Shakriszab to Samarkand . . . and Urus-Kishlak

UZBEKISTAN ! DAHHHHHHHHHHH !!!

I need to get to Tajikistan and over the Pamirs before the snows come . . . it was a dry spring and everyone is complaining that it’s unusually hot now and I can “feel” that the snows will come early. Cold, ok. Snow on two wheels. No.

But it will not be easy leaving the Uzbek people behind.

Modern (socialist, state-centered) architecture lacks awe . . .

From Bukhara I took the road to Karshi (the first time I’ve actually had a choice since entering Uzbekistan). The ride was through dry desert, again, past queues at every benzin station. But today, it was HOT – 48C/112F. I stopped at a chaikanna in Karshi for some food and chai.

I visited Shakriszab, the birthplace of Timur and had intended to stop at a particular chaikana serving tandoor, tipped to me by my Uzbek brother.

Timur's originally planned mausoleum, aborted due to a sudden illness

After making a suspected wrong turn I stopped the bike and shut the engine off. A quick check of the GPS confirmed my error but when I tried to re-start there was a burnt electrical smell and the engine did not turn over. Buzzing sounds came from below, presumably from the starter motor. A quick check of the main fuses and the starter fuse revealed nothing amiss. I had power at the dash and lights but no starter motor.

A crowd quickly formed and then a kid with a passenger showed up on a two-cycle Jawa. I convinced them to try a push start and was soon off, albeit concerned. A few kilometers later I stopped to put on my jacket, helmet, gloves, etc and . . . the motor simply died. It would not restart. I was on a road with a mountain range in front of me, about 70km (45 miles) from Samarkand. And DIW (dead in the water).

This family Shanghai'd me to stay with them for the nite, when the KTM's chinese battery failed

The kid on the Jawa had apparently followed me and we tried several things but . . . this time I had intermittent power to the dash. People came and went. A dog was hit and killed by a car. The sun fell. The Jawa kid left with my original, clearly dead, battery and 80,000 Som (~$32) to get another battery.) Urus-Kishlak is a SMALL village and there are VERY few motorbikes in UZ probably because so many cars have been converted to LPG and benzin is so hard to manage securing.

The small children began to suggest that the Jawa kid had robbed me. And when adults formed they confirmed concerns. But the Jawa kid returned and when I connected his battery to the KTM she would start, albeit weakly due to his smaller capacity (though physically larger) battery.

It is not without a bit of irony that I mention the failure of my Chinese manufactured (designed in Japan) litihium-iron battery. I’ve used these quite successfully before . . . though always American-made (more expensive . . . ) ones. My “confidence” in Chinese manufactured goods is well-known (ONLY if there is onsight western supervision following western guidelines for QC). Did trashing the chinese quality lead to the failure of my chinese battery ? I don’t know but casual readers will observe that . . . this incident does not provide any counter evidence to my previous suspicions. I wanted to use an American-made version but the manufacturer was simply slow responding.

Former BMW GS riders on more rugged and reliable steeds admiring the Orang Duckling

Without proper wires and with the sun having set it was time to make camp until morning. Except that an Uzbek woman simply grabbed me by the collar and said effectively, “you will sleep at my house”. A relative was “handed” to me on a mobile phone to speak to the “sayar” (tourist in Uzbek) and I was told that “my aunt is very difficult to say ‘no’ to. Do not try to be the first.” Da !

They directed me to their house, prepared a bed in the cool outside, fed me lovely food and made me drink alot of tea, which my parched body welcomed. Many phone calls to English-speaking relatives provided questions and answers to all sorts of things. And, one relative would take me in the morning to find a battery and other materials.

Amazing except, not in Uzbekistan, in my experience.

I slept quite well and in the morning Gallip took me to the market where a Russian battery was secured and some sadly thin (16g) multi-strand wire in insulation of decent thickness but unknown substance. The wire proprietor wanted to sell me wire wrapped in cloth insulation . . . One of the many problems in poor places or places that have done long without either proper materials or the education to know the difference is the “get by” mentality.

Timur's Mausoleum

I fashioned a solution by using the wire to connect the battery, now under my seat, not near the bottom of the engine, and using some fuel line as additional insulation for the hot wire. Incredibly, a battery charger was found for this wet-cell, unsealed battery (that came with it’s own water), and I was taken to lunch at the local chaikana where ONLY my reluctance to have more than one shot of vodka was troubling. . . . So I’ve fashioned a very “chinese” solution for the meantime, actually using fuel line to insulate the ridiculously long, thing “hot” wire running from the battery under my seat to the front of the bike. (What no photos ? Am I ashamed of the “solution” ? No. It’s all that’s available. But do I feel the look of my grandfather who used to let us play with his oscilloscope when we were kids baring down on me. YEAH.)

The ride to the 1800 meter/5500' pass between Urus-Kishlak & Samarkand

Gallip was a teacher at the local college of language and after lunch we proceeded there for the students to meet me, ask me question, etc. This was a bit strange and represents the first time where my comments will have to be SIGNIFICANTLY edited to avoid getting anyone in difficulty. The college served about 800 students with about 35 in the language class (Uzbek language & literature, and English). There was NO running water in the building but there was a/c. The room where I spoke was large and the senior member of staff had excellent facilities with English (easily bettering George Bush, Jr in grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation).

But there was something strange going on. Entrance to the building was definitely uneasy for the administration by a “foreigner”. And plans to photograph me with the students were deemed “forbidden”. Then, when asked “what do we need to do to succeed”, the discussion was effectively stopped.

I can write no more about this, now.

Timur's mausoleum

We returned to the bike, tried a push start successfully. I then packed the bike for a final push start and . . . drove to Samarkand. The ride over the mountains was quite nice, a bit bumpy with some truly 3-point turn switchbacks. But as I neared the 1800 meter/5300′ pass it was nice and COOL.

I drifted into Samarkand via alot of road re-construction (as it’s known here) and on the next to last turn was confronted with Timur’s rather impressive mausoleum.

Now to attempt a real diagnosis (is the starter motor alright), and prognosis for the remainder of the trip (“fine, but I can only stop at the top of hills with good road surface to push start on . . . “). The Russian battery is a wet-cell, unsealed model that weighs approximately 4x as much as the current/new technology one that failed. It encapsulates somewhere between 1/2 and 1/4 the power. How can the range be so great ? Good question. The box says “5-10Ah” which is usually the range of 3 sizes of batteries (5, 7.5 & 10Ah). The power is much more of an issue for a big twin than the weight. There are two further suspicions regarding the Russian battery – it’s a technology and manufacture SO OLD, that it might be made in a govt subsidized factory in Siberia and ONLY meant for export to countries like (as poor) as UZ. Or, given it’s name ‘LikeLong’ – it’s a Chinese copy of an outdated Russian battery. Neither option thrills, only chills me.

But first: is the starter motor alright ?; can I secure larger cables to connect the battery to the bike’s harness ? (currently, they ONLY support running, not starting), and; will the battery turn over a big twin even with proper/better cables ?

At 10,000km I’ve just 6,000 more to go in about 30 days . . .