Home away from home, the Sakura Guesthouse, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
It’s been three weeks since my last post and a lot as happend, although only around 150 miles have been cycled. I’ve had many adventures in hospitals around the world but am happy to be back on the road and have crossed into Kazakhstan, putting me a mere stones throw from the Chinese border..
The turquoise Naryn river
Well it has been a great week crossing Kyrgyzstan. Within two days Kyrgyzstan had knocked Armenia off the “Best Scenery” top spot of my trip, I’ve also tackled the two highest passes of my trip so far at 3,175m and 3,180m as well as cycling through the “Tunnel of Doom” which has reached fabled status amongst cyclists.
I’ve been getting on great with my new cycling partner Stephen Cunningham and we are now planning our fast race through China due to a change in Chinese visa laws which have shortened our time in the country from 80 to 55 days in which time I need to cycle 5078km, a big challenge.
Thanks to the beauty of Kyrgyzstan this is the most picture heavy post I have ever done so I will keep the text short and sweet where possible.
Detail of traditional Rishtan ceramic, Rustam Usmanov Ceramic Workshop, Rishtan, Uzbekistan.
Well it has certainly not been a dull few days since my last post. I’ve ridden my final few days in Uzbekistan (hitting 6,000 miles along the way) being blown away by the incredible ceramics at the Rustam Usmanov workshop in Rishtan, achieved another one of my cycling goals (riding 100km non-stop) as well as finally meeting up with my new riding partner Stephen Cunningham. Within a couple of hours of getting to know each other we found ourselves in the back of a police car being hassled for money and threatened with a truncheon…
James Finnerty 