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

The Passing Dream of Samarkand

There are some stretches of a journey that I forget to record them. I somehow missed writing Samarkand into my journal and now had to think hard of what I even did there. Photos helped jogged the memory of places visited but the blank state of mind while wondering and exploring Samarkand feels like a visit during a dream and not real

I remember arriving late in the evening, the lights of the city flickering to life. After the preserved, almost theatrical silence of Bukhara and Khiva, Samarkand hit me differently. This was a proper, breathing modern city. Cars, people, life. And yet, woven into the very fabric of its bustling streets were monuments so grand, so ancient, that the only comparison my tired mind could conjure was Rome. History isn't kept behind velvet ropes here; it's just part of the city's furniture.

Registan Square - Samarkand

Registan Square - Samarkand

I spent my evenings in the simplest, most profound way. I would walk to Registan Square, find a spot on the cool stone floor, and just sit. As the last light of day left the sky, I'd watch the three majestic madrasahs put on their own light show, their turquoise tiles glowing against the deepening blue. No guidebook, no plan, just me and the ghosts of caravans that once gathered here. It was my nightly ritual, a moment of perfect peace.

The days were for wandering. I found my way to the quieter, but no less fascinating, Hazrat Khizr Mosque, then walked under the colossal arch of the Bibi-Khanym Mosque, trying to comprehend its sheer scale. One afternoon, I abandoned the quiet streets and hopped on the back of a rattling moto-taxi for a trip to the outskirts. It took me to the remains of Ulugbek's Observatory, a testament to a mind that looked to the stars while empires crumbled below.

The modern side of Samarkand 

Ulugbek's Observatory

The Inside Scale measurement of Ulugbek's Observatory

Ulugbek's Observatory

From there, a long, contemplative walk led me to the quiet, sacred spot of the Prophet Daniel Mausoleum. It's a humble place, nestled by a stream, but it holds a story that stopped me in my tracks. Daniel, I learned, is one of the few figures revered by all three Abrahamic faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The Jews know him as the prophet Daniel, the one thrown into the lions' den and saved by his faith. Christians revere him the same way. For Muslims, he's known as Prophet Daniyar (or Khoja Daniyar)—a saintly figure, even though his name doesn't appear in the Qur'an, he's honoured in Islamic tradition.

Khoja Daniyar Mausoleum

Khoja Daniyar Mausoleum

Travelled on: Jul 2024