km Kazakhstan to China – Almaty to Korgas

0 We started 3km north of Almaty 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 buy
fruit 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 of Shilik – 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 the
excellent Charyn Canyon – a 60km detour which is highly recommended
188+17 Left turn with picture signpost down dirt road to Charyn Canyon. Road quite badly
corrugated 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. We
spent 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't
find 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
 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 – it
goes to a grassy area hidden from the road – last easy place to camp before the
border
360 Panjim – shops off to side – ask around
377 First Kazakh control gate after passing long queues of traffic. Short cycle ride to
village of Korgas
378 Kazakhstan Customs – take your actual bike up through the customs hall – we
missed out all security scanning – they just waved us through. At the end of a
covered tunnel we went through Passport Control with our bikes and then cycled the
100m 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 by
either the Kazakhs or the Chinese.
447 Chinese Border Control – we left our bikes outside, went in and got the
immigration card completed. Then we put our bikes inside the passport
control/customs hall and did all the passport control and got our stamps. Our hand
luggage 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 of
inspection. It was really easy and everyone was very friendly.
449 Korgas - Traffic lights and Hotels off to right after ATM machine on right hand
corner. Accepted Visa cards for withdrawal.