script, checking google earth to find out where I was, buying food for when Sarah would show up, and planning how and where I would meet her. On Day 2, I set off on my bike out of the city and west on the road that Sarah would be coming in on. I wanted to meet Sarah before dark so I could get a bit of film of her cycling in the daylight, and so we wouldn’t miss each other! Since Sarah had a 230km day to reach Almaty, that meant I had to cycle quite  a long way to make sure I met her before dark! I ended up pedalling about 55km to the west before meanly waiting at the top of a hill to film Sarah stoically pedalling up it! A brown happy face greeted me – I was forgiven for waiting at the top of a hill as Sarah now had her first bit of company from someone she knows for 3 months. And someone to chat to in English! The sun was almost setting behind us as we briefly caught up on things before pedalling onwards towards the city. Cars and big lorries would whoosh past us, often honking their horn. That usually meant “I am about to drive really close to you, don’t wobble to your left”! We finally got back to the flat just after midnight – after Sarah’s biggest day so far; 230km!

Before and after I met Sarah, I regularly stopped at one of the many roadside shops to buy some traditional ‘fast food’ – they looked a bit like cornish pasties to me, but some were filled with meat and onion, others just vegetables, and others were made from potatoes. I don’t know the names, but got used to pointing at one of them and being surprised by what was inside it!

Yesterday was a ‘rest day’ for Sarah, but we barely stopped ‘doing things’ – picking up parcels from DHL, buying food for the next leg, charging batteries etc & Sarah had lots of photos to send to sponsors, emails to write, new kit to sort out, a bike wheel to change…. Today was another ‘rest day’ but it was more of a rest as we were driven up to a beautiful mountain lake by Sergey Sklyarenko, who is science director of a Kazakh conservation organisation, the ACBK. Thanks very much to Sergey for a great day. Sarah was put in touch with him through the RSPB. We spend several hours walking along remote tracks, looking for birds, spotting marmots, enjoying tea & generally unwinding. It was lovely and cool at 3,500 metres – I didn’t want to come back down! After our outing, the PR lady at the conservation organisation, Danara, kindly invited us back to her house for some traditional Kazakh food. We have been thoroughly spoit & the Kazakh people are really friendly and kind. I did point out to Sarah that my legs got cut up when Sergey took us through some sharp juniper bushes so it is a tough job – sort of!?

Tomorrow we we start biking towards China. I’m looking forward to it, but also slightly dreading cycling in the energy-sapping heat. We have 7 days to cycle about 900 or 1000km to Urumqi…… and no showers to wash the sweat off! Should be ‘an experience’! Hopefully a good one!

Sarah was interviewed by Kazakh TV yesterday – see the TV report here.

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