15th stage "Shetpe, Kazakhstan"

Today's stage to Shetpe was over 150km through the Kazakh steppe. The temperature was 36 degrees, which was clearly noticeable. What was striking was the number of vintage cars, some of them very old, that I kept coming across. As it later turned out, they were participants in a rally from Beijing to Paris. What can't you see?

When I returned to the hotel from dinner, another motorcyclist had arrived. From what I could tell from our conversation, he already had some experience as an overlander. He was in the process of transporting his old Royal Enfield from India to Italy and was now on his way to Azerbaijan. From there he would continue across the Black Sea and the Mediterranean to San Marino, his homeland. Today he had ridden dry and had to push his extremely heavily loaded machine for 2.5 km. He stated his travel speed as 60-70 km/h. You need patience and stamina.

07.06.3024: I had planned to visit the Valley of the Balls today. To escape the intense heat, I left at 8:00 a.m. On the way there, I visited a "monument" but I didn't find out what it was. In any case, the view was phenomenal.

The valley itself was less exciting. But maybe I wasn't in the right place. And since I was there, I thought I might as well continue on to Fort Schevchenko on the coast. Unfortunately, after a few kilometers, the road turned into a trail that I didn't want to follow for another 50km or so.

In the evening I went to the restaurant attached to the hotel. There I met two Kazakhs who invited me to their table. So the evening passed with eating, drinking and Google Translate.

Tomorrow I want to go to Sor Tuzbair. I'm excited to see if that works out. In any case, I've taken all the luggage off the plane, so it should be easier to maneuver even in rougher terrain.

06/08/2024: To take advantage of the slightly more pleasant temperatures in the morning, I set off at 8:00 a.m. for Sor Tuzbair, about 80 km away. My Openstreetmap maps even showed the trails that would take me the last few kilometers to the destination. To my delight, the destination was only a few kilometers from the main road, so I could have walked to the main road in an emergency. What awaited me there was truly amazing. Like on another planet (see pictures). After I had looked at everything so far, I even found a shady spot for a siesta. A turtle that crawled across my path was obviously not in the mood to rest. The silence was indescribable and I enjoyed it to the fullest.

I spent most of the afternoon doing some checks and maintenance on the motorcycle and looking for somewhere to stay in Aqtau for the next few days. There are still a few things I want to see there and then there is also the Caspian Sea with some nice beaches.