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On this trip, one of the things that has kept me going is the anticipation of moving on to the next country; a new border, a new language, food culture, landscapes,etc. Especially after having ridden nine weeks in Central Asia, I was growing tired of the language, the food, the culture and the landscape of the region. In addition, returning to China (having first come in 2006), was one of the major motivations for this journey; needless to say, I was very excited about entering the "Middle Kingdom."

Christian (my German cycling buddy for the past week) and I had arrived at the border after it had closed. As border towns tend to be, Irkestam was a vile collection of shipping containers and trailers crudely converted into shops/houses for the locals eking out a living of selling convenience goods to passing truckers. With broken glass and other trash strewn everywhere, it was not a place to hang out for the night. With our last bits of Kyrgyz money, we bought some Fanta and a bottle of disgusting beer and cycled back a mile or so to an unusual patch of greenery next to the river to make camp and celebrate over a meal of yummy pasta.

The next morning we coasted through Kyrgyz and then Chinese border formalities and enjoyed significant the significant downhills on the well-paved Chinese roads. After weeks of really bad roads throughout the 'Stans, China offered asphalt and it was just so fun to ride downhill on a smooth road! The landscape slowly changed from the dramatic snowy peaks we saw in Kyrgyzstan, to the less ragged, arid, brownish ranges of western China.

Downhill into China

From China's western border to the next real city, Kashgar, was still a three day ride and these days were simply a pleasure: downhill riding, no traffic, good roads, beautiful scenery.

Local resident