Yilite Hotel Yining

... As most of you know, Kaz. is the country I have been most apprehensive about visiting - having read much about it's people and the land.
The countryside into Zharkent was just patchy cropping with cows and donkeys roaming the roads...and a few vehicles. We have been given much advice about the omnipresent traffic police, bribes, speed limits and current car insurances. So we drove to Zharkent VERY cautiously aiming to get our car ...

... explained in the forthcoming blokes blog. Then it was waiting waiting waiting..... At last the call came to get our vehicle inspected ready for departure. No problems there so it seemed that it was all on. We said our fond farewells to the lovely Helen and they opened the gates and through we went. S had a sense of foreboding but at first things went smoothly until our final clearance seemed to take forever. So we ...

... I could have quite happily stayed for another night. Love the late sunsets (10.15pm last night) and the spectacular scenery. We were lulled into a false sense of security as we left this amazing part of the world. Soon we were driving on the most appalling road yet. This is the main highway to the border and is being totally rebuilt, but there is no alternative road. You just drive off ...

Urumqi - Sayram Lake.(Sailimu Lake) 545k's.
We're sorry we have been so behind with the blog but we are trying to get up to date now before we title the muddled photos from the previous five blogs.
A lovely clear day when we left at 8.15am this morning travelling all the way on great roads. Pollution is rife with us driving in and out of smoggy areas. Despite this, well tended crops have been growing on either side ...

... in the distance. I'm still waiting for the day to come when something doesn't happen to me on the road. In the early afternoon, a motorcycle in front of me turned left from the right side of the road without a signal. I was going too fast to stop in time. I swerved to the left and knocked his bike over as I passed. I drove back to see what had happened. Needless to say, the driver was furious with me. I had knocked one of his mirrors ...

The pinnacle of this crazy day came when walking across the Yili River bridge, I heard what sounded like the sound of people yelling at a car accident. When I focussed on the scene, I realized that a woman had just jumped or had been pushed out of a moving taxi crossing the bridge. As soon as she got to her feet, she takes two steps, climbs the bridge railing and jumps into the swift moving Yili River. Dumbfounded, I just stood ...

after a bunch of somewhat stressful days in kazakhstan, we finally had a breakthrough and were granted our chinese visas in only a matter of hours. we celebrated at B.P.C. an old soviet-type restaurant with great food, and arranged a car to pick us up from our Almaty hotel at 4 am. we pulled all ...