Bad roads, speeding ticket
I feel violated and not in a good way. 380 miles of hellish road. The longest stretch of the most atrocious road so far in KZ. Yes there were stretches of 20 - 30 or even 60 miles but this was 380 miles of constant bone crushing stuff - pot holes, ruts and the worst 5 - 6 meters apart kind of gullies across the road. Sorry for bitching but everything in my body hurts. My hands are numb and the bike took a pretty severe pounding as well…
I hit a few pot holes head on. Was following a car with enough room but then the car braked and by the time I could react the car swerved a little to avoid the hole and bam straight into a substantial pot hole.
I’m also adding two new statistics to the bottom of these posts. a) Dike Dropped (no did not add to this today) b) Speeding Tickets. Yes first one of the trip after 7000 miles. Silly really, happened this morning. Just 5 miles from my camp spot. I saw the sign - 50 km/h - Construction, didn’t see any construction so slowed down just a bit. Coming around a corner I saw them standing on top of a hill. Too late. Of course they pulled me over. Funny enough in the countries where some people don’t have running water and toilets in the garden the police apparatchik is fully up to scratch - video speed thingy in their crappy Lada. So I could see myself doing 72 km/h around that corner. Hm no denying, I tried to claim that there was nothing wrong with the road and definitely no construction.
Well, language barrier is a real bitch - one word the police dudes knew was - Strafe (german for fine / penalty). So I was supposed to pay 12700 Tinge (around 60 Euro) but I tried to explain that I didn’t have that kind of money on me. One guy told me again 22 km/h over is 12700 Tenge. I again tried to explain that I did not have that much on me - which was true. So he shows me a 1000 Tenge note and kind of gesticulated I should pay up. I thought great 1000 T would be OK. So went over to the other copper in the car opened my wallet trying to find the small notes, of course the first one I pull out is a 5000 Tenge - swoop thats gone. Next a 1000 Tenge. That one goes too. So they let me off with that - 30 Euro.
Bad thing was that now I only had around 2000 Tenge in my pocket, in the middle of nowhere and around 600 km to the next really big town. 2000 T was around 600 km of petrol (at a pinch and buying the cheap and nasty stuff). I wasn’t sure if any of the small provincial towns in between would have an ATM or even a bank. First couple I came thru I didn’t see any. By lunch time I came to a bigger town which I hoped would have at least a bank if not an ATM. Thank god in town were two banks with ATMs side by side. So got money out, got petrol and had lunch.
Insert more bitching about the road conditions here if needed.
Stopped at small roadside hotel. Was looking forward for a shower but not sure yet what the story is with that. At the moment sitting in the cafe which was empty when I sat down but with in 20 minutes its now bursting with people. Ok now know why cafe buzzing - two overland busses stopped there. Also shower is a no no. Its a banya (bath house). Basically hot water from wood fired boiler and a laddle. At least feeling clean now.
Day 43
28. May 2009
Start: near Sargan, Kazakhstan
End: Georgievkay, Kazakhstan
Miles today: 380
Miles total: 7046
Odometer: 13300
Bike Dropped: 2
Speeding Tickets: 1
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