Soviet V Muslim oddness Russian Asian Schizophrenia

Sorry for the delay with posts but I have not had blog access since Tuesday 11^th June which was my 2^nd day in Kyrgyzstan.  This is because I have been in the wilds of Kyrgyzstan with no Internet & then since Monday 24^th June in China where BlogSpot does not work as it is owned by Google which has a restricted service in China.  So, this & the next 3 blogs have been typed up for a while, but just not posted until now.

 

As I start typing this blog post it’s Thursday 20^th June at 6.15pm.  I’m sat in the blazing sun at 3016 metres high looking out over Lake Song-Kol which is the second largest Alpine lake in the world at 18km in width & 29km in length.  I can see it all with the mountain back drop = wow.  It’s not boiling due to a cool breeze, but instead just lovely.  As a windbreak I’m sat in my tent with the door open & cook group 4 are cooking duck on the camp fire.  The group are sat in deck chairs around the camp fire drinking beer listening to my iPod through the truck speakers.  The Chill Out Mix album is playing.  From our camp to the lake in the distance across the plateau there are herds of cattle & horses belonging to the Nomads who are living in their Yurts near to our tents.  This is an afternoon/evening to enjoy & remember; especially after I did a 4 hour hike this morning to a peak I could see from the camp which turned out to be 3385m.  The views were fantastic.  I think this is the highest I’ve been on land in my life.

 

Our first stop in Kyrgyzstan was hotel Asia Mountains in the capital Bishkek.  It was great because the weather was about 30C & it had a swimming pool.  We all caught up with our washing, chilled out by the pool, went on a walking tour of the city & chilled out more by the pool.  We were at the hotel for 2 nights which was lovely.  We all thank the previous Odyssey bloggers who in my mind were totally right in suggesting more than a 1 night rushed stay here.  Especially, as we were off to do 5 nights of bush camping.

 

By the way, the border crossing only took 3 hours & there was no visa or cost required for any of us to enter Kyrgyzstan.  We were all thinking this was the best ‘Stan’ so far as we drove into the country.  The previous have got a lot to learn.

Kelly, Hayden, Yvonne & Phil made their way to a Bishkek bazaar.  Unfortunately, Hayden & Kelly were searched by 3 plain clothed police.  So was Phil.  They claimed to be searching for drugs, but stole £40 out Phil’s’ wallet & then wanted to shake his hand with big smiles as a parting gesture!

Still, back to the pool & the incident was laughed at as we all realized the bent cops now had £40 sterling notes which Phil was having much trouble trying to change ever since Azerbaijan.

Wed 12^th June we did rafting.

 

Thur 13^th June was a bush camp in the desert area next to Lake Issyk-Kol.

 

Friday 14^th June was our first of 3 nights in the Jeti-Oghuz valley.  Raining when we arrived.  Some of us stayed in a Yurt where we were served Plov for dinner & porridge with milk straight from the cow for breakfast.

Very narrow wooded bridges to cross.  We had to get out the truck just in case!

It was very nerve wracking watching the truck cross the 5 bridges!

In the yert

More plov in the vert

Lovely warm sleeping bag

Inside the yert roof

 

Sat 15^th I tried a bit of horse riding for 2 hours.  We also did a fancy dress party.  (We had all spent the previous week buying costumes for people we had picked names out a hat-& it was a secret who we were buying for).  I became Doctor Day.

Sunday 16^th I went for a near vertical 4 hour hike with Andy where we found lovely views at the top of the valley.  So much so that the open area looked like a golf course.

 

On this day we also had a lamb spit roast.  The lamb owner killed, skinned & gutted the lamb with one knife in about one hour – in front of us.

Mon 17^th we arrived at a homestay in the village of Kochkor.  It began snowing.  The village had a power cut which seemed to be a common occurrence.

 

Tue 18^th June was a drive to Lake Song-Kol where I am as I write this blog.  We drove along a mountain pass at 3,200m high.  It was snowing & we saw our first yaks.

 

At the bush camp it was snow covered & very cold.  I had to roll away a square of snow to pitch my tent.  My sleeping bag did me good.  It was so cold, the tent zips began to freeze so we had to leave them open.  It was not nice washing up in cold water that began to freeze!  Inside the tent I saw ice crystals glistening in my head torch!  We estimate it was -8C

 

Next day was bright sunshine & clear blue skies.  Most of us went for walks to higher peaks.  In the afternoon, the Nomads put on a display of goat polo.  (The aim was to carry a headless goat on horseback & dump it on a mat without it being snatched by the other players).  In the evening we saw a fantastic lightning storm passing across the plateau.

 

After goat polo & dinner Yvonne became quiz master & we all did a pub quiz.  The teams were cook groups.  I discovered my Cook group 1 was as bad with knowledge as cooking because we came last.

We left Lake Song-Kol on Friday 21^st June.  Drove for 3 hours along a different route out.  Very scenic but got defeated by tight hair pin bends so had to retrace our route back to camp & then over the mountains from where we came.  5 hours later another scenic bush camp next to a river.

 

Sat 22^nd got stuck again leaving the bush camp & then the truck overheated which Simon fixed by cutting out a bit of the exhaust!  After 6 hours we arrived at a homestay in the town of Naryn.

 

This was really a village.  There were still massive Soviet style concrete bus stops in the middle of nowhere, statues & dried up fountains.  Like the Lonely Planet Guide states which sums this part of the world up well & what I have seen since Georgia throughout the Stan’s is Soviet V Muslim Oddness / Russian-Asian Schizophrenia.  On Sunday at the market I managed to get a photo of a 4x4 Lada which has been the most common vehicle since we entered Georgia.

Evening was a bush camp within sight of the 1^st border check point on the Torugart Pass into China.  But just as we had set up our tents a border guard arrived on horse, checked all our passports & told us we had to turn back 20km if we wanted to camp.