Day 49 - The Easiest Tour Repair of My Life

The lady running the hotel this morning (we saw her husband yesterday) was very curious and kept randomly walking into the room while we were waking up and getting ready! She came in to ask when we were leaving, came in with an English speaker on a call to ask the same question again, came in to ask where we were from/going, came in hugged us and took a picture (she was a very good hugger actually), came in to tut and leave... Getting changed and putting on chamois cream was somewhat stressful!

The weather improved from damp and grey to sunny as the day progressed, and the wind, well the wind was basically just neutral, at least by comparison! It was quite nice to just cycle along at normal speeds to be honest!

The road was very busy with lorries, most of which were overtaking horribly, so it was more scary than fun cycling. Lorry after lorry from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan passed carrying Chinese cars which prompted a whole discussion on shipping and driving routes - they're at least 4000km away from home!

The internet has been terrible for a few days now, both WiFi and mobile, and even in town Emma's data wasn't working, so we pulled into the first coffee shop in the city to find a hotel.

Although we had tomorrow ear-marked for jobs, we decided to go past the bike shop on the way to the hotel as it was still quite early. Spoiler alert - this proved to be an excellent decision! After circumnavigating the shopping centre a few times, we were invited inside by an excellent English speaker who said the shop was upstairs. Ignoring the grumpy cafe lady who told us we couldn't bring our bikes inside...into the bike repair shop...we carried them fully loaded up some stairs and into a Decathlon-style store. Confronted by a shelf of ice skates it wasn't looking hopeful for a technical repair, but the excellent English speaker produced a bike mechanic, translated the problem and I skeptically watched as my bike was taken into the workshop and the chap started whacking away. I needn't have worried though, as after 20mins of his precise but forceful attention, it was problem solved! Pannier rack fixed 😃!

Unfortunately one of the adjustment bolts was stripped (we won't mention Emma's multitool that was supposed to be replaced before the trip) and he couldn't get that undone, but it's a lot less critical and basically correctly positioned anyway.

The icing on the cake was the stack of bike boxes waiting at the back of the workshop! "Can we have two?" "Sure no problem." came the reply. We were quite incredulous that the two big jobs we'd left tomorrow to do had been solved so simply and painlessly within one hour of arrival - to the hotel then!

We'd had a recommendation from the English bike-tourers we'd met on the road for a restaurant. Great recommendation! It was an establishment focused on traditional Kazak culture, complete with incredible decor, live music, dancing and fantastic food! I haven't had that much trouble trying to decide what to order in a long time!

Of course we ordered so much food we got blocked from ordering the bread basket (we managed in the end, and finished it, but we could see why two non-cyclists couldn't!). Emma was particularly chuffed with her two salads. It was good food too and we left completely stuffed. We echoed the other tourer's thoughts that it feels like a tourist trap but with only locals. Eventually we worked out it's to allow Kazaks to celebrate their culture and enjoy actually good food in a faux, but nonetheless nice, traditional atmosphere with people lounging at the tables after the meal and kids running to and from the play room. Okay and perhaps also for the influencers to take pretty pictures for Instagram too.

We marvelled at the cake shop next door, but, believe it or not, were too full! That's self restraint that is! So we decided to get a beer at the bar next door. Walking in I was approached by a waiter in full Halloween outfit, who gestured from my head to toes "Ummm, sorry. No." Fair enough not in costume, except I notice just before leaving that no-one else is either. I'm simply not stylish enough. I mean I always knew it, but being actively rejected was fantastic - we laughed all the way back to the hotel 😂 and her delivery was the icing on the cake. No I didn't try again in lycra, although I was very tempted!

Food spend today: 58.61 euros