Unexpectedly I was able to fly another leg today (It rained so the mountain biking trip got canceled). I am now in the part of the world that has very high mountains so I have to be very careful. The suggested altitude for my flight was 20,000 ft. which is the altitude my Cessna cannot climb to, so I had to do inter-peak slalom. It was not too bad though, I really only had to go around few peaks that were standing in my way. The reason I had to fly west, before flying south, was to avoid the Himalayas. As much as I would love to go there, I will have to do that in a different plane on another occasion. Same was true for Machu Picchu in the Andes. Cessna 182 just cannot fly that high. The weather for this part of my trip was almost completely clear which was a plus when trying to negotiate the peaks that are higher than the service ceiling of my plane. It did get partially cloudy as I was approaching Alamaty, but by that time I was over the much lower terrain so that was not a problem. The approach and landing went smooth and I left the plane parked until I am ready to continue.

Pre flight check at Urumqi airport Waiting for takeoff clearance Leaving Urumqi Flying at 16,000 ft. and avoiding peaks higher than that Final approach to Alamaty airport On the ground Done for the day

List of countries: China Kazakhstan

Flight log: