Murphys Silkroad was originally named Alpide Belt and was planned as a six-week trip home from Mongolia to Germany.My KTM 640 was still in Ulaanbataar from the trip over Siberias BAM Road. After the offroad fireworks last year I had worried already that I would be bored with the trip over the Pamir and along the Silk Road. Unfortunately everything was different and I was confronted with a streak of bad luck with epic proportions.



The start in Mongolia was still half-decent and we had a good time in the northern foothills of the Gobi desert. Due to the weather, a deep dive into mountain roads and off-road trails in the Altai is too critical. In Kazakhstan our paths separate. Cate drove the Pamir and I tried to repair my motorcycle unsuccessfully. The following change from the motorcycle traveler to a backpacker will hopefully be an once-in-a-lifetime experience. In the exhausting heat of Uzbekistan, I can only continue with all possibilities of public transportation until we meet the Snaiths. Azerbaijan and Iran really allow me to dive deeply into the world of backpackers.

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Auszeit – auf 2 Rädern

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Auszeit auf 2 R�dern - SOS

Arrival:

The trip has not yet begun and gave me already a nerve-wracking rollercoaster like I have never experienced before. But from the beginning.
Friday 3 working days before departure, my visa agency informs me that my passport does not arrive as planned 2 days before departure because the Iranian consulate does not issue visas because of the elections on Friday. Good if Monday everything works the pass arrives by express on Tuesday. Anyone who orders last minute express visas can’t expect to have the pass several days before. Unpleasant but for me the issue was good for now.

Monday 2 days before departure. Nothing is happening. I pack my things together and realize that I have almost 10kg excess luggage. Actually no wonder, if brake discs, chain kit, 3 tubes and various other spare parts have to go into the luggage. With the additional costs of 40 € according to Aeroflot Homepage no big deal



Tuesday 1 day before departure a missed call from the Visa Agency. I had a sense of forboding. My friendly and endeavored Visa Agent tells me on the recall that due to an IT failure in the Iranian consulate my passport could not be processed on Monday. But he is doing everything today and needed the flight details to send me the passport directly to the airport. I talked to myself several times that this passport desk exists only because this happens regularly and works nevertheless I am nervous. My work colleagues are already joking you may like to come to work also tomorrow. Does not contribute to calming down but I would make the same jokes. At noon, I briefly think about picking up the ID card myself and then my visa agent calls again. Unfortunately my identity card is still in the Turkmen Consulat and can’t be processed today. BAM Drumbeat my resting puls is at least 150 beats. So phone service with the airline Aeroflot. My flight from Munich via Moscow to Ulaanbataar can only be booked on the 2.6. The famous justification the flight from Moscow to Ulaanbataar ist carried out by MIAT Mongolia. A rebooking to the daily complete Aeroflot flights from 25-28 May were seats are available is not possible. Cancellation costs € 300. The fill in to fly from Frankfurt and to pick up the passport before the visa agency failed also due to Aeroflots bureaucracy. My visa agent does not want to belive it and telephoned unsuccessful with Aeroflot, too. Conclusion I canceled the flight and informed my visa agency about the 415 € cancellation fees and refer to the sales they have already done with me in the past.

Wednesday planned departure day. On request, I am told by the Visa Agency that my passport is now available to me and the management would talk to me about the costs. Fantastic idea to call a customer who plans 6 weeks a journey mainly through regions in which he is cut off from the outside world. I’m already looking forward to the conversation which costs me horrendous telephone charges and ends most likely after a lot of whining with a zero number. We agree that I pick up the passport in Frankfurt and book a flight on Friday. My travel agency is no help to me on their homepage I can’t book the flight and over the hotline they referred me to the airline. After all, I am well advised by Olga. She tells me that I have to pay 150€ for the 10kg excess luggage. The explanation for the difference is obviously found in the small print of the homepage. She advises me to choose a flextarif in which I have for the same price two pieces of luggage a 23kg and the ticket is rebookable and fully refundable. After the experience before, I was immediately persuaded. My painstakingly packaged baggage is ripped again and my motorcycle equipment now fits into the additional quantity. Everything negatively has also a positive side, even if this is very very expensive comfort. Well, there are two more positive thoughts to hold. I can still visit a friend’s birthday and have a nice barbecue with other friends on Thursday.

Friday 4:30 I overslept. The hairdressing is canceled just a shower, breakfast and right into the car. 8:45 I personally meet my visa agents and I do not know who was more lucky. He, because he really had my passport or I because I really could start. It doesn’t matter so I continued to the airport. It is still much too much time but rather waiting for departure with than without a passport. 14:05 goes the plane. The landing approach to Moscow starts at 18:10 the boarding for the connection flight starts at 18:20. An announcement in the airplane refers a gate change from 5 to 3. Fortunately, I asked an aerospace employee for the way. Otherwise, I would have learned too late that this terminal has no Gate 3 and Gate 5 is still correct. Not very surprising was her hint that I’m late but I made it in time.



Saturday still in the plane it got more and more obvious that the mosquito bite of Wednesday has been inflammed. I try desperately to place my leg so that the pain subsides but without success 5:50 the plane lands in Ulaanbataar. Short passport control, quickly take the luggage and finally arrive was in my head. After all, this has worked with the passport control but after the baggage carousel came to a standstill without my luggage, the tension was immediately maximal again. When the airport employees sent me to the “Lost and Found” desk, it was not really soothing. It was data recorded the luggage classed and then they explained that I should call Aeroflot tomorrow. Most likely my luggage will come in the next airplane. Admittedly, I can imagine quite well that it was not possible in the short time to load my luggage from one plane into the other, but why does no one tells that before? Good underpants once turn, the best hope and the toothbrush does not cost a fortune. My pulse calms down quickly again so gradually he has also routine. Outside, a Taxi driver tried to fool me with 20 dollars in the end he got converted 13 because he was so sympathetic to me. On the short walk between ATM and OASIS, I realized that the inflammation is slowly getting nasty. I can hardly stand on that foot and the 300m become a real agony. In any case, it was nice to arrive at the OASIS, even if nobody expect the watchman was awake and other staff was not present.

Mongolia:

A small city stroll on Sunday, nice conversations with the other travelers at the Oasis everything feels as if I had never been at home in between. My I got my motorcycle right on Monday Cate got hers on Tuesday, that she is a great passenger doesn’t help over that disappointment. After my tires are missing it couldn’t do as much as I planned but the other work kept my occupied the whole day anyway. When we start on Wednesday with 3 days of delay, I’m definitely unhappy with the condition of my bike, at home I wouldn’t start like that.

Already the first driving day starts with two breakdowns and incredibly helpful Mongols. We still surpass our day’s goal and pitched up our tents close to Khuld. In the evening a cow in the morning a Mongol in the morning by no means we were unnoticed. However, society in the Mongolian steppe is not really impressive. The more we get closer to the spurs of the Gobi desert, the less vegetation and the fewer people and animals we meet. In the distance I notice a flock of camels and stalk me slowly with the Telezoom. After a short consultation with Cate we will drive to “Ulaan Suvraga”. It is a rock formation off the road. It’s a good opportunity to see what I can demand from Cate. Even the first meters are enough to see that Cate approached the matter with the right attitude in her head. The rest will be solved by a little bit of practice, and we are hoping for support in Dalanzadgad for her broken luggage carrier. However, Dalanzadgad will be remembered especially because to my astonishment I did not break my arm when a Mongol with a car pulled me into the barbed wire in the road ditch. Because of the hectic packed luggage I lost my laundry bag shortly afterwards. I would not have found it again without the requested pee stop by Cate.

The road to Bogd slowly feels like real desert. Also the stage to Bayangovi already offers some small sand chicanes. But it got worst when Cate wanted to cross the river bed against my recommendation. After that I ask myself if the 250 is not too weak. Cate did not have as much fun in the sand then I had. In Bayanlig the biggest advantage of my KTM is slowly becoming clear. Due to its size and height, the Mongols do not dare to sit up unasked. At Cates Honda this happens regularly. For the evening we bought peanuts. The nuts are uninteresting but the can can be a replacement for the lost baffle of the cooker. The wrench on the previous day worked only limited. The next stage after Biger again provides new chicanes, watergrooves run across the street. The first one we fly at nearly 80 km/h and the subsequent change of view says it all. We are throttling the speed, which will then be the fate of the next groove. With good 80km/h nothing would have happened. We camped shortly after that and started our first dung fire before. The navigation is again typical Mongolian on the next day. With a compass it can take quickly 50km until you notice that you took the wrong road, but also with the GPS you need 10km. The locals do not always give the right information. The most beautiful was when a lady with her little daughter as passenger guided us the way on her motorcycle. Before that, she gave us some homemade cheese which we rewarded with sweets. The next day these problems are gone, at Altai we reach asphalt again.

My motorcycle annoyed me before with start-up problems I could not explain them to myself until it let me down completely. I detected the loose plug-in contact of the ignition box. A little while later, it’s completely dead. I am incredibly grateful to Cate when she found a group of Mongols to support me, they all started to touch my partly disassembled motorcycle. However, she also distracted a part of them immediately, so I could find the faulty fuse in peace. In Khovd we meet Jörg and Kai again, with which we spend the evening and parts of the following day. The mountain road between Khovd and Tolbo is gorgeous. What we really can’t say about Ulgii, we decide not to stay here and continue to Russia. At the Russian border post we are unfortunately five minutes to late, please come back tomorrow. Our motorcycles stay in the border zone and we stay in a kind of mass camp which is called a hotel.

Russia

In Russia there are difficult decisions to made. Driving on mountain roads through the real Altai or save time on the main road. Due to bad weather the main road wins. The Road offers beautiful views at least before Gorno Altaysk. The chaos of Russian long-haul traffic dominates. No one cares about the other and who does not drive near the center line with the motorbike does not need to wonder if drivers, see it as a call for overtaking. Even if we had only two and a half day in Russia, I am pleased that Cate also gains a positive impression from the Russians. We don’t experience the hospitality which I know from Siberia but comparison is also somewhat unfair. The joy of Russia is clouded, however, since Onguday my engine noise is steadily louder and sounds suspiciously like a bearing damage.

Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan our paths separate. A motor noise worries me so much that I decide to move forward quickly to reach Almaty faster. It is my hope that the problem can be solved by the time I have gained, in order to be able to carry on the journey in full. This hope dies after 150km shortly after Semipalatinsk. I am very grateful when Nurlan takes me home with his sprinter. Especially his son Raslan has great joy in my misfortune. I hope he holds the pocket knife which he has received in honor. In the evening, Father Anton takes me to his house. Anton is a Russian German and is happy about the opportunity to speak German again. His church is appropriately dedicated to St. Michael. In addition to the church and vicarage, the area also contains a soup kitchen, a sports field and also serves as a recreation area for the village youth. Anton has built up all this with a lot of initiative and donation aid. In the end, Anton reminds me very much to Don Camillo even if he rejects the comparison with the indication that he disputes with no one. Even though I am not a believer, his hint “The Lord gives us only what we truly need, what we don’t need truly, he will not give us either” helped me very much through the further hard time.

Nurlan and Anton helped me finding Maxim, Roman and Sanja to take me and my motorcycle on their trucks. When Maxim told me he had parked on a slope because his starter is broken I already expect the worst. On the same evening, however againt the expectation, the Sanjas DAF broke down four times. I was being put off again and again and after 2 days is clear I need another truck. If Maxim and Roman had not been so sympathetic, I would have followed Cate’s advice and had try to find another truck earlier. The farewell to the three is very warm and I will never forget the insight into the everyday life of a Kyrgyz truck driver. I continue with Viktor and his 30 years old Volvo.

Viktor drives incredibly long and I am optimistic to be able to say goodbye to Cate before she drives into the Pamir. When Viktor stops to unload before Almaty starts one of the worst days of the trip. The crane didn’t come on time, Viktor and I are frustrated, Cate will be gone when I arrive. When I discover black bumblebees I thought Nature consoles me and try to distract me with photography. Unfortunately, they fly away before I can make pictures. The crane comes and with it a thunderstorm it seems as is now nature also against me. As the crane lifts the first agricultural machine over my motorbike, I start to film, in order not to miss the moment in which the rope brakes and my motorcycle got dashed. With the second machine, I hope already that this happens but instead the storm is getting serious. My equipment is in the yard as pouring rain goes down and splashed the dirt of the ground all over it. I tried to help Viktor to install the tarpaulins. Viktors Russian instructions didn’t help me and so I had to accept that I am not useful to him. I only can wait in the driver’s cab until everyone else has done the work in the rain. A miserable feeling, which is only surpassed by the fact that the truck stucked in the mud at this location and we had to stay there for the night.




The next day I arrive at the lunch time in Almaty. Cate went on in the morning. She had solved a flat tire and a frame break during my Odyssey. The warm welcome at the Freeriders encourages me incredibly. With workshop, hostel, pub and bikeshop everything is gathered in one place which I need at this moment. My bad luck doesn’t stop, the first day after my arrival the workshop is under water. After the late disassembly, it is clear that the piston bearing is broken. A replacement engine would have a new engine number and generated not just additional shipping charges there will be also extra costs for the carnet. To rebuild the engine and make the motorcycle fine again had attraceted me anyway so I decided to try it. Fortunately, Roland from my workshop at home KTM-Müller in Waltenhofen does not let me hang. He supports me with professional advice and sends the needed parts in the express. I use the waiting time to do other things nevertheless it is still too much time. Parallel to me, Cate has a hard time on the Pamir and I feel responsive because I motivated her. It felt very good when Valentina and Matteo distract me a little. When Jürgen arrives I’m back on track, a motorcyclist who thinks similarly and with whom I can have fun. Together with the Freeriders team I assembled the engine again and can start after two days. I am very grateful to everyone. The feeling that in distress the people always stand aside is consoling over the now canceled Pamir Highway.


Meanwhile, Cate has successfully mastered her Pamir adventure. In addition to the driver’s challenges, she had to repair a broken forkseal, again a broken frame and the loss of mobile phone, actioncam and memory cards with the pictures. It fulfills me proudly that she mastered all these difficulties without me nevertheless I would rather have been there for her.


The repair of the engine is unfortunately a failure. After about 200km the engine goes out after a rattling of the chain. The engine loses oil but starts again. In the middle of nowhere, I have no other choice than continue, until the next sound which sealed the end of the valves. It takes a long time until Jarad arrives with his minibus. He takes me to Taraz and his brother Jubaniaz offers me the next two days accommodation. Again, my motorcycle is a kids playground. His daughter Janija and the neighbors Anella have a lot more fun with it than me. My special thanks go to the staff of the German Cultural Center Shambyl and especially to Nikolai. Without Nikolai I could not have sent my equipment, haven’t found Konstantin where the motorcycle is parked now and could not have convinced me at Customs of the impossibility of a quick solution. Visa, vacation, costs everything speaks against another attempt to repair the motorcycle, but I don’t want to give up and fly home. Not for Cate, not for anyone else, just for me, my pride and certainty for the future that I haven’t given up. While in all my past journeys the challenge lay in the driving strain, this time it will be the emotional burden. Without a motorcycle I lack the freedom I seek in the distance, I will not get around the permanent confrontation with my unhappy story and every day I will see Cate driving off with her motorcycle. My first adventure as backpacker can start.

Uzbekistan

Fortunately, Yuri, the husband of one of the ladies of the German cultural center, has to go to Tashkent and gave me a crash course in the use of public transport in Central Asia. We start in a minibus, changed to a shared taxi and drive with seventh others in a Chevrolet Damas. Seat belts are searched in vain for all means of transport. If they exist they do not work and are only attached to the belt buckle because of the seat belt duty. It takes some time until I get used to this lack of safety, the driving style of most drivers it’s would be more suitable to use harness straps, fire-resistant racing suit and helmet wear.

When changing money at the border I got a bundle as if you would pay your new car in 5€ bills. Even with 10,000 I received the largest available bills. Officially, their value is roughly 2 dollars on the black market you can get the same sum already for around 1.2 dollars.
Juri brings me to the train station and I’m lucky to get at least a first class ticket the second class is fully booked. Without him I would never had made it to Samarkand on time. I am very grateful to him for this and climb into the train with the pleasant anticipation to see Cate again after 18 days. On the train I meet Farhad who invited me to a private party and his friend Kolya takes me to the hostel. To my disappointment, Cate is not there. My time specification was one hour later, at the communicated time she appeared and we had a nice evening with Farhad, Kolya and her friends.
I arrive very slowly in the world of backpackers, the next day I realized that I left my best friend behind and will maybe see it never again. I am very happy that Cate splits temporarily from her new friends at the hostel and is there for me. The beauty of Samarkand cannot impress me on the first day also the many people are too much for me. It is a great relief that the well-informed Omar guided us through the city. With Felix, I get along a bit better and during the conversation I try to understand his way of traveling, which is now also mine. We visit the Registan, mosques, mausoleums, a minaret and a cemetery. In two days more culture than on any of my other trips. My Samarkand highlight remains however the purchase of a short pants. After much unsuccessful search, a taxi driver took me to a hidden bazaar, before we had briefly brought his son to sports. He goes shopping with me, negotiates the price and accepts in the end far less money than would be appropriate.

The next destination is Bukhara and I treated myself the first class train ride again. Out of the train I imagine I would run into a hot air fan. The sunglasses now don’t protect only from light but also from the direct hot wind. Logically, a taxi driver attaches to my heels and after an initial 25,000 sum I pay 8000 sum for the way to the hostel. Similar scenes will be repeated several times on the trip. I was very happy when I meet some motorcyclists at the Hostel. Lottie and Ryan www.saddlesorenomads.com are directly sympathetic to me. In the full noon, I decide to stroll through the city. Slowly go, take breaks, drink a lot and always keep the cap wet, than it is possible at 40°C and more. I am overwhelmed by the density of the historic buildings. It feels like you can expect the caravan that carries the goods. Before the Xo’ja Nurobod ko’chasi I meet Sunel with whom I visit a few highlights up to the Arc. The evening I spend at the hostel with Lottie and Ryan. Later I also meet Steve and Gilly Overlanding Family | A family of 4 driving around the world. who offer me to drive with them. Cate has reasonably avoided the heat of the day and arrives in the dark. We stroll through town and decide to return to Steves and Gilly’s offer in Nukus. The next day sightseeing and removing the nail from Cates tire. To check if the hose is damaged too, I remove the tire and damage the hose during assembly. Other hose the same game. I did the work with my levers a thousand times and never did something like that happen. My hands are shaking, I’m too nervous and ask Ryan to mount the tire with the patched hose. He succeeded immediately and I am happy that the situation is solved. Nevertheless, I feel as useless again as in the storm in Viktors truck.

A shared Taxi brought me to Khiva the next day and also Cate arrived soon after me. Even though Khiva is beautiful, the historic buildings are slowly hackneyed. I feel very pleased to meet Steve and Gilly again and decided to continue with them already on the next morning to Nukus. The trip from Khiva runs exactly as I expect it in a European-controlled truck in this mess traffic. Dead silence in the cabin every direction of view is observed and navigated by the driver and the passenger. Outside the city, the situation is relaxed and there is plenty of time for small talk. In Nukus we visit the museum of arts together and I went to the Bazar. When Cate arrived in the evening, I can confirm her that there is really no reason to visit this city.

The prospect of spending the next two nights in the desert raised my mood until Cate does not arrive at the agreed meeting point. Fortunately, only a technical problem her clutch slips and she can’t drive at full speed. A field repair failed on the unfortunate clutch cover. The evening with the Snaiths compensates however over the problems. The daughters Alisha and Lucy are obviously pleased with the variety in their travel company.

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