Easter Kazakh to Russia ( Altai) border- avoiding Semey! Where?

[maria41]

Hi,

@@@@@ i meant Eastern not easter! Typing with tablet and slow internet )

A fellow hubber in Osh ( Steffan) showed me in his phone a short cut to get into Russia.
We just made it to Kazakh, from Kyrgyz, via the eastern little border. Friendly border pass by the way!

Anyhow, we will now ride ( or limp - still problems with one bike ) to Russia.
I was seeing the main border, in caravanistan, seems to be via Semey.

Apparently there is a short cut, that Steffan showed me. Is that via Oskemen and Ridder? Is that border opened?
How is the road there? Taking into account the state of one of our bikes, and recent flooding in Altai?
Or should we stick with the main border via Semey?

Thanks for info!

Cheers,

[crisidsto]

The "non Semey"-"Non Barnaul" border is the Shemonaikha/Zmeinogorsk crossing up to Petropavlovskoe, as reported here:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...505#post468465

If arriving from south, you should take the road to Ust Kamenogorsk/Oskemen and then north to reach it (not east to Ridder, as that border is closed).

I don't know the situation now with the floodings in the russian Altai.

I opened yesterday a thread about it and I wish anybody with info can share

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...loodings-76805

[maria41]

Thanks Crisidsto! I saw your post on floods.
I will check the map and the link to the thread on KZ to MG fast route. Good info, sorry i missed that thread!

Cheers,

[crisidsto]

Enjoy the ride Maria, and let us know how the situation is...

cheers!

[NEVIL]

Hi Maria,
I rode through Semey last year and crossed the border to go on to Barnaul. It's actually a pretty good border crossing there. Is there any particular reason why you want to avoid it?

Kindest regards
Nevil

MotoExped - Home

[colebatch]

Its a frequent topic. The summary is this post has the detail of the route that will cut about 500 km off your track, and replace the boring truck filled highways and roadhouses that you see from Semey - Rubtsovsk - Barnaul - Gorno Altaisk ... with scenic Altai hills, quiet country roads and nomadic horsemen:

If you are coming up from Almaty, go thru Ust Kamenogorsk (Kazakhs call it Oskemen), then to Shemonaikha and the quieter border there.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...239#post342789

[maria41]

Hi Nevil,

My reasons for avoiding the main road are as per Walter explanation.

Also with one bike that is not right and cannot go beyond 40mph without shoking, we prefer to take the back roads and crazy trucks...


If the bike dies again, not sure what we will do. We spent too much money on it already....

Walter thanks for the link, i will dig for my map of the region. I cannot see any roads on Google Map between some of the towns mentioned... But saw Oskemen. I will aim for that after sorting registration.
And yes i know we can do it in five days , IF one of our bike was not about to die every minute!
So today Almaty.

[boarder]

Maria, the route the gents described above is the one I showed you.

[maria41]

Originally Posted by boarder

Maria, the route the gents described above is the one I showed you.

Thanks Steffan, that was the one I was after!