I woke up the next morning feeling paralyzed. We had biked only 82kms the previous day, but I couldn’t move half the parts of my body. I didn’t know what was going on. Jerry and I discussed and decided that it was apt for us to leave at 2PM, six hours later than our initially planned time--this was to give me space to rest and feel better before we started our journey and also fix our bike.

We went to the local market to get our bikes fixed, though it was a little difficult to find the right shop initially--we found lovely people along the way who showed us exactly where we could get our tyres replaced. Once we did that, we had a very wholesome lunch and set off.

Our plan was to do 80 kms that day since we started late. My revelations of Kazakhstan started coming organically. The people seemed friendlier in Uzbekistan, there was a clear difference in the cars that were on the road: mostly Mercedez, BMW and Audis. It was very interesting to see the stark change as soon as we moved countries. The roads were so much smoother and better compared to Uzbekistan but there was a lot of up-hill we needed to cover. The amount of money invested into infrastructure definitely proved worthy of the Kazakh wants.

After the first hour, my speed dropped to 6km/hr where we had to be at 22km/hr. I couldn’t move my legs and I felt the same way I did in the morning. We pushed and pushed and made it to a town 60kms from our starting point. It was hard, that’s when it kicked in.

We found a place to stay in a local village we stopped by. They were a family of three, building a house and were super welcoming. We had conversations about how the script of Kazakh was going to be officially changed from Russian to Latin. We spoke about the need for sustainable modes of transportation in Kazakhstan, because most people owned cars and did not care about wanting to use public transport of bicycles for short distances.

We were off to bed that night, hoping I wouldn’t feel the same paralysed feeling that I’ve been having with my body.

Kesava

I woke up feeling a lot better. I decided to take a shower before we headed off for the day. I’ve been in bad toilet situations before, I’ve travelled through India and there have been points where I’ve done open defecation without hesitation. The countries in the Silk Road were a whole different story. Everywhere we went rural or sub-urban, there was always one type of toilet: A one feet by two feet four sided wooden structure. When you walked into the structure, there will be a six foot deep pit where you could defecate. It was an experience in itself.

We had a really nice Kazakh breakfast and tea along with the family. Wrapping up our conversations, we realised how common it was to use horses to travel in rural Kazakhstan, seven year old kids travelled at crazy speed like 40-45 kms/hr on horses backs.

We started biking, my legs didn’t feel better at all. I knew I needed one day’s rest. That’s all I needed to get back on track. We were down to 6 kms an hour and it started getting more and more concerning. Our plan was to reach Taraz that day, 121 kms from our initial start point. There was a lot of uphill that was unexpected, we met a bunch of motorbikers along the way. Some of them giving us cold water and being super nice and supportive of what we were doing. Six and half hours past, we were thirty-five kilometers through. We had eighty six kilometers to go and it was already 4:30 PM, we were travelling at walking speed--this was super concerning. We stopped for lunch and were greeted by twenty women for one of their birthdays. We danced with them and had some good fish that they offered us.

This was my magic moment. Everything changed. I got back on my bike and I reminded myself of why I was doing the trip and how much of an impact I was having. I wanted this project to be successful--I thought of my family, my friends and everyone who supported me. I cycled through the pain and the only thing I cared about was reaching Taraz. I remember Jerry being concerned about us not being able to make it, I wanted to change that. I pushed and pushed and we cycled 86 kilometers in the next six hours. 35 kilometers in the first six hours to 86 kilometers in the next six hours? Something pretty crazy for me.

As usual, Kazakhstan surprised us with the fancy city of Taraz. We stayed at a nice hotel and had an incredible chinese dinner cooked by a Chinese Chef. It was very random in Kazakhstan. We slept that night wondering how my body was going to react to the amount of pressure I put on my body.

Kesava

After pushing through so much the previous day, I woke up feeling even more paralyzed. This time, Jerry pulling me out of my bed and every step I took felt like I was carrying a hundred kilogram load on my back. It was a nightmare. But I was again reminded of why I was doing the trip and what kind of people I was meeting, this pushed me.

We had breakfast and took off, the busy roads of Taraz at 10 AM made us want to get out of the city as soon as possible. The same kind of road hospitality as Uzbekistan was not prevalent here. We kept biking for the next two hours at speeds of 20kms/hr, I felt very empowered by how I was handling the pain. We had our first flat tyre at around 12 PM, after 40 kms. We decided that all I needed was one day’s rest for my muscles to relax and I can be back on track. So Jerry and I planned to meet at a particular location and set of on our own after lunch. I was hitchhiking and Jerry was biking.

I took about 45 minutes to find the first person who said they’d take me 40 kms down the road, I had to make 80 in total. He told me about his wife and four kids and how he believed that education was the way to change Kazakhstan. His dream was to make his family happy, quite humbling in many ways because a lot of what I’ve heard was more to do with just the individual person. We then talked about Kazakhstan and its history and how its changed so much from the USSR breakup. Before I got off, he said he had a gift for me. He revealed that he was the owner of a gold mine, he gave me a small rock that contained gold and was coated with quartz. It looked so beautiful. I was back out on the road searching for another person to take me to the next destination.

I waited for another 10-15 minutes waving with my water bottle. One of the huge container trucks stopped for me and helped me put my bike into his truck. While I observed the snow-top mountains from the deserts of Kazakhstan, it was magical. The ranges are so lively and so close. He took me another 25 kms, after I waved Spasibo I was back on my hunt to find someone else to take me to the village.

In exactly two minutes, I found a family. They all decided to stop and get out. One by one they came, the father, the mother, three kids and their nanny. I was wondering how they were gonna provide space for my bike and for me. We made space and we were on the road again. They dropped me off in a cute little family hotel. There were many businesses within this large house. Some of them were fluent in English and invited Jerry and me to the family wedding reception the next day. Since we were leaving early, they instead hosted for dinner and told us about Kazakh festivities during the wedding season. It was also the first day Jerry and I had horse meat! We went to bed early ready to reach Kyrgyzstan the next day!

Kesava

After our lovely dinner the previous night, we were back on the road again to reach Kyrgyzstan!

My legs felt great. We fixed our flat tyre with the help of an unusual person called jokingly "Cycle Master." He was around 60 years old and said he could help us. His bike was very interesting: it had deer horns, a big front light and different pieces of clothing on various parts of the bike. We spoke about how he was known as the 'Bike Man' in the town of Kule. His dream was to just be around cycles and bikes. He said it made him very happy to see us doing this trip.

Once we fixed our bike, we were on the road again. This time, I felt so comfortable on my bike, it started to feel like I was finally in that position of 'living on a bicycle.'

We kept biking, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant that was about 40kms from the border of Kyrgyzstan. We had a total of 3300 Tenger left on us. Our hungry stomachs made us forget about the fact that we wouldn't be able to pay by card or euros in little towns like these. Once we were done with lunch, our cheque for lunch had arrived.

4100 Tenger it said. Jerry and I looked at each other not knowing what to say. As soon as the restaurant heard we had only 3300 Tenger, the lady who served us lunch said that it was no problem and that they were happy to host us. We paid the 3300 and were back on the road.

About 70kms in, 20kms from the Kyrgyzstan border, we stopped to rest and have snickers. Seeing us sitting at bus stop, a car stopped and gave us a kilo of freshly picked strawberries, although we refused because both us didn't feel the best about having strawberries when we biked. However, the extremely hospitable people of Kazakhstan forcefully gave us the berries and left.

We put the strawberries in our bags and left. Very soon we made it to the next Kyrgyzstan. We had our moment of shock. The difference in the atmosphere between one border was crazy. The roads changed from perfectly smooth to extremely bumpy with lots of gravel, the stores changed from big supermarkets to tiny roofless markets, however, the number of people seeing us in astonishment was the same. Kyrgyz people in general gave us a happy and nice vibe, we were wondering what made it different.

We biked another 40kms to reach a small town. There was one hostel that was available. It was a 'renovated' USSR apartment. It felt like we were walking into something like a prison cell from the Russian movies. We were scared but the receptionist at the hotel gave us a very happy and nice welcome. The stay for the night cost us less than 10 euros for the both of us.

We had a full grilled chicken, a shawarma and some juice for dinner and went to bed excited to reach Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan!

Kesava