8/14/2019 Cycling in Kazakhstan and China - Border Crossing Almaty to Korgas

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km Kazakhstan to China Almaty to Korgas0 We started 3km north ofAlmaty along Al Farabi Road

6 Almaty - Bottom of city centre - P19 road signposted to Talghar lots of road

works

28 Talghar shops and cafes couldn't see ropad that traverses hills so ended up

descending along a river to the main road

39 Joins A351 (main road) food stalls at junction from here many places to buyfruit and veg alongside the road.

78 Malovodhoe - shops

89 Track off to right into an orchard camping spots under trees very well hidden.

130 Beginning of Shilik (up to here there have been many small villages and stalls

selling fruit and veg.) Turn Left for centre of town or Right for Bypass.

134 Finally out ofShilik town a bit spread out market in centre

143 Bayseit better village for shops more manageable size

161 Road off to right by irrigation channel track goes through trees and there are

some places to camp that are slightly hidden

168 Road starts to climb up gorge

179 Flat area near top of climb really good for camping water in September

181 Kokpek Shops and cafes

188 Left turn heads directly towards Korgas. Straight on (more minor road) goes to theexcellent Charyn Canyon a 60km detour which is highly recommended

188+17 Left turn with picture signpost down dirt road to Charyn Canyon. Road quite badlycorrugated although some sections are good.

188+27 Guard gate and entrance to Charyn Canyon area - 384T per person (2008)

188+30 Bottom of canyon great camping by river. The whole place is spectacular. Wespent 2 hours wandering around the top of the canyon before descending to camp.There is a Yurt, a toilet, and a covered seating area. To return to the Korgas road

there is also another more direct route that heads along the river but we couldn'tfind it. We just had to retrace our steps.

188+60 Back at junction 7km outside Kokpek turn right

222 Charyn Canyon signposted 22km to right (this is the end of the road directly from

the canyon that we couldn't find)

230 Start to descend to river 3km later you meet the river camping everywhere.

240 Finally out of Charyn river and back on the high surrounding land Statue of Eagle

249 Shonzhy straght on (3km further) Shops and cafes. Left turn for bypass

259 Places to camp in trees on right

276 Tashqarasu cafe and shop

303 Bridge over big river Ile just after this Ile village off to left.

328 Choice of roads at roundabout. Straight on to Koktal bypass to right

329 Koktal - shops, cafes, bazaar. Follow road straight through town and then through

8/14/2019 Cycling in Kazakhstan and China - Border Crossing Almaty to Korgas

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forest.

348 Zharkent huge town with dual carriage way and lots of shops.

357 Small town with shop very friendly

358 Just as the 'river' heads away from the road there is a dirt track on your left itgoes to a grassy area hidden from the road last easy place to camp before the

border

360 Panjim shops off to side ask around377 First Kazakh control gate after passing long queues of traffic. Short cycle ride to

village ofKorgas

378 Kazakhstan Customs take your actual bike up through the customs hall wemissed out all security scanning they just waved us through. At the end of acovered tunnel we went through Passport Control with our bikes and then cycled the100m to another Kazakh control gate. From there it was 200m to the Chinese

border. Some travellers report being made to pay for a vehicle on this bit of road byeither the Kazakhs or the Chinese.

447 Chinese Border Control we left our bikes outside, went in and got theimmigration card completed. Then we put our bikes inside the passportcontrol/customs hall and did all the passport control and got our stamps. Our handluggage was searched and we were scanned. We then went all the way back, got

our bikes and walked through the whole customs hall without any kind ofinspection. It was really easy and everyone was very friendly.

449 Korgas - Traffic lights and Hotels off to right after ATM machine on right handcorner. Accepted Visa cards for withdrawal.