Pearls On Wheels

July in Kazakhstan Warm welcomes everywhere From our first night at Semey To the cacophony of car horns And shouted greetings As  we rode into Nur Sultan Meeting Tsutomu again Was a joy, a reminder of  connections along the road. It is hot here in July Sunny,too. We find shelter in bus stops or under the rare trees. We pass by elaborate cemeteries With ornate mausoleums  above ground alongside the road. Kazachstan is home to the Russian Space programme Russia leases the Baikonur cosmodrome from Kazachstan Which is in the west near the Aral Sea. NASA astronauts are launched into space to the International Space Station Onboard Soyuz space craft from Kazachstan They land out on the vast steppes. Pavlodar is our first stop We take an administration day here Dick get to have a turn as nurse. Then to Nur Sultan The capital since 1997 Known as Astana until March this year.  Ultramodern glass clad buildings Designed by  architects  including  Norman Foster a...

Our arrival at Kosh-Agach Was accompanied with GPS confusion. I asked someone,”What is the name of this town?”  Kosh-Agach they said. We pulled up outside the Octpobok hotel Mine host was already opening the garage door for us How could we resist? On the road in the morning  Fueled with a breakfast of fried egg and porridge we were Ready for the amazing scenery of the Altai valley on a clear day. Mountains reminiscent of the Remarkables  In Queenstown.  Wonderful roads to ride. Birch forests, some conifers Rivers with rapids,  Campsites, cabins, in this popular holiday region. To Kamlak and the Fields of Altai Hotel. Warm welcome, delicious organic food And peonies to bless my soul. On to Barnaul  Lots of traffic in both directions It is the beginning of the summer holidays. We leave the valley To the wide open steppe with rapeseed canola in flower And huge fields of wheat and barley.  And ride into into Barnaul Capital of Altai Krai And our home for ...

Our last few days in Mongolia each was as different as the other. Perfect paved roads,  desert, and gravel.  All under a boundless sky. We arrived in Mongolia via the Kyakhta-Attanbulag border On 19 June. It was 30°C, 2410km and 13 days later on 1 July we departed from the Tsagaannuur-Tashanta border. It was 4°C The Historical significance of Persia and Central Asia is well-described in Peter  Frankopan’s   recent book, The Silk Roads-A new world history Which challenges those of us with a Eurocentric world view. Mongolia was a sovereign socialist state from 1921- 1992. Soviet presence led to improved education and health provision but also To religious persecution. Freedom of religion can be restricted in lots of ways. Let’s not take it for granted wherever we are. We set off from Altai hoping that rumours of paved road  all the way to Khovd were true. They were! The lovely new Steppe Hotel was our tent for the night. From Khovd we knew that there would be a m...