Kasakhstan (Part 1/2)

The day started with a beautiful sunrise but as previously mentioned without water.

I had chosen this place because it was near to the M32 and I would not need to cross the city in the morning. I headed to the M32 but shortly before the junction, they'd closed a bridge and I had to turn back to the next bridge and make a 9km detour through the city, nice idea but nothing won after all.

There is no visa requirement for European citizens to enter the country but if you stay longer than 5 days, you'll have to register with the OVIR to avoid being fined and possibly put in jail. Now, Kazakhstan does not have that much interesting things to see on the path I've planed, registering would cost me possibly one day as I don't have the slightest idea where to go. The plan now is to check how bad the roads are and how many km a day are a realistic goal. I've seen some horrifying videos about the roads so let's have a look.

Next turn in 1067 km !!!! The M32 leaving Shymkent is a four lane highway, two in each direction, there some construction going on in some parts and in those places they just direct the traffic to the other side and "let it behave" like on a normal road, nothing like in countries in the EU not to talk about Germany.

I was actually expecting to sweat all the time here but despite the sunshine, it's getting colder and colder instead.

One thing I really like around here is the absence of fences around properties and along the road but that means also that you've to share the road with cows, horses, camels, ... and they to not to calmly walk in front of a truck and make them stop.

The first reason for this route and the start date I've chosen was to possibly watch a racket launching in Baikonur , there where two starts planned for this week but unfortunately both were canceled shortly before my departure. Besides that I found out that visiting Baikonur is quite expensive, over 1.500€ to be more precise and you're only allowed to make pictures when authorized to do so.

The road today was also pretty good, made it up to Аральск, almost enough for the ironbutt :-)