Paris-Pekin Kazakhstan continued


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Asia » Kazakhstan » Western Kazakhstan » Atyrau
July 2nd 2008
Published: July 2nd 2008
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Wednesday 14 May - Makat to Mumkyur, 115 km


It rained in the night. There was a hole in the ceiling over my corner and some of my gear got damp. A bit of ceiling fell in one of the other rooms, so I didn’t get the worst! Walked to the restaurant for breakfast - eggs, good.
It wasn’t raining when we set out, the rain had liquefied the mud on the village streets so it was less slippery, but outside the village the road was just as bad as yesterday - mud, ruts and huge holes full of water. Then it started to rain again. It rained on and off all day. There were some sections of good road, completely unpredictable here, the same road goes from impossible to good and back again every few kilometers. Some bits we just had to walk.
Our lorries were on one of the parallel tracks and we came up to the big one stuck in the mud. They are basically road vehicles and not equipped for overland travel, which has been OK up to now. A local lorry came along and pulled our lorry out.
We should have been camping today, but in view of the weather and our miserable wet filthy state the team organized forus to stay in a village. We slithered and bumped our way down to a small school in a muddy village: two rooms, no water, outside toilets, as usual. The cooking team did a meal - veg soup, tinned ready meals and pasta; I had a tin of beans I bought in Atiraw. There was barely room to spread our mattresses to sleep and there was some altercation over space, but eventually we all got bedded down. I slept badly due to a snorer next to me and to people walking in and out to the loos.

Thursday 15 May - Mumkyur to Bayghanin, 136 km


Sunny at last, the mud drying. Bread and jam for breakfast, out by 8 am. Still a lot of mud and water on the roads, but drying up as rhe day went on. The usual boring steppe: very few animals, no bushes or trees, occasional trains on the railway. The road very bad to start with, huge potholes up to 10 ft wide and 18 in deep, one had to pick a route between the holes on the narrow bridges of road. Today the refrigerator van got stuck in a giant pothole; it was l#ater towed out by a lorry.
Because of the bad road we were stretched out over a very lo g distance today and the police left us very much to our own devices, so we could stop to eat or have a pee when we wanted, not wait till the whole group stopped. At one stage I got into a muddy patch and the back wheel gummed up completely, I had to stop and dig the mud out. In one area the Kazakhs had dug up the road surface completely, presumably with a view to replacing it, We had to walk some of this.
The last few km the road was good, though I was getting tired. We re-grouped at a café outside the town before following the police escort into town. We are staying in a huge gym, two rooms, lots of room. There are 3 loos which are brand n=ew, they appear to have built them for us, painted blue. The village laid on a hose to wash our bikes, and little outdoor washbasins with tanks filled up by buckets: in later days we saw lots of these portable washbasins. We were told we had used all the villag’s water.
Dinner at a restaurant where they pulled out all the stops and fed us really well: rice and meat, soup, salad, cream cheese (camel, we thought), fruit, biscuits and sweets. After dinner we trooped off to a hall where we had the usual song and dance show organized by the music school: very accomplished girl dancers, and musicians who tried hard. And so, very tired, to bed.

Friday 16 May - Bayghanin to Shubarqudiq, 77 km


Nice day. Cycled to breakfast - not very good. Once again the police left us very much to our own devices. There was quite a lot of bad road with the usual huge potholes etc, but the last 10 km were on a nice smooth road. There was a big reception outside the village with singing and dancing and doughnuts, but no camel milk. I got interviewed briefly with the help of the village English teacher. In the village we are staying in a lovely school building. We 4 single women have a student room to ourselves, it even has beds!
Hastily grabbed some bits and a bus took 14 women to the Russian baths in a neighbouring village. These are like a sauna, but hotter, but the best thing is there is lots of water - in bowls or in showers - to wash down with afterwards. You are supposed to sweat clean in the hot room, but I only stayed a couple of minutes as it was so hot. We all got clean for the first time for 3 days, and washed the clothes we came in as well. The bus shuttled back and forth taking the men to the baths, and us back.
Back at the school we found everyone out in the yard washing clothes; I queued up for a bucket and washed some of mine and hung them up;l they dried by bedtime. To a function room in the next village by bus for dinner. Excellent meal, very well presented, the usual stuff and fresh fruit and good brown bread. We were entertained by singers - two girls and two men - very good, and after dinner there was dancing. I did a dance with Michel Helmbacher and a jive with Pierre-Marie. One of our best days yet.

Saturday 17 May - Shubarqudiq

to Qandiagash, 85 km
It rained in the night and everything was muddy again. It was cool and cloudy, but fortunately dry all day anf the sun came out in the afternoon. The countryside was more hilly and therefore prettier. The roads were bad in the morning but better in the afternoon.
One village sent out a welcome party to the top of a hill - girls in white dresses dancing, a singer with a 2-string lute (dombra) and of course speeches - in Kazakh - with no interpreter. We applauded anyway, especially when the speaker came out with a few French words - like Montmartre, and football! Then the doughnuts and camel milk, except this time it was yoghurt, really nice.
We ate our picnic on the hill and cycled on to the next village, where they had sent out all the schoolchildren to greet us with flags, all chenting Paris-Pekin-Kazakhstan over and over.
We arrived at Qandiaghash about 5 pm to a tremendous welcome - schoolchildren lined all the streets to greet us, waving and reaching out to touch our hands. We are staying in a big school, and had a big greeting ceremony with speeches and gifts and doughnuts and camel milk. I got my photo with a Kazakh police officer.
We had to sort out our luggage preparatory for the train journey tomorrow - our big bags will go on one of the big trucks tonight, we only take onto the train our two side panniers and a rucksack. Did a very quick sort, then went to get a bus to the Russian baths - very little water available in the school, as usual. The buses were supposed to leave at 6 pm, but eventually got going about 6.45, by which time it was raining. Bussed back just in time for dinner at 8 pm.
We 4 women are sleeping in a classroom -the music room - there is a piano, two accordions and a rack of dombras, and picture4s of famous Kazakh composers and musicians on the wall. A nice local English teacher called Shara invited some of us to her house tomorrow, but the police want to keep us all prisoner in the school till we leave to catch the train tomorrow afternoon. She has asked me, Paul, German Claudia and Canadian Christian, as we all speak English. After dinner there was a concert put on by the five local schools.

Sunday 18 May - Qandiagash to Toretam (Baykonur)


Semolina for breakfast, very good with a little jam. I had a go at mending an inner tube, but found a second bigger hole in it and gave up. Paul came to fetch me to go out with Shara, and she managed to persuade the police to let us go - a very forceful lady. . It rained on and off, the streets were all mud and huge holes just as bad as in the villages. Shara drove Paul and me into town and took me to get my hair cut - by a very nice girl in a small but quite modern salon. Cost me 500 tengue, about £2, Then she drove us to a supermarket and a street market, and back to the school for lunch at 12. There was another concert going on, and lunch wasn’t till about 1.00. We signed loads of autographs for local kids, and exchanged addresses.
After lunch back to the music room to re-pack the bags; had time to do a bit of work on the computer before it was time to go to the station. Pedalled a few km to the station (in the mud of course) and waited ages for the train.
The teams of guys did a marvelllous job loading all the bikes into the goods van in less than 15 minutes; the rest of us found our compartments and got the luggage on board. We four women have a very nice couchette compartment with mattresses, 2 sheets, a pillow, a quite unnecessary blanket and a hand towel each.
I had laid in a small bottle of local brandy and all the girls had a swig, we had quite a little party. The others had a game of cards and I got on my top bunk and finished my book. Very warm, but I slept well as always in trains.

Monday 19 May - Toretam (12 km)


Arrived on time at 9.15 am local time - we gained another hour here. Very hot. Unloading the bikes was amazingly quick - they said 8 minutes but that might be an exaggeration. Pedalled to a school cum youth camp in a village. Sleeping in the gym, as usual very little water. A little canteen where I got a sugary coffee. Persuaded the police to let me and Remy out to the tiny shop where I bought a new pen, fruit juice and a beer. The big lorries are due in this afternoon, the vans, who left when the train did, some time tonight (in fact arrived 2 am).
After lunch in the canteen we got taken by bus to Baikonur museum which was a big disappointment and also very rxpensive - they charged us on exit.
The scho0ol is a big modern building, but the earth toilets are in a dilapidated smelly block at the far end of the yard - a long walk at night!Some men from the village put up showers for us with scaffolding and blue plastic walls and a tank which boys filled by hand with buckets! We all got a quick cold shower, which was very welcome - temperature over 30 degrees. After dinner the usual singing and dancing concert, to bed about 11 pm.


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