DAY 21, DUSHANBE (REST DAY)

11^th June 2013

I started early to avoid the blazing heat. After saying good bye to Alexei, I rode DREAM to the main road. However, DREAM had hardly gone for 200m when I heard funny noises coming from the front wheel. In the beginning, I thought that there could be some dry leaves or small tree branches stuck at the front ream, however, the sound got louder and louder. The handle even gone shaky when I pressed the throttle only at 50kmh. WTH!!! I stopped the bike and checked the ream, but there was nothing sticking out which must have caused the noise. Hmmm....it must be the bearing then.

I checked my GPS and navigated my way to Andrew’s place. I ended up in front of a shopping complex. I knew that Andrew’s workshop was somewhere near here, but I had no idea where. I then borrowed a local’s phone and called Alexei to inform about the problem. Minutes later, Alexei called me back telling me that after sending DREAM to me yesterday, Andrew had gone to Khojand, some 350km away and won’t be back in few days time. Oh noooooo!!! I was very worried, as the only mechanic that I knew was Andrew. Luckily, Andrew gave some of his friend’s number to Alexei, and Alexei told me to go back to the Inn. About two hours later, a mechanic appeared and took out DREAM’s front tyre. He confirmed that the front bearing was broken.  



While waiting for the mechanic to come back with a new bearing, I just lazed around, checking my mails and sleep. It was a long wait, and I decided to put another night in Dushanbe, which was a good decision after all, as this enabled me to relieve from my diarrhoea and tiredness. The mechanic came back at 3.30pm and fixed the new bearing. I was charged USD50 for it as he said that it was not easy for him to find the bearing with the same size as DREAM’s.

p/s: A more detailed story about my journey will be told in my upcoming book. More beautiful pics of course. STAY TUNED.....