London to Sydney Motorcycle Adventure Episode 3 Continental Drift

That night I managed to get Darren's bike going and in the morning we headed off, but it wasn't long before the fuel pump died again. It needed replacement. And there's not too many motorcycle shops on the Stans. Without a new part our trip was over. There was only one alternative. Truck Darren's bike, the 1600 kilometers to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, and hopefully sorted out from there. And there was an added pressure. We needed to knock over the 1600 kilometers to Astana in 48 hours. What's your name? My name is Arman. Arman. Arman. Your name? My name is Dima. For the next 48 hours Dima and Arman would immerse Darren in the Kazakh disco scene. I'd stay on the bike and by the sound of that music I'm glad I did. We arrived in Astana completely stuffed, but we were now back on schedule. We were back in the race. Five hours sleep in the last 48 hours. Darren and I have been absolutely hammered. Darren's fuel pump went, but we kept on going. We hired a truck and we've made it to Astana. This is the capital of Kazakhstan. It's a beautiful city. And whilst we soaked up the city lights, the pressure was still on. We needed to get a replacement fuel pump and we still had to move forward towards the Chinese border. We decided to get the fuel pump delivered to Almaty, 1200 kilometers to the south of the country. We would send the bikes by train and we would fly out to prepare for their arrival and to ensure that we received the spare parts on time. Andrei. Andrei. Hello Andrei. Hello. Hello. Right, well we're just going to the airport of Andrei. Me and Dave, we've put the bikes onto the train station to freight them over to Almaty and things are looking good. Well, good is, uh, we can cover a number of different situations. So we turn the page in the next chapter and, uh, the way this story is run, I don't know where we're going to end up or what's going to happen next, but let's see how we go. After all, it is an adventure. We're in Almaty at the foothills of the Himalayas. We're probably just under halfway or just over halfway for our journey and it's been a tumultuous one. We've had mechanical problems, we've had visa problems, it's been sometimes really challenging, but we've managed to work our way through them. The good news is that our parts for Darren's bike have arrived and now all we've got to do is cross our fingers that the Kazakhstan train system actually manages to get Darren's bike down here to Almaty. Oh Darren, come on. Having the fuel pump in my hot little hand In Russia, Alex had taught me how to change them. It's a relatively simple procedure and now all I needed was Darren's bike. From now on we would be filtering our fuel to prevent this happening again. Now all we needed were the bikes. Would Kazakh Rail come up with the goods on time? My blood pressure was starting to rise. We're sincerely hoping that in this caboose are our two motorbikes. It's kind of a mixed sort of Christmassy sort of feeling at the moment, a few butterflies, but that's one challenge if the bikes are in there. The other challenge is how the hell are we going to get them down off that drop? They must be over four foot. As the door opened to that freight car, I just needed to touch those bikes. They had traveled 1,200 kilometers on the Kazakhstan railway system and had arrived on time and intact. Things were looking up. The only challenge remaining was to fit the fuel pump and then we would be on our way. The Kazakh people are happy and hard working and always willing to help and I will never forget their kindness when Darren and I were at our lowest point. But as this chapter closes in the adventure, the biggest surprise of our trip was just around the corner, Kyrgyzstan, or as we would later call it, Adventureland. It's a big relief to get this baby going again. Obviously we'll have to start filtering the fuel every time we fill up. The fill went black, so obviously it's taking the dirt in board. In Russia and Kazakhstan, Darren and I had paid the price of not filtering our fuel, causing fuel pump failure. We now had six days to get to the Chinese border and we simply didn't have the luxury of any more downtime. It was great to leave the Stans, that huge flat grassland that had been our home for three weeks. Mountains were now close by, but these weren't any mountains. These were the Tien Tien Mountains, sisters to the Himalayas. We're about 120 kilometers from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan and the last couple of days have been a little bit harrowing, but it all came together for us. But I've got to tell you, we've just been riding along here and both of us have had a bit of fuel pump anxiety. It was quite funny, we just stopped down the road there and both of us were reluctant to turn our bikes off and the first thing Darren did was pull out a spanner to see if his axle was on. So on the back of our minds, we're just so used to having little dramas that now we're trying to find them. But that anxiety was soon overtaken by a sense of awe of this magnificent country. Kyrgyzstan is made for adventure, with 90 percent of its surface area either mountains, glaciers or lakes, its rugged beauty is just breathtaking. It had been a great day and we would stay beside Lake Izay-Kol, the second largest mountain lake in the world, before riding to higher altitudes. Today's been fantastic. First day back on the road, good early start this morning. Got across the border very swiftly, made Kyrgyzstan. I'm going to meet the boys later today and it's been great to be back riding a bike. We had now been on the road for nearly a month and had travelled 8,000 kilometres. Our sights were now set on reaching Mount Everest base camp on the Chinese side of the Himalayas. With just five days to go before we entered China, our next task was to meet up with the two Yorkshire riders, John Pullen and John Midgley, who would accompany us through China. Riding through China is very costly as you are required to have a guide and four-wheel-drive support. Four riders reduced individual costs considerably. Well we've grouped into four now. The two blokes from Northern England have joined us, the two Johns, in preparation for our trip through China. It's nice to have a bit of additional company. They're top blokes. With our two additional riding companions, we spent the day climbing into the Tianxian mountains. The riding conditions were brilliant and the scenery was constantly changing. By the afternoon we would reach a height of three and a half thousand metres. We didn't know it at the time but these days we spent at altitude would help us acclimatise to the more challenging heights in the Himalayas. But right now we were living for the moment. This land, this magic place is what adventure riders dream of and it was right here in front of us. Just three more sleeps to go before we entered China. Our goal of riding to Everest Base Camp on the Chinese side of the Himalayas was within reach. But in the late afternoon we now had to focus on finding a safe and comfortable campsite. As we rode down that small hill we couldn't believe what was set out before us. It was the best campsite we'd ever seen. We had stumbled upon the magnificent alpine lake Songkhol, which lay at an altitude of 3,000 metres. On this valley floor, Kyrgyz nomadic herders had brought their horses and cattle to graze on the rich summer grass. It was hard to believe for most of the year this valley laid under deep snow with the lake frozen solid. But now in the heat of the summer the herders were making the most of fattening their animals. Yurts dotted the valley and it wasn't long before a friendly local came to visit. My name is David. My name is Simuk. Hello Simuk, how are you? Simuk. Simuk, what a lovely horse you have. And a lovely dog. Here's Rex the dog. Oh good. Hello Rex. He lives in a yurt just down the valley but if you look on the hillside, that's his sheep. On the hill there? Up there, yeah. 500. That's a fair amount of sheep, isn't it? He was doing, he said wheelie and he said wheelie on the horse and he pulled the horse up. Simuk was a competent rider and he had to be. With the help of his horse and dog Rex, the safety and well-being of 500 head of sheep rested with him. Nice to see you. It was the family's livelihood, a big responsibility for a small boy. In the morning we met Simuk's grandfather and we traded places, horsepower for horsepower. I can't quite put my finger on it but there is something special about the Kyrgyz people that makes you feel so positive. It's in their faces. They are confident and warm and know how to have fun and are always willing to share what little they have. In planning for this trip, Darren and I had completely underestimated what Kyrgyzstan had to offer. If we would have known, we would have extended our stay. This place has everything an adventure rider could ever ask for. Oh you need a bit of break around here. What a magnificent adventure trail that was in the heart of Kyrgyzstan. We've been so fortunate to find that and now we're heading to a main road that'll take us to Naryn. Our city stay for the night and then we're only 300 kilometres from the Chinese border. On our final day in Kyrgyzstan, the hospitality and kindness continued. Thank you very much. Can we sit? Thank you. Hummus. Thank you. My manners got the best of me. I thought it would be rude not to take food that was offered but I would regret taking that sip of hummus. My stomach didn't cope too well with unfamiliar food. I already had runs on the board in the Ukraine where I nearly crapped my pants but by tomorrow I'd be well on the way to smashing a century of runs and I would get to know the Chinese medical system intimately. We are now about 3 000 meters. We're not far from the Kyrgyzstan exit point which is I think somewhere right there. Tomorrow we would start the next chapter of our adventure by leaving Kyrgyzstan over the 4 700 meter Tulga Pass before heading to Kashgar in western China, a famous silk road city. We arrived in Kashgar to a rock star welcome. The burgeoning Chinese middle class had taken the four-wheel drive adventures like ducks to water and they loved our bikes. But for my life the past two days hadn't been pleasant. I was paying dearly for the Kyrgyz hummus. I've been crapping now for two days, shooting out water at these most unusual toilets. It's been excellent. Hopefully life will improve. But it didn't and I became badly dehydrated. After 36 hours of constant diarrhea we had to get Dave some medical attention. We tried all the counter remedies like the gastro stop and the diurelites but he's just not giving up. So he's gone off to the hospital. Yeah so I've been on a drip for the last four hours. My food for the next couple of days is bread and warm water. Otherwise my little crap hole is going to fall out. I'm now a convert to the Chinese medical system. It is amazingly efficient and leaves our Australian system for dead. I had been seen by a doctor in 10 minutes, had my poo sample analysed in five and started my treatment 20 minutes after entering the hospital. To cap it off the fusion of eastern and western medicine made for a much quicker recovery but you just had to jump into the treatment boots and all even if it was unfamiliar to you. You've got this bottle and you punch a hole in it and then you drink it like a straw. Regrettably due to my illness we didn't get to explore this important silk road city that linked ancient trade routes from eastern southern and western Asia and had been home to Marco Polo in 1273 and Genghis Khan around the same time. We now had 10 days to ride onto the Himalayan plateau and reach Mount Everest base camp in Tibet. National Highway Road G219 winds its way through the Himalayan plateau and would take us to Mount Everest base camp. In recent years China has invested heavily in road building but the Himalayas are a challenge to tame and recent heavy flooding had destroyed roadworks and we were in for some challenging times. We're about 100 kilometres out of Yiching and we've just reached the foothills of the Himalayas. I think we're at about 2400 metres and we're climbing. I think that'll be the last of 2400 metres. I think for the rest of the 10 days we'll be at 3000, three and a half thousand plus. Anyway look forward to the view this looks spectacular.