Saddled up 13

Dear siblings, family and friends,

even though we are slowly coming to the end of our journey, here is a little sign of life.

We stayed in Almaty for a week in total, because it is a great city and besides beautiful cathedrals and mosques, it also has wonderful parks that we passed through as we rode through the city. But we liked the many fountains the best. Wherever we went, there was water in fountains, in small channels that flowed along the streets, and as paddling pools with fountains. Especially children, but also many men (of course no women) were frolicking around in the refreshing water in the heat. Because the people in Kazakhstan also like to celebrate and seek pleasure, there are plenty of amusement parks with roller coasters, Ferris wheels, carousels and much more. All parks and green areas are free and at least as well maintained as our Luisenpark.

With the patience of an angel (3 hours) in a travel agency, Stephan arranged our train tickets to Astrakhan. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to take our bikes and luggage on a high-speed train (max 25kg), so we have to travel for 44 hours, then 24 hours, and another 11 hours in third class. In between, we can relax for two nights in Nukus, one night in Atyrau, and one week in Astrakhan.

We went on many bike tours through this green city of Almaty, took the cable car to the TV tower, and went on a two-and-a-half-hour hike down, during which we got quite lost and had to go through thickets. We also enjoyed our daily ice cream here, which is especially refreshing in the heat. We didn't visit any museums because there was nothing that particularly interested us.

In Tashkent, we met Yury, a cyclist and mountaineer from Almaty. He had invited us to contact him if we were in Almaty. We did so and arranged to go on a glacier tour on Saturday. In the morning, he picked us up with his two sons (10 and 13 years old), and off we went to the nearby mountains of Almaty.

The sky was bright blue, and we were delighted, especially with the cooling in the mountains. First by car, then by three cable cars, and finally on foot, we reached a height of 3460 m. A cool refreshing breeze awaited us. Our ascent to the viewpoint, from which we could still see the glacier, was steep, and we had to climb over high rocks in some places. I was a bit anxious because I could already imagine the descent and how my knees would crunch. But I also didn't want to miss the view of the glacier. Stephan and the boys also started to sweat a bit.

As soon as we reached our destination, the sky quickly clouded over, lightning appeared, and thunder crashed loudly above us. A quick look at the glacier, with our snack in our mouths, and then the rain started and we began the descent. The rain turned into hail, which was painful because we were wearing shorts except for Stephan. But worse than the hail was the muddy ground, and I kept slipping. The rocks were slippery, so the descent became dangerous for me, even more so than I had feared. After a good half hour, it was all over, and first the blue sky appeared, then the sun came out. But the temperature had dropped quite a bit.

At the cable car station, we had a hot grog, dried our clothes, and set off for home. We were all pretty exhausted and relieved to sit in the car. Because everything went well, we are happy about this eventful day and very grateful to Yury.

Back at the guesthouse, we packed and mentally and spiritually prepared ourselves for the upcoming 44-hour train journey in third class.

The train journey took a long time but was not as bad as we had feared. When the train arrived, chaos developed on the platform. It started raining, and everyone rushed to the wagons, pushing, shoving, and jostling. The fellow travelers had heavy large packs that needed to be stowed, and Central Asians are very impatient and always try to push ahead. Within a few minutes, I had 10 bruises. Poor Stephan stood in the pouring rain unloading, and with the help of a young woman who spoke good English, we stowed our luggage. Stephan joined us soaking wet, and slowly everyone calmed down again. The compartment was packed, and the poor luggage carriers had their hands full stowing all the luggage.

The next day, we reached the border from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan. This crossing took a total of 4 hours, the train stood in the midday heat (40 degrees, felt like 55 degrees), not a breath of wind and stuffy air in the compartment. Many huge bags were searched, the drug dog went through our carriage constantly. Then we finally continued.

The next disaster happened in Tashkent. The train was almost two hours late due to the border. We were actually supposed to stay in Tashkent for an hour. But without warning, the train started moving, even though half of the people from our and other carriages hadn't gotten on yet, they simply stayed behind. Children were crying, and the staff made phone calls, but to no avail. But the train driver was undeterred and continued. As a result, the train was almost empty, and it wasn't as stuffy anymore. While some people had slept on the floor the first night, there were now many free beds.

A conductor treated us to vodka so that we could sleep better, we played Yahtzee just like the night before, and as always, I slept pretty well on the jolting train.

Now we are spending the two days in Nukus very comfortably, we can hardly leave the guesthouse because, just like last time, it is scorching hot.

As always, we hope that all of you are well and having a good time. Some have their summer vacation ahead of them, others are already back at work.

We are now slowly heading back, of course, we are looking forward to our home, our friends, and family. But I am very sad to leave this travel feeling behind and return to a regular life.

In order to see each other again soon, we would like to invite you to a brunch at our place on Sunday, October 27th, starting at 11 am. As always, basic groceries and drinks will be provided by us, and we are looking forward to your culinary contributions to fill the buffet. Please RSVP - corrina_54@web.de - by September 23, 2019.

Warm greetings to all of you,

The cyclists Stephan and Corrina