Day 57, to Karakul, Kyrgyzstan, 138km , 4984km to date,  760m up, 1730m end

The ride today didn’t involve any real climbing, however awful roads, really bad gravel then bad pavement.  I’m starting to question the choice of route by the organizers, too often the route seems to be chosen for mountain bikes - that wasn’t in the “glossies”.

We crossed out of Kazakhstan and into Kyrgyzstan today.  Into country number five!  The border crossing was reasonable quick.  I’m missing something as to why it takes more time to exit a country (about an hour) than to enter (about 5 minutes).  I’m not sure about the big sign over the exit point from Kazakhstan that says “Good Luck”, seems to be suggesting that one is going to need it.

For those of you not aware, Kyrgyzstan is a small country surrounded by serious mountain ranges - dominated by the Pamirs to the south and Tian Shan to the East, in fact Kyrgyzstan is 95% mountains.  5 million people and the major industries are tourism, agriculture (pistacios).

Another country another currency, another conversion factor to have in your head.  The good news is that invariably the cost of a cold beer in the corner store is about $0.75 Cdn.  The currencies so far:

China, Yuan, about 5 yuan = $1Cdn

Russia, Ruble, about 50 ruble = $1Cdn

Mongolia, Tugrik, about 1,500 tugrik = $1Cdn

Kazakhstan,Tenge, about 260 tenge = $1Cdn

Kyrgyzstan, Som, about 50 som = $1Cdn

The map showing where I am:

 Some pics from the day: