1 June — the report from Day 15.
1. A brief rest day in Kazakhstan
Yesterday we finally crossed the Kazakh border.
And today brought the rest day we had been waiting for.
We have driven over 5,000 km, but Paris is still two-thirds away. After the drama of these fourteen days, a single day’s rest ought to have felt miraculous — except that every adventurer here spent the morning throwing everything into servicing their car.
2. A hundred-year-old car, covered in sand — and small happinesses found in the middle of the work
The hundred-year-old classic is already caked in sand.
Crawling under the car, wrestling with sand, I began to feel that sand and dust and even oil had become friends of mine.
Being a rest day, simply not being inside a moving car gave a strange kind of peace.
I lay down in the shade in the early afternoon and was deeply asleep before I knew it. My tiredness must be at its peak, and yet I felt something close to happy.
3. A warm meeting at a Kazakh workshop — the bond with local people
In the evening we went round the local workshops looking for an oil change.
The mineral oil an old car needs was nowhere to be found, so we settled for the change alone.
Even so, the staff were so kind that it warmed me. The people of Kazakhstan are as warm as the Chinese.
4. An unexpected feast in a foreign country: happiness in a food court
Dinner was in the food court of a small shopping centre we came across by chance.
Wrapped in an atmosphere so like Japan that it made me nostalgic, I had the strange experience of a Burger King burger tasting like the best thing I have ever eaten.
5. Getting ready for tomorrow, and a new goal — the adventure begins again
From tomorrow we drive again, across Kazakhstan, aiming for Azerbaijan in six days.
The days of challenge go on, but it is exactly these small discoveries and this laughter that mean there is no giving up. One more step, towards the next adventure.
This rest day was not rest for its own sake; it was a day of getting ready to go on. Nobody spared themselves, and everyone was aimed squarely at the next finish. It was a day when I felt how much the small happinesses found in days like these actually mean.
Translating and checking tomorrow’s route book, and sorting the luggage — another day gone in a moment.
More next time. The adventure continues.