Bishkek to Osh

Once I finished the trek I made my way to Bishkek which took about four hours by shared taxi. My hostel in Bishkek was full of jaded Westerners who had spent way too much time there waiting for visas. One guy had been there 11 days! In some cities a long wait wouldn't be too bad, but you can see all the sights of Bishkek in approximately 25 minutes so as you can imagine he was getting very bored. There were five motorbikes and three bicycles parked up at the hostel, everyone seemed to be biking their way across the world.

I stayed there one night and then set off on the 11 hour drive to Osh to meet my sister. The road had two 3000m+ passes and was a showcase for the spectacular mountains and rivers of Krgyzstan. I can safely say this country is the most beautiful I have ever visited. It's kind of like Switzerland but with a much smaller population who mainly live in yurt camps instead of quaint little cottages and keep horses instead of cows with annoying little bells. 

Osh itself is a nice town, and I had a great time visiting a family who my sister is friends with. It was the Fathers birthday so plenty of piva, vodka and plov was consumed!

I'm off on a bus to Kashgar in China tonight, I have no idea when I'll arrive. I've heard stories of six hour waits at the border.

Trek to Song-kol

My sister and I parted ways at Issyk-kol. She returned to Osh for work while I took a taxi for two hours to the town of Kochkor, in the centre of Krygyzstan. Aside from a fascinating animal bazaar where the locals bartered for sheep, cows and horses, Kochkor was an unmemorable place. It was, however, where I was to organise my horse trek through the mountains to Song-kol (knowingly translated by my guide to beautiful lake) which sits at 3016m. 

As we set off after an early lunch on the first day, Beky, my guide, informed me it would be a four hour climb up to Uzbek pass (3400m). The rolling hills and lush green pastures gave way to steeper scree slopes as we climbed higher and after a while our horses began to tire. The path we were following became narrower and narrower, and aside from taking in the spectacular views I spent the final half an hour of the climb hoping I was insured for horse trekking if anything went wrong - one false step by my trusty steed and we would both be shashlik meat! [excuse the Krygyz pun.]

Once we reached the pass it was a further hour until we reached the jailoo (yurt camp) where we would be staying the night. The cool air at altitude was a much needed break from the incessant heat of the plains in Uzbekistan, I slept in the yurt fully clothed under about five blankets - it got freezing at night! I bonded with the boys in the family using the universal language of football, and for once I was actually better than them. Its kind of understandable when you realise Krygyzstan is 96% mountainous - there aren't really many decent places to actually play football here!

We awoke early the next morning to trek round the shore of the lake to the following nights camp where I was given some delicious fried fish that had been caught from the lake that day. The family that put me up in their yurt were lovely, and even though we had difficulty communicating, I had a great time with them.

The third day was a painful affair as we climbed up to Tuss-ashoo pass and then made our way down to the village of Kyzart where the trek would end. Five days later and I think my arse has suitably recovered.

The whole trek cost me the princely sum of £110, far and away the most expensive thing I have shelled out for yet on this trip but still an absolute steal!

Back in the USSR

Greetings from Kyrgyzstan! I have done a lot of traveling between Bukhara in Uzbekistan and the town of Kochkor in Kyrgyzstan where I am now, and I will now attempt to fill you in. After taking a comfortable four hour train ride from Bukhara we found ourselves in Samarkand, home to Uzbekistans greatest sight, The Registan. The Registan is a collection of three massive medressas which contain the usual Uzbek collection of mosques, minarets and courtyards. There was no doubt that The Registan was incredibly impressive, however after seeing many similar (but smaller) buildings over the past week, the novelty was beginning to wear off and it was hard to maintain a genuine interest in Central Asian 15th century Islamic Architecture. After just over a week in Uzbekistan, it was time to leave, and so we jumped on a train to Tashkent and then a flight the next morning to Bishkek, capital city of Kyrgyzstan. My sister cleverly decided to lose her ticket for the flight, so after numerous loud Russian arguments with whoever she could find, she was forced to shell out nearly 200 Dollars for a new ticket. This is after she was persuaded to part with 120 Dollars for a ridiculous amount of Uzbek kitchenware in Bukhara! Gutted.

We spent a few hours in Bishkek, checking out a bit of soviet bric-a-brac (I’ve got myself a lovely pennant to go with the Lenin one I’ve already got), before having the best meal I have yet to eat in Central Asia courtesy of a brilliant Chinese restaurant. I have yet to mention Uzbek food. In every restaurant we went to, there was no menu. Thanks to my sisters Russian, we asked the waiter: ‘What food have you got?’ the answer was always the same: ‘Everything’. On further probing however, it was revealed everything did in fact mean the following things: Shashlik (a kind of fatty sheek kebab), Plov (rice and gristle) and finally Lagman (a noodle stew of varying quality). The Chinese meal in Bishkek was a welcome break from this painfully monotony. (I have heard a rumor that like the Eskimos have seven different words for ‘snow’, the Uzbek people have twelve different words for ‘bland’.)

Once we had finally had a decent meal, we set off in a shared taxi for Lake Issyk-kol, the worlds’ largest alpine lake and the tourist attraction of which the Krygyz people are most proud. The four hour drive to the lake was breathtaking and gave me an initial glimpse at the mountains in which I will be spending the next week or so. Upon arrival in Cholpon-Ata, seemingly the main town on the shore of the lake, we had great difficulty finding a hostel. The driver of our taxi didn’t think we would like the place much anyway, so offered to drive us to the next town which he claimed was much better, and that we would have a great time there. The man could not have been more wrong if he had tried. We were taken to a ramshackle settlement on the lakes shoreline and put up in one of three identical hotels that clearly hadn’t seen a lick of paint since they were first built in Khrushchev-era USSR. I have come across such a relic of the Soviet Union in all my travels and it was a privelige to stay there. This was clearly where the Krygyz ‘lads on tour’ came as the place was full of tents that doubled as clubs playing Russian house music. My opinions on Russian house music are very similar to my opinions on Uzbek food. Need I say more?

One long night there was enough, and Mary and I parted our separate ways the following morning as she took a taxi back down to Bishkek and onwards to Osh, where she was starting work after the weekend. I, meanwhile, took a taxi to Kochkor, bang in the heart of the Krgyz mountains. It is here I have arranged to go on a horse trek to lake Song-kol for three days, sleeping in yurt camps for both nights. I will be setting off tomorrow morning, keep an eye on my twitter: www.twitter.com/jkpole for updates!