Supply drop in Kashgar or maybe Almaty?

Hi all

I'm in Uzbekistan at the moment, and I'm going to be heading east shortly. Have been thinking about whether I want to go to Tajikistan or not (leaning against it), and after a long (partly drunken) conversation with an Almaty-based Hungarian last night, I've been thinking I might go up through Kyrgyz to Almaty, and from there to Urumqi. Otherwise I'll go Uzbek -> Kyrgyz -> Irkeshtam -> Kashgar.

But anyway, I'll need to replace the oil in my Rohloff hub in a few thousand more kilometres, and was looking at getting some oil delivered to Kashgar. Possibly it may now be Almaty instead I'll need to use, as I'll miss Kashgar if I go via Almaty.

Does anyone have any good English-speaking contacts in either Almaty or Kashgar, who wouldn't mind receiving a package for me? Guess a bike shop, or hotel, or something like that.

And any random thoughts on riding via Almaty would be appreciated.

Lindsay

John Hu of John's information service & café at Kashgar was willing to let me use his address to send a parcel last year. He also has an associate in Urumqi that might be willing to help you if you go that way. See www.johncafe.net</a> and www.johncafe.com</a>

If you want to send it to Urumqi I can hold it for you. My fee would be a bottle of decent chain lube sent along with it (quite hard to come by here)....

Thanks for the info Bill, should have known I could count on you for good recent info.

Tracksterman, I'll send you a PM. Possibly going to get stuff shipped to Bishkek, will probably get more chain lube myself, don't mind getting an extra bottle and dropping it off in Urumqi on my way through...as long as you're not after 1 gallon container...;-)

I had a big supply drop made in Kashgar to the:

Seman Hotel. It was arranged for me from England. The contact in the Seman hotel was called Abdul I think.

I sent everythin using UPS and it took 6 days from UK.

Just an update to this - I ended up getting stuff sent (by SJSC) C/- Gulnara's B&B in Tashkent. Took a little longer than I hoped though - around 10 days to get to Tashkent, then another day or two to reach the B&B.

Gulnara's had no problem receiving/holding a package for me, but just be aware of the time it might take for something to reach there - can be a problem with Uzbek visas.

If I was doing it again, I would probably use DHL/UPS/Fedex/whoever, and get it shipped to one of their offices for collection. At least that way you've got a tracking number, and can see where it is. Of course, that's going to cost a bit more.

Lindsay