Pocha Solo Bike Trip

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Pocha Solo Bike Trip

I do a lot of solo motorbike trips. I intend to post about them here. More at bit.ly/solo-world-trip
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06/05/2024

https://medium.com//astana-sight-seeing-day-136-137-of-london-to-india-solo-motorcycle-ride-aug-21-22-2023-1a07350f2f3e

11/10/2023

[Kazakhstan] Day 134–135 of solo London to India motorcycle trip: Kostanay — Kokhshetau — Shchuchinsk — Astana ride Getting to see some real Kazakh local & motorbiking hospitality in Kokhshetau This is part of my Europe India solo motorbike trip travelogue . Read

11/10/2023

[Russia] Day 128–130 of London to India motorcycle trip: Kazan — Ufa — Chelaybinsk ride[Aug 12–15, 2023] Exploring beautiful Kazan city, getting overwhelmed with hospitality of unknown folks in Ufa & getting hosted by motorbikers in Kazan & Chelyabinsk were the major highlights

11/10/2023

Solo London to India motorcycle trip: [Russia] riding north towards Kazan: Volgograd — Saratov — Ulyanovsk — Kazan ride [Day 123–127, Aug 9–12, 2023] Got impressed with hospitality & help from Russian motorbiking community. Also got to experience some of the cheapest & cleanest hostels in ...

09/10/2023

A motorbiker friend from Italy, Matt .nomad had an accident in Pamir region & now looking for a place to house his motorbike till April next year at Osh, Kyrgyzstan. If you know someone in Osh who can help, please let me know & I will share his whatsapp number.

06/10/2023

I was on the road for 150 days & added 122 places in this Google Map public list to help other traveling motorbikers find places on the route. Link of the list in the comment. Hope it helps. Feel free to share with your traveling motorbiker friends.

22/09/2023

Thanks to folks at .in for the inbuilt forgetfulness protection on my new wallet :-D . Hopefully, I wont lose my wallet again.

06/09/2023

Truly impressed with Kazakh railway. For 16 Euro, the luxury was next level. The free water dispensing was pretty big deal for a water hogger like me. Unfortunately could not try the onboard catering as food was over when I went to order. Totally recommend traveling in Kazakh overnight trains. I now feel stupid scaling long distances in Kazakhstan on my motorbike :-D

06/09/2023

So I started from Taraz, Kazakhstan to Almaty, to park my bike & head back to India. Unfortunately, the person whose house I am suppose to park my bike, became unavailable. I, by luck, decided to stop at gas station on the other side of the road where I stopped during my Taraz to Tashkent ride & met Dima () & (pic 1), Almaty bikers heading to Shymkent. Dima offered to house my bike & voila, problem solved :). Dima was out in Shymkent & gave me his home address & his wife contact. I reached his place & his mother welcomed me, helped me park my bike & even covered it :) (pic 2). Pic 3 is Dima's wife & his mother. Rekhmat guys :). While I walked to bus stand to catch bus to train station (I had a train ride from Almaty to Shymkent & flight from Shymkent .. yes I came back on the same route :-D), saw Qazaq Oil petrol station. I will always remember 2 things - Kazakh hospitality & Qazaq Oil gas station which always use to lit up my face on Kazakh highway where gas stations are far & wide. Adios Kazakhstan. Thanks for your kindness.

05/09/2023

Somewhere between Taraz & Almaty in Kazakhstan. Gonna miss the views & the ride

03/09/2023

All good things come to an end & my motorbike trip is no exception. I am in Tashkent at the time of writing this post, will be riding towards Almaty, going to park my motorbike & will fly back to India.

The last week was tough. It started with losing my waist pouch on the way to Almaty, then I mistakenly put my key inside one of my pannier box & locking it (I lost my spare keys in my waist pouch) & then hustling to get it opened (thankfully with support of folks from the hostel I could), the Tajik visa application messing up (I paid the money but could not retrieve the application when asked for missing document), I figuring that China tour is not working out & lastly some personal problems back home & my wife asking me to come back.

I am definitely sad. Few days back I was anxious if I will be able to do Pamir highway all by myself but I was excited about it. Sadly my China visa is going to be useless. I secretly took pride of the fact that I would probably be the only (or one of the few) Indians who would have ridden a 30k+ kms route in a stretch & I was really looking forward to ride my Vstrom back in India, with UK number for some time, attracting curious & envious eyes.

I think I would have got direct help from more than 100 people directly & around the same number of people indirectly. Most of these helps were unconditional without expecting anything in return & mostly to help me on my trip & probably be part of the epic journey. I am sorry to all those people as I could not complete this journey. I plan to come back & complete this later & I am hopeful I will.

Pic 1 - my return flight ticket
Pic 2 - when I entered Uzbekistan, these kids came to me asking for money/food but then soon got enamoured with my bike & wanting to sit on it
Pic 3 - when I checked into the hostel in Tashkent & accidently locked my side pannier box with key inside it, there were folks from Bangladesh & Nepal who were staying them, helped me opening it (one suggested to take it to a garage nearby & they opened it) & considering I was stressed & lost time, offered me food that they cooked for themselves.

I hope to come back next summers & complete the rest of my ride.

03/09/2023

Thank you for reading my travelogue — your support allows me to keep doing this work. If you refer friends, you will receive benefits that give you special access to Pocha Life's Learnings. How to participate 1. Share my travelogue. When you use the referral link below, or the “Share” button o...

30/08/2023

The hostel I am staying in Taraz, Kazakhstan has a printing shop at the ground floor. The folks there were curious about my motorbike & we eventually became friends. They gifted me these stickers. Probably the best gift of my ride :). Now like other traveling motorbikers, I can also leave my footprint behind :-D. Thanks Ayan(owner) & (young school guy working at the place during his vacation).

29/08/2023

So my hostelmate turned out to be Kazakh ex-police officer & suggested I shud file a complaint with police for my lost waist pouch. He called & summoned police & then I rode to the police station. The officer explained they will not go looking around but if someone gets it to police, they will inform. Not too hopeful but I did my bit :) cc .099

28/08/2023

Reached Taraz today & met two curious guys who worked next door. When I asked them a good place to eat, they decide to take me to dinner. That is some Kazakh hospitality. Thanks

25/08/2023

Getting to see some real Kazakh local & motorbiking hospitality in Kokhshetau

25/08/2023

My plan to reach Samarkand by Sep 1 as wife is coming there on Sep 2.

Aug 25 - reach southern point of Lake Balkhash & stay

Aug 26 (Sat) - reach Almaty & sightseeing on Sunday Aug 27

Aug 28 (Mon) - reach Taraz

Aug 29 (Tue) - reach Tashkent (border crossing) & spend next day sight seeing Tashkent

Aug 31 - reach Samarkand

Looks like I am a day early. May spend one more day in Almaty or should I keep 2 days for Tashkent ?

24/08/2023

Pic 1 - Alibek & Igor in Astana. Alibek's is a biker & blogger whose contact was given to me by Alexey whom I had met in Kokshetau

Pic 2 - my hostel in Karaganda where I rode to yesterday from Astana

Pic 3 - Valentin (left) & Gennadiy who came to meet me in Karaganda. Valentin is Alibek's friend. I told them about my bike heating unevenly & some issues with fork stem & they took me to Vitaly

Pic 4 - Valentin, Alex, Vitaly & Gennadiy at Vitaly's garage. Vitaly was an impressive guy who used tools to quickly figure that everything is all right, engine sounded ok & then decided to fix a broken screw of my windshield which was causing a rattling noise. Vitaly customized big bikes from scratch as a hobby

Pic 5 - Vitaly's garage .. pretty impressive .. the most fancy & complete garage I have seen ever

Pic 6 - Vitaly posing with his bikes. The bike next to him has parts from rocket (the one that falls off during propulsion). When the bike lights are switched on, the tank glows. Consider it similar to how Mac logo used to glow on older Macs. Very impressive.

Pic 7,8,9 - Stopped at Qazaq Oil, my fav gas station in Kazakhstan & curious folks from gas station came to me asking about the ride while I had my coffee & chicken samsa. Thats Angelina & Kuanish. Kuanish figured it all out & then explained to everyone around who were curious including customers coming in :-)

Pic 10 - my ride plan today to Balkhash. People said pretty bad roads but well, after what I saw in Omalo, this is just peace of cake :-D

23/08/2023

Getting hosted & meeting some very talented Russian motorbikers in Chelyabinsk, & got to see great hospitality from Kazakh motorbikers that started from border crossing & still continuing in Kazakh

22/08/2023

Exploring beautiful Kazan city, getting overwhelmed with hospitality of unknown folks in Ufa & getting hosted by motorbikers in Kazan & Chelyabinsk were the major highlights

22/08/2023

Grand Astana Mosque .. apparently the biggest mosque in Central Asia

20/08/2023

Now that I am not going to Turkmenistan (my visa application got rejected) & wife is coming to Sep 2, I just created this ride plan. It is not final. Some stops are far (I usually do not plan more than 4-5 hours ride in a day) & I take one off day after a ride day. I have exactly 12 days till Sep 2 considering one off day at each place. So guess I need to leave Kokhshetau today itself. Too bad as I liked the hostel I am staying & wanted to spend one more day here.

18/08/2023

Crossed into Kazakhstan yesterday. In Kostanay now.

Pic 1 - Alex who happen to be also riding from Chelyabinsk Russia. We stopped a petrol station, had some chat & then rode together to Kostanay. Alex treated me like younger brother, waited for me at border crossing, helped me negotiate a good deal for insurance in Kazakhstan, explained to people about my ride, even paid for my petrol & gave 5k tenge. On telling him I have money & my card will work in Kazakhstan (it dint work in Russia) - his only words were - bikers are like brothers & this is my gift from an elder brother to younger one.

Pic 2 - Kostanay & Astana signs in background

Pic 3 - Alex spoke to a Bike Post (free biker accommodation) in Kostanay & waited for me for someone from there to come & pick me up. Some curious Kazakh people wanted to take picture with us there.

Pic 4 - Sergey, the owner of the Bike Post where I am staying.

Pic 5 - a cute stray dog who came in searching for food in the Bike Post.

16/08/2023

Got hosted by Mikhail in Chelyabinsk, Russia yesterday. Pereiro, my biker host in Volgograd called Mikhail & told him about me. Mikhail was insistent that I should stay with him in Chelyabinsk & I gave in :). Also met Dennis, who is on Vladivostok to Kaliningrad ride (from one end to another end of Russia). The road is called Road of Bones as it apparently shakes you to the core & only very brave people attempt it. Mikhail took the day off & we gonna see Chelyabinsk today.

13/08/2023

Got impressed with hospitality & help from Russian motorbiking community. Also got to experience some of the cheapest & cleanest hostels in Russia

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Videos

Motovlog setup .. take 1 :).

Video shot from @christophmch gopro who came running to help me pick my bike. It was 60 degrees incline & 3 of us were also not able to pick it comfortably. Eternally grateful to all the help I received there - Chris, a car driver & another unnamed biker who came at the end.

Kutaisi town view from a hill nearby

Cappadocia landscape in a nutshell

Hagia Sophia mosque from inside

Sibiu old town view during the day

Amazing @baroquehostel in Budapest. It felt like living in a museum. These hidden doors were amazing & they were done before Chronicles of Narnia came out.

Willkommen (welcome) Wien (Vienna)

Inside of Corpus Christi Church Krakow

The view of Krakow castle that actually feels like a castle :)

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