To Narat or bust


Today I should be able to pick up my Kyrgyz visa. Then it will be off over the Tianshan mountain range to a small town called Narat in the middle of nowhere with internet access. Mike C’s dad was born there. I expect that my next update will be in 10 days or so from a city called Yining.

Till then keep chilled.


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8 thoughts on “To Narat or bust

  • justin

    wow! im a friend of malc's and im really impressed by your journey

    My question is, how do you handle the lonliness. Do you speak any asian languages, have you made many friends along the way. Are you going pretty hard everyday and so you don't have the time to stay and meet people

  • Satoshi

    Hi Rob,

    Stunning photos! Glad to see you back on your bike. I don't know much about the region you are in at the mo but it looks to be pretty elevated. Watch the tyre pressure, you may need to adjust accordingly, just enough to keep the tyre fully inflated but not overinflated. Rather than the guage use your fingers to measure the air pressure 🙂

    The thorns are amazing, my roadie tyres would have exploded!!

    I started to look for a new job (still have the current job though). wish me a good luck!!

    have a safe trip

    Satoshi

  • Aunty Les

    Great pictures of Heavenly Lake. Does anyone go swimming or boating in it? It looks pretty wilderness-like. Those hills/mountains look rather steep. I don't envy you your next bit on the road but at least the air will be clean and fresh and you should get some good pics.

    Don't be too hard on the Chinese. I can see something similar happening to your bike if you left it in the Christchurch City Square!

    I spent 2½ hours yesterday walking the streets of Kaikoura doing letter-box drops of info leaflets about the FPA clinic that I do there once a month. No patients were booked in so we thought it would be a good idea to let people know the clinic is still running. It was a sunny day, though cold – 8ºC max – but was very pleasant walking in the sun. Hopefully I'll have a full clinic next month. I mangaed to find the new subdivision that I see from the train – called 'Bay View Heights' that does have fabulous views right over Kaikouira to the sea and the mountains. The houses are very flash, would all be ober the $450,000 mark. I wouldn't mind living there myself which such a lookout to get uo to every morning.

    The sun ius actually shining again today though there was a frost over night

  • Rob Thomson Post author

    Justin, thanks for the comment. Sorry for the late reply. I have not had an issue with lonliness so far. I am actually enjoying being out of the cities and entirely on my own. In fact, being in the countryside is a real plus. Usually if you do meet anyone, there are only a few of them, and you can sit down and take your time to have a chat. The cities are the craziest. No time to chill out and chat.

  • Rob Thomson Post author

    Satoshi, thank you for your constant advice. Much appreciated. I had my tyres pretty low on pressure when coming down from the last big pass on the way to Narat. That caused me to almost get a snake bite puncture, but as always, the tyres handled it great and still no punctures. I guess the fact that my bike has dual suspension helps a alot though.