Troubles come in Threes - Bike troubles from Kyzylorda to Zhezqazghan

It was supposed to be a long and boring journey from Kyzylorda to Zhezqazghan. A long boring road through the Betpak-Dala desert which was roughly 440km without anything in between. 

For once I had to siphon off petrol into a bottle for extra capacity. I could probably do the distance running the fuel to its fumes, but it was always good to be extra careful now that I am traveling solo again. For info the bike had a 15 liter tank capacity and that would give me roughly 400km.

I siphon off 1.5 liter of fuel into a water bottle and top up the fire kit fuel bottle 0.5 liter full. That morning I refueled again at Kyzylorda making sure the tank was really-really overflowing full and then set off to run the distance crossing the vast Betpak-Dala desert.

Siphoning Petrol for the Long Journey Crossing Betpak-Dala Desert

Betpak - Dala Desert 

The initial journey was bad roads and looking just on my left was a good-finished tarmac road not yet open. After nearly 20km of bad road getting on my nerve especially when there was a perfect asphalt running parallel, I decided to go off-road to find a path onto the tarmac. 

These construction workers really blocked up all the path to the unopened road but that was for cars and lorry. Nothing a small bike squeezing though can’t handle I thought.

Trying to go through the blockade, it was soft powdery sand. So soft that my bike sink in and got stuck. I had to dig out the powder and find some good sand for traction then fully open throttle on first gear to get out of the hurdle and then I was finally on good tarmac so it was worth it I thought.

Got Stuck Trying to jump the Soft Powder Barricade

Finally Good Tarmac 

Fixed Puncture using Screw Type Sealing Kit

I noticed then that I had a flat rear tire. The rear tire was ok before trying to jump the barricade to get onto the tarmac so somehow inside the soft sand I got a punctured tire. 

It was my first time throughout the journey and also a first time having to use the tire puncture repair kit that I carried around. I had the screw on type repair kit which was not common and I did not know if it would work. Luckily it worked like a charm and within minutes I was back on the road.

All the effort to hop onto the unopened road allowed me to travel a good 5km before it was the end of the road. I had to backtrack and it was back onto the shitty construction grade road. Soon the construction road ended after 20km and they allowed us onto the new finished tarmac road so all was good. 200Km of good roads and open field desert with nothing in between.

First 200km of Good Roads along the Betpak-Dala Desert

No shade no rest-stop so I had to push on until I saw something like a trucker stop which turned out to be actually the road construction workers rest stop. 

I got some drinking water from them and after a small talk revealed that further ahead the good asphalt road would disappear only to be replaced by rubbish off-road of a total 200km all the way to Zhezqazghan.

The roads were horrible. Worse than the Pamir Highway in fact and while not totally un-rideable, it was still a slow process costing precious time. I ended up having to ride at night to get to Zhezqazghan. 

At sunset I contemplated just camping in the desert but with all the water I had been drinking along the way, I had insufficient water to camp out for the night.

200km of Bumpy Roads along the Betpak-Dala Desert

Ride through the night but a little break for sunset

Push on riding in the dark night slowly and somewhere 100km before Zhezqazghan when I stopped for a water break, I noticed that there was petrol leaking. I had a leak somewhere from the petrol tank with 100km to go and fuel gauge already blinking while 50km ago I had just poured in 1.5 liters of spare fuel.

Fortunately, I managed to reach Zhezqazghan by 10pm then scrambled to find a hotel and then it was food and sleep. The next morning, I finally had time to really check the petrol leakage situation. With the tank nearly empty, it was still leaking petrol, so it was time to do some MacGyver stint to fix it.

The First Indication of Fuel Leakage at Betpak-Dala Desert

I walked around Zhezqazghan to buy some supplies getting advice from messages on Instagram and what-app from friends. A bar of soap, a pack of chewing gum, two-part quick setting epoxy glue, sandpaper and epoxy putty. The last one was pure luck that I found the auto shop selling epoxy putty and decided to just buy it.

Back at the hotel and I knew it was going to be a two-night stay for the whole day would be spent just striping and trying to work out a solution to fix the leak. Stripping all baggage and then the seat, the source of the leak was obvious with a hairline crack seeping fumes of petrol slowly.

Quick DIY shopping for Patching the Petrol Leak

Stripped The Bike, Found the Leak and Sealed with a Bar of Soap

Double Down with Quick Setting Glue 

I sanded off the paint to get a better look and then it was time to see if the trick taught by Mechanic Moh back in 2018 in Langkawi would work. Rub in a bar of soap where the leak was and almost instantly the leaking fuel stopped. 

It was like magic and I rubbed in more soap before fully cleaning up the excess. No more leak. I then proceeded to apply the two-part super glue to further make a seal for the hairline crack and then finally applied epoxy putty to hopefully hold everything together

Repack the bike and took it out for refuel and as I headed back to the hotel after lunch, I noticed it was leaking again. I removed everything and re-do the patch but this time without the epoxy putty. The amount of two-part super glue was applied more generously, and I left it there for the next day.

Moving on from Zhezqazghan

Checking out the next day I thought of going to Zhoshi Khan Mausoleum which was 50km away but 20km in while at the traffic light, I noticed a little petrol leak. Double back to the hotel but along the way I picked up a variety of epoxy glue. Stripped the bike again and the leak was subtle but going through a crack from the two-part super glue.

My theory is that while I could seal the leak with soap and glue, the vibration and bad road when riding the bike cause the temporary glue seal to crack and the hairline crack that the soap is applied is compress and stretch making the petrol able to leak through slowly again.

This time round I was no longer using normal super glue nor was I going to use epoxy putty. I was straight up going for metal epoxy which was two parts with resin and hardener. While all the other glue only cost me 1000 tenge this little epoxy liquid was going to cost me 5000 tenge. 

Redo the seal and now letting it cure hoping that tomorrow this patch would last me 20000km all the way back to Malaysia.

Traveled on: Aug 2024

The Normal Life of a Traveler from Shymkent to Turkistan to Kyzylorda

Shymkent was a nice change of pace from all the Uzbekistan cities. It did not feel crowded and the city was spread out with lots of shops and malls scattered about. My initial plan of just staying one night in Shymkent changed to two nights to slow down the pace since there was a nice cosy hostel and a chill city to stroll around doing nothing.

There were some sights in Shymkent like old archaeology heritage sites, but I did not make much an effort to see it. By the time I walked pass the site, it was already late evening and closed. 

Cold Mead Bar on a Hot day in Shymkent

Walking Around Shymkent

The weather was still burning hot in Shymkent so most times during the day was spend hopping from one shopping mall to another in nice cool air-conditioning just finding the food outlets to hang about reading books and scrolling nonsense while waiting for the nice evening weather.

Shymkent

Shymkent Park

Shopping Mall in Shymkent

Two nights and then it was a short ride to Turkistan. I initially wanted to stay in Turkistan for three nights to see all the sights slowly. The first day itself in Turkistan and I knew I would not linger about too long in Turkistan. It felt whitewashed that most of the silk road monuments were reconstructed too beautifully.

In addition, there were these new buildings adjacent to the historical sites, built to look like a tourist trap making the whole ancient city of Turkistan feel like one huge, constructed tourist gimmick. It was a too clean a city I felt, and even going further outskirt of Turkistan, the places feel too new.

Turkistan Museum

Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi - Turkistan

Karavan Saray - Turkistan

I did a day trip to Sauran Ancient city and that was a good waste of time. The long journey of 90km to the site was along the way to Kyzylorda but to be frank it was a 10 minute detour maximum. The deterrent was that there was no direct turn into the Sauran Ancient City site, forcing me to make an additional 30km run just to find the U-turn.

Turkistan was a slight disappointment to be honest; hence I left after stretching out two nights and made my way further away from the tourist path to Kyzylorda. The journey itself was boring, straight roads through the desert but slightly dangerous with all the sudden heavy cross wind coupled with many truckers overtaking me since I could not go fast.

Sauran Ancient City - Kazakhstan

Sauran Ancient City - Kazakhstan

Kyzylorda turn out as expected. Nothing of interest and I just zipped around town with Bragge seeing without thinking much. No hostel as well in Kyzylorda as well since it’s not a touristic place. Hotel was one of the most expensive I have paid in Central Asia costing me 16500 tenge. It was a classic old soviet style hotel, so the experience was interesting at least for the price.

Memorial Park in Kyzylorda - Kazakhstan

Travelled on: Aug 2024

Border Crossing from Uzbekistan (Tashkent) to Kazakhstan (Shymkent) with a Malaysian Passport & Motorcycle

It was time to say goodbye to Uzbekistan and further continue my exploration in Kazakhstan. While the silkroad cities were beautiful and a wonder to look at, the burning hot weather constantly around 40 degrees during the day was a super large deterrent to do anything.

I decided loitering around just to sit down every day at the main square in the evening and admire the old architecture Madrasahs was not so enjoyable when the bulk of the day was wasted hiding in the air-con room.

Tashkent-Shymkent Border - Uzbekistan side

I rode to the border in the morning and at the Uzbekistan side got down and pass on my passport with Vehicle Ownership Certificate (VOC) to the customs officer for processing. There are no temporary import papers like other countries for the bike if you remembered my previous post when entering Uzbekistan.

It took maybe 15 minutes for the officer to key in stuff into the system and then I was told to open up the box for customs check. Top box cleared, side panniers opened and rummage through, main bag looked through and finally a few questions was asked which I could not understand.

The guards mimed the questions for me which translate to,

Do you have any Guns ??? NO

(Mimed like a person holding a rifel and shooting)

Do you have any Drugs ??? NO

(Mimed like someone injecting his own hand with drugs)

I was cleared to go and the little slip for customs check was stamped and I could now move forward a hundred meters to clear immigration. Stamped out quickly of Uzbekistan and a short ride to the gate separating Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. I passed the little customs paper slip and was cleared to leave.

At the Kazakhstan side, It was customs first and this time I got a custom declaration paper for Bragge which was similar to a temporary vehicle import permit, but they actually call it ex-soviet custom union papers. 

Shymkent - Tashkent Border - Kazakhstan Side 

This was the first time getting the custom union papers from Kazakhstan since the last time I crossed into Kazakhstan I was holding onto the Kyrgyz customs union papers. Same procedure again at the Kazakhstan side for immigration and then baggage check. All in all the whole process took maybe an hour.

So what I realized is that the customs union papers for Uzbekistan was independent hence there was a new issuance of custom papers from Kazakhstan side. The previous crossing from Kyrgyz to Kazakh had no paper because they share this. 

I was using the Kyrgyz paper in Kazakh actually but this time round I had the Kazakh customs papers and when I cross back into Kyrgyz a month later I was actually using the Kazakh papers in Kyrgyzs. A very interesting customs union in this part of the world

Back in Kazakhstan and onward to Shymkent

Travelled on: Aug 2024

Daytrip to Chimgan from Tashkent

Summer was HOT in Uzbekistan. I was mostly burning and overheating when riding around the country but somehow the bike was holding up very well with the air and oil cooling system. Hence when I found out about Chimgan mountain which was a short trip from Tashkent, I decided to ride and check out the ski-resort although it was summer.

Weather was beautiful with good roads and as I started climbing higher elevations, the greenery and cool air was a stark difference and completely unexpected compared to the rest of Uzbekistan which was mostly dessert with oasis.

Chimgan

The highlight for the road trip was the Chimgan ski-resort. Simple but in Winter this was a ski adventure activity. In summer, it was a scary cable car with no safety ride for a good view of Chimgan valley.

Chimgan Ski-Resort Lift

Quite the scary cable car

The loop bring me around to Charvak Reservoir, a beautiful azure-blue lake water that was just pure scenic ride. I did the loop all the way to Kara-Bulak making a whole circle around the lake and time passed without knowing and soon it was time to go back to Tashkent where I had to packed up to leave the next day to Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Charvak Reservior

Travelled on: Jul 2024

Exploring Tashkent & Motorbike Maintenance

I wonder why Tashkent gets so less attention compared to the three major silk road cities in Uzbekistan. It was a lovely place  for any overlander like myself looking for a place to crash and rejuvenate for a few days.

Most days were spent on foot exploring Tashkent via their subway system which was like a Art Museum. I could not help but keep stopping at random station just to have a look at the architectural beauty of its station. A clean city and most times I was just walking around randomly at parks

Cosmonaut Theme Station

Beautiful Dome Architectural Ceiling

Not sure ... Modern Art in Subway Station of Tashkent

Also, for a biker, this was the only reliable city to get any maintenance done to the bike in the entire country of Uzbekistan. A quick message to my saviour Sergei from back in Tajikistan Anzob tunnel for a meet up was quickly drowned in sorrow. 

He was going overseas for work that week and I would miss the chance to catch up in his home city. Still, he gave me the run-down how to get bike parts in the city which was quite interesting on its own.

First off was to track down the Auto-market or bazaar which has every motor, car, tractor, bus, truck, bike parts shop jammed into a size of a football field with some unknown system that took me time to decipher. 

Eventually I found the area where bike parts were sold and then it was the issue of getting the right parts. I needed sprockets, chain, engine oil, fork oil, brake pads, spark plugs and probably some things I was not even aware of.

Bike Parts Shop in Tashkent .. I kinda forgot the name since it was in Uzbek letters

Replenish Parts 

Great Owner that help me identify the correct part type 

The second issue was that the bike parts shops like any other country in Central Asia, only sell the parts and don’t have the mechanic to tinker with the bike. The master as the call them (mechanics) was at another place and after much translation, I got a contact for a bike pit called Moto_Garage13.

Somehow between translation, google maps and some local directions, I managed to find the unmarked Moto-Garage and the boyz. They did a great job servicing my front forks, changing sprockets and even welding back my hole ridden exhaust. 

Absolute master works I would say as I hang out with them the whole day while they worked on the bike. Apparently, they had training in Russia for bike maintenance and most bikes in Uzbekistan was so niche that only a few mechanics were available.

@moto_garage13 - Tashkent

Patched all the Exhaust Holes 

Front Fork Oil Change & Service 

After major maintenance was done, I did a day trip the next day to Chimgan Valley and somehow notice that my exhaust guard protector was missing. Probably dropped off somewhere (It has already dropped off a few times but those times I noticed and picked it up from the road). This time it was gone with the wind, and I returned to Moto-Garage hoping something could be done.

A custom-made exhaust protector was carved up from scrap metal, and upon my request, they carved up their Instagram ID onto the protector which makes it even more special to me.

@moto_garage13 - Tashkent

A photo with the Boyz which help fix up Bragge

Travelled on: July 2024