Category — Kyrgyzstan

The days in Osh … what should I say. Again, the two days were largely similar, so I am folding them into one entry again. Osh is in the Fergana Valley. Funny thing that I was here just a few weeks ago – just a couple of hundred kms to the West. And the bazaars of Kokand and Osh being so similar, one could just forget that it is a different city.

The helicopter landing pads are the same in all of Central Asia.

What is different for once is the internet cafe business. This is the only place so far that has put restrictions on the amount of uploads you can do. Which stinks after all the pictures I have been taking on the Pamir Highway. In the end, after scouring the places – one charging triple the price, the other closed, the third one not allowing uploads – I found a cafe that would let me do what I needed to do. Sort of … it was slow on the first day and smoking on the second.

The main attraction of Osh for me was the bazaar. But after having been to so many already they are remarkably similar so I cannot get worked up about them all that much. What is interesting though are the people that stop by here. Again, just as in Kokand there is a great variety of different ethnicities milling about. All a result of this conglomeration of people over the centuries – and artificial lines having been drawn to come to some kind of separation.

One other amazing thing was the food here in Osh. I have eaten Lagman before in Bishkek and it was good. But so was the one that I tried here. And open kitchen to some extent – here is proof. Lagman are noodles with meat and vegetables (and tons of garlic) and some sauce. Yummy, yummy Uygur stuff. Can’t (yet) get enough of it.

Turns out that my keyboard has given up after coming down from the Pamir Highway. It worked perfectly fine still in Sary Tash and now it is not doing much any longer. I will write to the manufacturer and see whether they are willing to send a replacement.

I also decided that I would fly to Bishkek after all. The initial idea had been to drive to Bishkek and fly back, but I don’t feel like being boxed into a car forever (10-12h, depending on the degree of craziness and ability to push fatigue [sadly this is a factor]of your driver). It also reduces the time I cannot work on things if I have to for the visa part.

Today I was heading to Osh from Sary Tash. About a six hour ride by car, there are 20 people milling about the confluence of two roads and all starting for any car that comes by. You have to muscle your way in and I don’t really stand a chance. It just so happens that the man from the guesthouse seems to be a big man here and at a word from him I was in the back of a car. Back meaning back … I was in the very back of a 4×4 in pretty cramped conditions. There was also meat packets (boiled meat) and bread (I guess there is none in Osh?), so I had a cozy few hours there.

The drive was amazing - through gorgeous countryside. But on extremely bad roads. It would have been great to bike this stuff, though pretty harsh. Yet I didn’t have time to make it to Bishkek by bike and would have had to return to Sary Tash, so leaving the bike there seemed to be the right thing to do.

I found a place for the next few days and will be heading to Bishkek from Osh. No pictures today. But there are tons on the flickr site.

daily distance: 30 km
total distance: 11,353km
riding time: 1-2h

The night had been windy - and I didn’t sleep too well. Not well at all as a matter of fact. I kept waking up and couldn’t fall asleep in the wee hours of the morning.

Slightly groggy I packed up - but woke up to blue skies and more stunning scenery.

The Kyrgyz border post was a no-brainer. All said and done within less than 5 minutes. The guys were not awake yet and the drug inspection guy only wanted to know where I was from and where I was heading. “No problem, you can go.” Looking at the bike he probably figured whoever is stupid enough to bike over these mountains won’t bother transporting drugs. Rightio. It was still cold, but the scenery grew more and more stunning.

So did the wind and I was glad I was in Sary Tash after 30km, a depressing place. But I will take a car or bus from here tomorrow and head for Osh and then Bishkek to do the interview at the US embassy for my work visa. I will then come back and head for China if all goes well. At least and important set of documents has made it to Bishkek already … so things are on their way.

The town is uninspiring. But provided some good photo ops.

And the mountains which had been shrouded by fierce sand storms all afternoon showed their full beauty before sunset. Keep your fingers crossed that the cold winds abate somewhat next week when I am supposed to be back here to head to China.

daily distance: 70 km
total distance: 11,403km
riding time: 5-6h

Gloomy skies greeted me early in the morning. There was no great sunrise to be seen. And then the snow came. My hosts had said that there wouldn’t be any snow. So much for local experience with the weather.

After some time it seemed good enough to go. It was cold, but it seemed that things would be improving … and they did. The weather cleared up for some time and revealed the stunning scenery around me.

At a cemetery not far from Karakul I put in my first stop. For some reason I find the cemeteries here quite moving. They are not polished at all and exposed to the elements here at 4000m - they have a special mystery I think. See for yourself (granted, few cemeteries can compete when it comes to remoteness and scenery).

Then the road climbed up to the first pass and what I had thought before already came true. I felt like !@#$. Despite good food and plenty of sleep the previous night I seemed to have no energy. This was also supposed to be an easy pass, but for me it certainly wasn’t.

I could have yelled were it not for the thin air. Save your breath, you need every single one. The thought of flagging down the next car was tempting. But alas, there weren’t any. There were two all day, one each way. My hunch is that the the Ak-Baytal pass was not open and the through-traffic therefore non-existent.

Eventually I was up at this rather uninspiring pass and headed for the downhill. Fingers freezing (at least the feet were warm in the seal skins) I got into a mess. Temperatures dropped precipitously (-5C plus wind chill) and snow began to fall. Fun stuff. The downhill was like flying into a bank of fog. I am sure the scenery is stunning, but on the first plateau I had no vision whatsoever. Hence no pictures.

Then the scene became ghastly. See for yourself.

It was here that my spirits actually got a boost. Believe it or not. I found the area strangely mysterious, ominous and forbidding. But at the same time intensely beautiful. The snow had crept to the road, but never covered it and so riding itself was not a problem.

It did become one once the asphalt stopped and the washboard began. It lasted for 9km.

But the fun never stops and I couldn’t resist heading into the big neighbor of the country I was in. What? you say! Well, there was an open gate and apparently no one around. And so I couldn’t resist.

Just after snapping these, Jan appeared from a slight bump in the road. A French cyclist (make that two cars and one cyclist then for the day) on his way home we chatted for a while, exchanging information on the situation ahead.

My work was in plain sight and with the weather improving things turned to be amazing. What had been lying under fog, clouds and snowfall was now in full view - including brooding clouds on one side and blue skies on the other. Where I was heading.

The Tajik border guards weren’t fun. I had to show my passport not once, not twice, but three times. I had enough. The guys in the last container were the worst. Where are you going? Well, the road goes to Kyrgyzstan, right? And then where? Brazil, rolling my eyes. The guy didn’t like that answer and it was unnecessary. I had to unpack and was only let go after a while.

Hence the good mood.