Kyrgyzstan 22/06/2005

Trip Journal From 22nd June 2005 - 22th July 2005

We had a much easier time crossing into Kyrgyzstan, the border entry was easy the guards friendly. Where we crossed was very isolated and there was only one other car coming through. Two small buildings on the Kazakhstan side and 100 meters and 2 sheds on the Kyrgyzstan side. The whole crossing took only 1½ hours. We had another 100 kms of terrible roads till Karakol. despite the roads the drive was magical, the landscape varied from dessert, hills, pastures, wildflowers , donkeys and carts and colourful crops. We stayed at Elitas Guest House in Karakol for 5 days and used it as a base to explore the surrounding areas. Our breakfasts have been interesting, cold chips, cucumber, tomatoes and sour cream with some sort of luncheon, properly horsemeat based. The second morning we had coleslaw with fish but I am pleased to say it was all up hill from there, no complaints about the rest of the breakys. The landscape is dominated by mountain chains that criss cross the country, as well as the mountain peaks there’s gorges, valleys, steppes and basins, all ripe for some 4x4 exploring, 94% of the country is above 1000mt, there are over 40,000 rivers and streams and 2000 lakes.

We headed up Altyn Arashan an alpine valley only to find our way blocked by a rock fall, next on the agenda was Ak Su, this time the road was blocked by a barrier the only access was by foot, the Jeti-Oghuz Canyon was an interesting formation of red sandstone cliffs, the Seven Bulls looking very impressive. The surprise for me was seeing quilts hanging over fences as we drove along, not only the Ala-Kiyiz (felt carpets) but American designed quilts. There was quite a German / Mennonite presence here so obviously the tradition has been passed down through the generations. We visited the Przewalski Memorial and museum. Przewalski was one of the countries famous explorers. The museum was excellent with captions in English and Russian...

We did our exploring in Nigel’s 4x4, as it seemed pointless to take 2 vehicles, another leisurely breaky and we were off again this time heading into the Tian Shan Mountain Range, what scenery, grassy meadows lie amongst forested areas, exploring the jailoos ( summer pastures ) yurts dotting the meadows where the shepherds graze their stock. As we continued to climb, this time there were no barriers blocking our path, we saw an abundance of bird life, bird watching is Nigel’s pastime so he was able to name all the species we saw, over 19 varieties, white wag tails, red mantle rose finch, pine bunting, red billed chough, rooks to name a few.

The woods in the lower reaches give way to shrubs, then grassland and mountain flowers, then finally a barren rocky landscape with the snow line getting closer by the minute as we climb up the valley. The altitude was nearing 4000 meters we hadn’t realized we had traveled up so high, the pass at the top was still covered in snow, as we turned a corner we found a Lada stuck in the snow, good Samaritans that we were we towed them out only to get our selves stuck in the process. Here we were at 4100 mt, in the snow, jandals on our feet, really ill equipped for the conditions and a storm was coming in. We put some rocks into the ruts which the melting snow had carved out, Lawrie and Nigel used the Hi lift jack and propped some sand ladders under the wheels, both the guys were struggling for breath at the high altitude, it seemed to take forever and the storm bought with it icy winds and a sprinkling of snow, I was feeling rather concerned especially when we were all struggling for breath at the slightest exertion, hard to believe only a short while back we were enjoying all the wild flowers and bird life.

We managed to inch forward over the snow and slush, we were then able to reach solid ground, turn around and with fingers crossed we had to negotiate back over where we had got stuck, deciding we had definitely come far enough up this mountain pass. After a couple of anxious moments we successfully made it over the snow and slush, we all let out a sigh of relief , turned the heater on full blast to warm up our frozen fingers and toes. Disaster adverted!.

A nice hot shower and we were ready to go out for dinner with a group of Aussies that lived in Osh who were staying at Elitas as they planned to do some serious hiking. We went to Fakit Cafe, a local restaurant we had found, the food was so good we ate there every night we were in Karakol we just said ‘ Fakit ‘ there’s no point in going anywhere else.

We felt at home as we drove around Issyk Kul, 80 streams flowing into the lake and non out, the lake is 6236sq. km, with smoked trout available for sale at lots of roadside stalls. We bought one to have for lunch…very tasty it was. We traveled through the Chong Ak-Suu Valley, what a wonderful drive, along the way we visited an alpine lake, trying to chat to the local herdsmen, Nigel some how got himself misunderstood and nearly had them cutting a sheep’s throat so we could have some meat LOL. The spot was perfect for camping but we decided against it as once again as the rain had set in we dropped the guys off at their yurt as their horses had bolted when the storm come in and continued on. Mountains surrounded us, wild flowers everywhere, rosemary and thyme growing wild, the crystal clear water up the canyon frothed over the river beds at a great speed, a nature paradise. Stopping to take yet another photo of a woman milking a cow beside her yurt, a young boy came rushing over to see if we wanted to buy some milk. Everywhere people are riding horses and donkeys.

We over-nighted in Cholpon Ata and Kochkor staying in B&BS, wonderful hospitality, the raspberry and blackcurrant jam was to die for and I lost count on the number of felt and woven carpets that adorned the homes. Heading towards Lake Song Kul we met up with some Swiss cyclists, their back up team was 3 locals driving an old Russian Army V8 truck. They gave us our first taste of Kourmiss...fermented mare’s milk, (2-5% alcohol). No comments… lets just say we are not in a hurry to try it again. We camped beside the yurts in a field of thyme overlooking Song Kul, we were at over 3000 mt and it was freezing cold and the bitter wind went right through us.

We both had an uncomfortable night, put it down to camping at such a high altitude. We had lots of visitors, the locals on horse back and kids on donkeys. As we continue to explore this delightful country we had the most amazing drive through 3 passes on our way to Naryn. The Moldo Ashuu Pass, Baibiche and the Oynak-Jar Pass. We reached altitudes of over 4100 mt, over 10kms we saw over 50 varieties of mountain plants, the altitude contributing to the richness of colour. Sub alpine meadows alight with colourful carpet of colour, just feasting our eyes on the outstanding scenery, surrounded by majestic mountains. We saw only one other car. We had to drive with our 4x4 hubs in as we crossed rivers, negotiated over 20 washouts, zig zaged our way over mountains and drove through thick red mud, deep enough to lose our steering if we were not careful. We went from sun, rain to snow at the top of the Oynak-Jar Pass, we finally hit the main China / Kyrgyzstan road, and at this point we were only about 60 kms from the China border.

Driving up yet another delightful valley we visited the historical Tash Rabat in the At-Bashy Range, a caravanserai, a camel stop on the old Silk Road, very well preserved considering it dated back to 15th century. Another great camping spot but the weather started to close in yet again so we pressed onto Naryn. We were getting concerned re the level of our fuel tank, E for empty as we crawled into Naryn; we had never had the gauge down that low before. We capped off the day staying in a yurt at the Celestial Mountains Guest House. www.celestial.com.kg Ian Claytor an Englishman is one of the owners and he soon pointed us in the right direction to get some clean fuel the last thing we needed was to fill Ruefee up with dirty fuel., we had tried a couple of gas stations and they both had no diesel, so we were a bit concerned.

We had such a good nights sleep and great hospitality we stayed on for a couple of days, the price was under NZ$40.00 for the 2 of us including dinner and breakfast. We were lucky to get a bed as there were a lot of political observers in town as the elections are being held in a week’s time. We met other travelers going on into China via the Torugart Pass. Next day we headed off exploring around Naryn .We drove up the Salkyn Tor Valley, a very challenging drive over and up rivers, really tough going and only accessible by 4x4. We made contact with a local family, Mum and 2 children; the husband was up the valley with his animals. She invited us into her yurt; she offered us kourmiss and some sort of sour cream mix. She proudly showed me the Ala-Kiyiz (felt carpets) that she had made that covered the floor. She showed me how she hand spun the wool using a spindle, very labour intensive. They stay in the valley for 4 months in summer and then head down to Naryn for the winter.

Heading towards Bishkek we met up with a couple of Belgium cyclist, we didn’t envy the challenges of the passes they had to encounter along their travels, they gave us a warning re the police stopping you, so we drove adhering to the local speed limits, it still wasn’t good enough and we got stopped by yet another baton welding policeman. He came over showing us his speed gun saying we had been speeding, we had seen him just pick up the gun as we stopped. We pleaded no comprehendie and smiled and nodded and stood our ground and much to our relief we got waved on. The language barrier makes it really difficult.

In Bishkek we have to collect our LOI (letter of invitation) so we can get our Uzbekistan visas. We had Stan Tours in Kazakhstan organizing it for us. Ian Claytor has another property in Bishkek so we headed there. It’s the Silk Road Lodge, www.silkroad.com.kg. Ian was a wonderful host and has a delightful complex but unfortunately we were unable to stay longer than one night as they were fully booked due to the elections.

We certainly notice the change in temperature in Bishkek it’s been 35 to 40 degrees, we much prefer the cooler mountain temperatures, so rather than sweat it out in Ruefee we have opted for air-conditioned accommodation. We stayed the remainder of our time in Bishkek at the Alpinist Hotel. Our last night there we had an adventure, at about 2am Lawrie woke to smell smoke and the noise of the hotel staff using fire extinguishers to douse an electrical fire , poked his head out of our door only to see the corridor filled with black smoke, we were opposite the switchboard which was where the fire started, so our room was filled with smoke too, we put dam towels under the door and hurriedly grabbed all our belongings, opened the window and were ready to leap out the window if necessary, luckily we were on the ground floor.

In Bishkek we met up with the Pinders and Robertsons, it been easier on us traveling with Nigel in a similar 4x4 vehicle and driving at the same speed, we usually send a text email message via their satellite phone with the GPS readings to the others so it’s easy to all connect up in different places. Another great drive from Bishkek heading towards Osh via lake Sary-Chelek the 4 vehicles camped beside the river, we even got a spot of fishing in, and plenty of swims along the way to cool down. We saw our first golden eagle an impressive sight. We chuckle as we drive along at how many people they seem to be able to squeeze into a Lada. we saw 10 people get out of one.

We all stayed at the Tes Guest House in Osh a great spot, free internet, really quiet, they only have 5 rooms so we stayed in Ruefee in the car park one night, the others managed to plug into power so they were able to keep cool. Jill came with us up Solomon’s Throne a 25 minute climb up a hill overlooking Osh. Solomon’s Throne is an important Muslim place of pilgrimage. And it offers great views overlooking Osh. A visit to one of central Asia’s best Bazaars……Jayma bazaar saw us enjoying the sights and smells of this bustling market... For our last night in Kyrgyzstan we all enjoyed a meal at Nivana Restaurant, they served western food and at the end of the evening they provided us with free taxis home, great service. Tomorrow Sunday 17th July we are rising early ready for our border crossing into Uzbekistan. Our visit to Kyrgyzstan has been a highlight and we feel it has to be one of the most underrated tourist destinations.