First impression of Kazakhstan? Big. Very, very big. Fairly uneventful day, not much happening apart from the border crossing. Kyrgystan customs causes a fuss as we don’t have a customs declaration form. We weren’t given one on the way in at the remote, not often used, disorganised border post in the mountains. Customs guy today makes a fuss, says we’ll have to go back to where we came in. After a while, he suddenly says that if we were to give him a knife as a present, then he would let us through. He rejects my multi-tool but seems happy with Dave’s christmas cracker penknife and we’re through. Kazakhstan entry procedure is pretty simple, they have computers, it’s a far cry from Turkmenistan. A fairly long day in the saddle, covering 200 miles, but all seems easy. Dave’s bike continues to drink oil and turn it into white exhaust smoke, but seems to be running normally. Tomorrow, Almaty, hopefully for a few days of civilisation after 10 days of wild camping and homestays with even worse facilities than wild camping…
Day 48 Sharyn Canyon
11 Jul