Mike Chernishov is a friend from New Zealand. Mike Chernishov’s dad is ethnically Russian. But Mike’s dad was born in China. In a small, closed-to-foreigners town called Narat, across the Tian Shan mountain range from Urumqi. When I started cycling in Urumqi, instead of taking the shortest route from Urumqi to the Kazakhstan border, I missioned it over the 4,200m high pass connecting Urumqi to the road leading to Yining. Which is a convoluted way to say that I wanted to check out Mike’s dad’s birthplace, and take some photos and footage for him.
One arrest, and a lot of shaky footage later (which never made it to the light of day), I made it to the Kazakh border. That was around September 2006. Now, almost 6 years on, Mike has worked some magic with the footage and photos, and created the video below. Originally intended for his dad and relatives, I post it here for posterity’s sake. The footage is still as shaky as ever, and at 33 minutes long it is a bit of a marathon, and my lack of rapport towards the camera is cringe-worthy, but here goes.
I really enjoyed watching the video Rob. It gives a good impression of what it must be like and how the people you meet interact with you.
Would you think the trip you made would be possible by recumbent trike rather than the two wheeler? Or would you recommend the type of bike you had more? I am seriously considering doing a similar journey myself you see.
All the best.
Hi Andy. The trip would definitely be possible. See http://www.chinawheelie.com/the-trike/ for all the convincing you’ll ever need. I’m not sure Rob (the man behind the ChinaWheelie site) is maintaining the site anymore, but you can get a hold of him via his business at http://www.aeroportodesign.com/contact.
Thanks for the reply Rob. Now you mention it I remember reading Rob Luxton’s blog a few years ago. Looks like it’s not working fully now.
Would you mind if I emailed you with a few more questions about long distance touring? No worries if you don’t have the time though.
No worries Andy!