Daily updates (Week 5-ish)

Day 35 (Aktobe - Aral)

We went and fond aome new tyres for Kermit as a couple of tyres were looking bald and we know that we have some hard and remote roads ahead of us, so we need some full spares. We met a guy there who asked of he could take a photo of Jason with his son and then have us 20,000 tenge (about $60 AUD) because he said he wanted to be part of the journey. We tried to refuse but he stuffed it in the car. The Kazakh people are so friendly, probably the friendliest we have met on thia journey yet.

We then drove to Aral, which is beside the Aral Sea, a sea that has virtually disappeared as they diverted the rivers that fed it for irrigation.

We ended up meeting up with about 7 or 8 teams in Aral and had a fun night out at a restaurant and Karaoke bar.

Day 36 (Aral - Kyzlorda)

The drove through Kazakhstan has mostly been unending plains of arid grassland and today was no different.

We stopped along the way for a swim in a lake, via a sandy 'toll' road. Refreshing swim in an albeit shallow lake was a come oasis in our desert drive.

The highlight was camping with a couple of teams just outside a reasonable sized city called Kyzlorda. We didn't know but we were actually on a farmers property and when he drove past he hopped out to tell us it was ok to camp there, just not to light any fires.

Day 37 (Kyzlorda - Shymkent)

Today was a big day driving as we headed south for Uzbekistan and the Pamir highway. To break up the drive we decided to find a swim along the way as we had done the previous day.

The first lake we stopped at had a sign saying it was forbidden. The next one had a gate blocking us from entry. While we were trying to translate the sign on the gate and work out if we could go beyond, a guy arrived and asked (through Google translate) if we were trying to for a swim. When we said yes he went and opened the gate and motioned for us to follow him. Turns out this guy owned this property and it was the sole property fronting the lake. He took us down and motioned us towards a jetty on the lake where we went and had a nice swim. After Jason hopped out three guys sitting at a table on the tiered hillside above the lake indicated for him to join them, where he was fed their homemade blackberry moonshine and some of the local bread with an amazing salad of homegrown tomato and onion. The only dressing was some salt. This was the start of really fun afternoon drinking and eating with the other Russian visitors, whilst getting tours of the "hotel" that the owner was building and his home, with the Catalans who had joined us by then.

We then headed off to meet the other teams weve been traveling with at a nice hotel that had a sauna and pool room which we booked for a couple of hours before we went out to a nice restaurant and tried a lot more of the local Kazakh dishes, which were great.

Day 38 (Shymkent - Tashkent)

Most of the day involved crossing the border from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan. Took about 6 hours to get through and with the rest of the driving

Day 39 (Tashkent - Samarkand)

Day 40 (Samarkand - Dushanbe)

Day 41 (Dushanbe - Kalaikhum)

Day 42 (Kalaikhum - Khorog)

Day 43 (Khorog - Murghab)

Day 44 (Murghab - Osh)

Day 45 (Osh)

Day 46 (Osh - Toxtogul Reservoir)

Day 47 (Toxtogul Reservoir - Almaty)

Day 48 (Almaty)

Day 49 (Almaty - Lake Alakol)

Day 50 (Lake Alakol - Oskemen)

Day 51 (Official end of Mongol Rally in Oskemen)