It’s really great to finally be on the road again and after leaving Bishkek and slowly heading down to the border we make a short stop at Tash-rabat. This is one of the most stunning places I’ve seen in Kyrgyzstan and make me realise I need to come back to see more of this amazing country.

Since the roads are quite bad we decided to get as close to the border as possible the night before our crossing. So we stopped about 15km in a small Kyrgyz settlement where you can rent rooms in caravans for the night. The only option for the five of us was to share a room or for half of us to share a second room with some truck drivers, but after one started making eyes at young Chris we decided we’d stick together. (Lynn and David slept in their car and the other 3 stayed in Tash-rabat and decided to rather do a very early morning run to the border) Now when I say share a room I’m kind of stretching the truth a little since I actually meant share a bed, a large pallet which covers 3/4s of the small caravan room. Well I decided I would be more comfortable on the floor and since hot air rises I also got to avoid the many smells emanating from my other inmates, especially after Nacho feasted on a whole heap of chilli the night before.

The actually border crossing was far less stressful than anticipated. We were quite apprehensive about crossing the Chinese border but when you have a Chinese speaking guide waiting for you to help you deal with the paperwork it all goes pretty smoothly.

In total there are 11 of us travelling together, Benny the Chinese guide will be travelling in a 4×4 with Lynn and David from Australia. The 8 bikers are Neil from the UK and the man behind the scenes :). Neil posted on horizons unlimited and got the group together to do this trip. Nacho from Argentina, Richard from Australia, Chris, Robin and Keely from the UK and me.