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Poppies on the Great Grass Sea: 16 Photos From My Ride Through Xinjiang and Kazakhstan

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Ürümqi /乌鲁木齐, China to Bishkek / Бишкéк, Kyrgyzstan–779 km this section (Total Mileage: 7616 km/40,075 km)

I’ve been on and off the road for the past few weeks, writing op-eds and letters for my application to join the Sustain.us delegation to the next UN climate conference in Marrakech, Morocco. In the time since I last posted photos, I’ve also had two border crossings to deal with, though luckily I’ve been able to make up for some of that lost time (for example, the 4 hours spent waiting for a bus driver who would agree to take me down the 1 km stretch of road between China and Kazakhstan, which is off-limits to non-motorized vehicles) by camping out at night and riding all day.

One problem: After three weeks in Russian-speaking countries, I still can’t really talk to anyone who doesn’t speak English. But that’s also an upside, because sometimes I get surprise sour fermented mare’s milk for lunch.

I had my absentee ballot for the Oregon primary mailed to Princeton in Asia fellows who I visited in Shihezi (red marker). I waited for it, long enough that my visa forced me to skip the section of road between there and the border. And it never even came :'(. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to try to receive my US government mail in one of the most politically fragile areas of a repressive state.

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The view from my friend’s apartment in Shihezi (thanks to Tony for hosting me and to Liz and Richard for hanging out!). Two years ago, one of the selling points of this fellowship post was its bright blue skies, but now the valley surrounding the city is one of the most polluted areas in China. Authorities in Beijing have striven in recent years to push polluting industries out of the heavily populated southern and eastern coasts. This may save lives in the long run, but it also pushes the environmental and health burdens of pollution onto the disproportionately poor and minority populations who populate more remote regions.
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Crappy cell phone camera through a bus window, but it captures some of the beauty of the bus ride from Shihezi to the border. I was kicking myself the whole time as I watched out the window–I’d never seen geography quite like that, the towering Tianshan mountains and the steep green gorges.
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This was probably the last time I’d be in China for a while (I hope to focus more in the near future on places where I can use my Spanish), but by the time I made it to the actual border, it had been so long since I’d seen a limestone gorge or rows of hot pot/fried vegetable restaurants, that I felt I’d been in the process of leaving the China I knew for months.
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Crossing the border was still a shock. China has three and a half times the land area of Kazakhstan, but nearly 80 times as many people. China has 7 cities with more people than Kazakhstan. I rarely camped in China because there were simply not that many flat places that didn’t have people in them. It’s been a relief to get a break from the bustle and to find wide open and unpolluted plains in their place.
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The head of Charyn Canyon National Park, with a statue of a steppe eagle (which is a national symbol of independence and has adorned flags in the region for centuries)
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Where the road cuts across it, the canyon is still broad and relatively flat. Based on the internet, I wish I had had the time to explore down into the deeper and more arid gorges.
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Pumped to be out camping, even when I have to bundle up against the mosquitoes (visible as little specks of blur in a cloud around my head). I was riding out of the Ili River valley that day, and when I was ready to stop for the day, I had to screech to a halt, jump of the bike and throw all my rain gear on to keep them off me.
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Almaty at dusk (Thanks to PiA fellows Liz and Robyn for hosting me!). Weeks of spring rain had caused numerous landslides that damaged houses, closed at least one road, and led the government to temporarily bar access to popular local recreation areas. Scientists say that climate change will continue to make extreme precipitation and flooding events more common in many regions around the world.
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Kazakhstan’s rich Caspian Sea oil fields have driven the country’s rise as one of the world’s largest oil exporters. Prices at the pump are also among the lowest in the world, at around $1.40/gallon ($0.37/liter). Car ownership more than doubled in the 7-year period between 2005 and 2012, though that also reflects the country’s rapid economic growth.
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Wind turbines near the Kazakh-Kyrgyz border. As of 2013, almost all of Kazakhstan’s energy came from coal. But its wide open plains mean that the country has the potential to produce 10 times its annual consumption from wind energy alone, giving it the potential to power much of the region’s energy supplies. The only barrier is investment, and that barrier is quickly disappearing as production prices plummet.
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West of Almaty, wildflowers blanket the grassy plains. I could try to find some climate-related justification to show you more photos of them, but I say we just be satisfied with their beauty.

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I arrived in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan a few days ago. It is both the national capitol and a border town, so I haven’t seen much of the country yet. I’ll be here for another week or so, applying for Kazakh and Azerbaijani visas and trying to find a rear cassette to replace the one that has taken me through 7,000 km of dust and rain and snow. Next, I plan to travel South and the West through more mountainous areas, so hopefully I’ll get a better feel for the nation before I cross back into Kazakhstan.

5 thoughts on “Poppies on the Great Grass Sea: 16 Photos From My Ride Through Xinjiang and Kazakhstan”

    1. The wildflower photos are breathtaking. You look good, healthy, happy, and on the move! We think about you and talk about you all the time here in Eugene! Keep the photos and news coming!

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  2. Your pictures are quite telling of your travels. The flowers are wonderful. You look like your dad in the “mosquito” photo.

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  3. Pingback: Milestones. – 360 by bike

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