Down Time in Ayagoz

Next morning with spirits on a high and confidence that I had time to do the long way around Alakol Lake to Ayagoz, I started the journey towards the China Border. The road would take me to Lake Zhalanashkol where it would turn left just skirting the border with China along the east side of Alakol Lake

I reached Zhalanashkol alright but then the road turning left became off-road. I did a 10km run into the off-road hoping it was just a short stretch, but it looked like it was going to be this way all the way for the next 200km. I decided to turn back not wanting to fight a bad road, especially when the end destination was not a camping site anyway.

Alakol Lake toward China Border

The Remote Nature East Kazakhstan

Zhalanashkol Lake

It was a cold ride. I was going north after all, and the weather was not sunny but gloomy and cloudy with wind gust keeping my speedometer in check below 60km/hr. The journey today that was supposed to be easy 300km became a long day as I could not speed in the gust and the wind bite forced me to layer up and still got a chill to the bone.

I reached Ayagoz late in the evening and checked into the Hotel for 8000 tenge a night. There was another biker Andrian from Russia and he helped me translate in his limited English for the hotel owner. 

Ayagoz - Kazakhstan

Hotel in Ayagoz ... I have no idea the name of the Hotel ^^

I grabbed dinner quickly later and had a little chat with Andrian in the evening. I was invited to his place in Belokurikha Russia which was really along my route to Mongolia. We’ll see how things work out in a few days once I am in Russia, but I fully planned to visit him if it was possible.

I decided to stay two nights in Ayagoz. It was due time to rest up since I was running fairly fast since Almaty and I had time. Also, after camping last night in Alakol lake and the very tiring ride fighting the wind gust to Ayagoz, I could use the break.

The free day in Ayagoz and I had to start the day nearly shitting my pants. Must be something I ate few days back or not, but I woke up with a bad stomachache going to the toilet having cold sweats with all my limbs going weak. It was a good thing I decided to stay two nights in Ayagoz I mused to myself and of course the free day was to be a sick day.

Exploring Ayagoz 

Little local Market in Ayagoz 

Ayagoz

Supprised to see a bike shop in Ayagoz

Ayagoz Park

By midday there everything was ok and I seem to be back to normal, so I headed out for lunch and a short walk to explore Ayagoz. It was really a one street kind of town. Some soviet monuments which I could not relate to being from a different part of the world, but it was a slow moment to see the daily life Kazakh people which rarely seen a tourist.

The rest of the day was spent watching TV. I had stacks of series downloaded for downtime like this apart from writing and updating blogs. It was a good free day.

Travelled on: Sep 2024