We are back in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. We have best memories of our visit three years ago. Back then we used the city's as point of departure for the Pamir mountains to see Peak Lenin. Today we want to rest and do some repairs at our Emma; the to-do-list after 15.000 km became quite extensive.
Border controls to Kyrgyzstan go pretty smooth, we don't need Visa anymore, we just get stamps. The official stamping our passports complains that Paulis hair is not the same as on the picture, suggesting that the passport is not valid. To wipe this stupid discussion off the table, I start to laugh really loud and ask people standing around us if they don't like Paulis curls either and if we need to cut them off. Then the discussion is done. We have developed a good feeling to find out quickly which of the officials is important and needs to be addressed (some star&stripes counting on shoulders helps) and who we can easily ignore. We pay 35 Dollars ecological tax and hope it will be used for the purpose.
After the long day at the border we are hungry and head towards our favourite restaurant from 2012. And it is still there, though all outside seating is put away already. We notice suddenly, it is really fall now, leaves are changing colours and most important: it is cold. And it will get much colder in the next couple of days.
The food is great, only Torsten opts for a Kyrgyz sheep meal, the rest is happy with Spaghetti Bolognese and Beef Stroganoff... ;-) Aaaaahhh lekker.
Three years ago the kids loved to turn their rounds on the roller coasters and other non-TÜV fun park stuff in Osch. And since we left Brussels they have been talking about which ride to take in Kyrgyzstan so we head towards the park after dinner. All is still there but season is over, that is clear. It is six o'clock in the evening, darkness coming, it gets cool and wet and no one is there. Some lost Karaoke singers and Somsa vendors , that's it. We decide to come back next day in the afternoon, it is a Saturday and business should be better then. For the night we park next to a mosque at the Salomonhill, two nice men welcoming us. It is a quiet place, but we disturb the guard of a nearby museum, she yells at us and wants us to leave immediately. A nice old man from the mosque allows us to plug in our electricity at the mosque, but next day at 6 o'clock, it is still dark, he knocks us out of our beds and asks to collect the cable immediately. Apparently someone has told him to do so. And there it is again: the Soviet Natchalnik-System. There is always someone 'above' someone else to overrule decisions. Everyone is scared of someone having more power and so reactions can become sometimes a little panic and sometimes result in taking back all that has been offered very friendly just a minute ago. Next day we change parking place by five meters, plug off electricity and everyone is happy.
 |
Osch: Climbing the Salomonhill after sunset
like three years ago. |
Rain and ten degrees, that is what Osh offers us. Torsten and Johann go to the bazaars anyway to get all stuff needed for the car. The list is quite long, our diesel-heating doesn't work yet and as it gets colder and we are approaching Kyrgyz mountain range it is needed urgently. We have two heatings in the car: one that uses gas (propane) and the other one using diesel. The propane heating uses a lot of gas and we have to find refills for the propane bottle, which is not always easy. Other than described in many travel forums we never had adapter problems so far. However our gas heating won't work above 1500 m above sea level. Since we have to pass the Tourgart Pass to China at a height of around 3700 m we needed a second option, which is our diesel. Torsten equipped it with an altitude meter, a little computer which adjusts the mixture of diesel and air according to the altitude. Unfortunately he did not succeed to hook it up to Emmas diesel tank when he installed everything back in Brussels, so still some work left.
Rain, rain, rain, it is dark and it gets colder. I am getting a bit worried now. Osh is the warmest place in Kirgistan, from here on it will only get colder. Osh is a city at the outskirts of the Fergana Valley, at 300 m above sea level, with hot summers and the climate diagram shows peaks of 20 degrees at this time of the year. But we are far from 20 degrees, we are close to 0 during the night. What will that mean for the mountains to cross towards Bishkek? We know the answer to that question, but still hope we will be wrong: snow.
 |
Kara-Suu: View into the container bazaar right at the
Kyrgyz-Uzbek border some 25 km from Osh. |
We arrive and police waits for us, the first time that day and it will not be the last time. We have overlooked a sign that does not allow trucks on the road next to the bazaar and we are asked to pay a fine, immediately. Torsten pays some 500 Soms, around 7 Dollars and does not receive a receipt, which means we have payed our first bribe. The fine was not justified since Emma does not weight as much as the sign indicated. Torsten is pretty frustrated and decides not to pay any bribes anymore no matter how long it takes to discuss.
The landscape towards the mountains is fantastic. As we come closer we see the snow, incredibly low already.
To cross the mountains towards Bishkek we have to pass a toll station, which is fine as such, but when we see the difference of prices for Kyrgyz and for foreigners we rub our eyes. We are asked to pay 40 (in words: forty) Dollars and that despite the partly bad road conditions and in a country where the majority of people lives from less than 2 Dollars per day... The payment sheet we get does not even mention the local currency, but states: 40 Dollars. Locals pay 3 Dollars.
 |
| On our way to Bishkek: Most expensive road tax ever. |
 |
| On our way to Bishkek: still some meters to go ... |
 |
... until we reach one of the passes
First Ala Bel Pass, 3175 m |
 |
| then Töö Ashuu Pass although at 3180 m. |
There is a lot of police on the road and they put up (speed) controls everywhere and of course we are asked to stop at these controls. From now on every time. And we learn: in Kyrgyzstan it is never only about checking papers, like in other countries, here it is always about money. A lot of money: wherever we are stopped they want us to pay 100 Dollars immediately, no matter what is being fined ('missing' lights, we are shown speed pictures where we can't even be seen, missed stop sign by showing us the picture of another car, not having 4 headlights but only two ... You invent it, they know it already...) It is obvious corruption, but in a very ruthless manner this time. Of course we never pay, but we get more and more frustrated and angry. This is really nasty, there is yelling and shouting and one time I even have to snap our documents out of the hand of one of the police men and we take a run to our car. Torsten remembers from our first visit that in one of our guide books there was a mentioning of a telephone number to call when problems occur with police. We try the number, but it doesn't work (later we find out that it changed: (0312) 662331) We call the German embassy, where a nice Kyrgyz lady (!) explains us not to pay anything, but to ask a paper slip and to pay eventually fines at a bank. After another 'control' frustration is getting too big and we stop and develop a strategy. We decide to take this whole thing as a game and start to laugh about this stupid situation that we are in.
 |
On our way to Bishkek: Corrupt policemen stopping us and
inventing reasons to fine us. |
 |
On our way to Bishkek: policemen running around the car
filming to intimate us. |
b |
On our way to Bishkek: This friendly truck driver helped us out
with a cell phone so we could call the embassy. |
We establish rules of the game:
- We only speak English, no Russian anymore.
- We smile and talk all the time, best both at the same time.
- No original documents are shown to anyone, copies only.
- We have the complaints number ready and we mention the embassy.
- We ask for names of the officers since the complaints office requires them to create a file.
- And last but not least, we don't pay anything to anyone, but request an official document to be paid at the bank.
Now things start to go better and we take the ruthlessness better. It takes us a lot of time though to talk us out every time and we arrive only late in the evening in Bishkek.
What a ride, it gives a bit a bitter taste to our visit here. We have travelled so many countries but that level of corruption we have never experienced before. Being police is the licence to get money in Kyrgyzstan. We don't remember having had these problems three years ago: but back than we were also driving a 'normal' car with a Kyrgyz license plate. Still we are not the only ones being stopped, loads of Kyrgyz cars always wait with us at the "checkpoints", I have no idea how these people manage.
In Bishkek things get better. We are warmly welcomed by a friends' family, that we got to know already in 2012. It really feels nice to be back. We can park our car in front of their home and are helped with anything we need. Maksat, one of the sons of the family lives in Germany, where we got to know him. His younger brother Tursunbai lives in Bishkek, studying law. We met him already in 2012 and I really really like him. I love his silent giggle, when he laughs very friendly. We can ask him all the questions about life in Kyrgyzstan we have and he explains everything.
The cold has caught us, it came so quickly. Some 10 days ago we were in Uzbekistan at 39 degrees. Now we are down to minus 3 at night. We all have running noses and Antonia even develops fever and has to stay in bed for two days. Torsten eventually goes to the children's hospital with her, where the daughter of our host family is working as a doctor and we are helped with antibiotics that help really quickly.
 |
| Bishkek: Warm welcoming by our friends in the Kyrgyz capital. |
 |
| Bishkek: Pauli found a way to hook himself onto Susanne. |
 |
Bishkek: After the long ride from Osh we try out some
Kyrgyz spirits to warm us. Not too bad at all! |
And there is snow in Bishkek. Snow, snow, snow. Way too early this year, the leaves of the trees are mostly still green. Well, that was the bet we took, when planning the trip: either winter would be late, then everything world be perfect, or winter is faster than us and that would mean problems. And we are about to lose this bet. Bishkek is at 800 m height and the mountains around at 4000 m. Snow doesn't melt, it stays on the trees and roads in Bishkek. So we try to prepare. Emma gets an oil change and some other refreshings, Paul and Antonia get extra thick winter jackets and we fill up food stock to take up eventual delays at the border.
 |
| Bishkek: Lovely afternoon with Naomi & Brecht from Belgium. |
 |
| Bishkek: 'Look at me! I'm cute!' |
 |
Bishkek: Johann reading 'The letter for the king'
by Tonke Dragt. |
Friday night is party night. Prasdnik. Our host family celebrates the wedding of their son Maksat in Germany. Some 30 people are invited and meat for weeks to eat, plus dozens of bottles of vodka are being brought and the party can start. We are really happy to be invited and enjoy this insight in Kyrgyz culture. Guests sit together at a big table, while the hosts serve food and food and food and tea and vodka. The wedding picture of Maksat and Raida in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is shown around. All guests are invited to sing and hold speeches, one after another. When someone speaks (in Kyrgyz) all are very quiet, listening with serious faces, nodding and agreeing from time to time. We are included in the speech-and-singing-rounds and find ourselves singing " Der Mond ist aufgegangen" and " Bunt sind schon die Wälder"... :-))) We get applause and more Vodka and more food. Interestingly there is a big majority of women sitting at the table. Later we learn that they are all friends from high school of the mother of Maksat, so they are in the middle of their fifties. But the majority of men/husbands has already died. There is all kinds of reasons: alcohol, accidents, sickness... We have read that the difference of live expectancy between men and women in Kyrgyzstan is huge and here we can see it. Eventually we stop joining the speeches with vodka and switch to water, which raises some discussions, but as foreigners we are allowed to be strange. The party goes on until late, we go to bed at midnight.
 |
| Bishkek: Party for the wedding of Maksat. |
 |
| Bishkek: Party for the wedding of Maksat. |
 |
| Bishkek: Party for the wedding of Maksat. |
 |
| Bishkek: Party for the wedding of Maksat. |
 |
| Bishkek: Party for the wedding of Maksat. |
 |
Bishkek: Party for the wedding of Maksat.
We also were asked for a toast. |
 |
| Bishkek: Morning ritual. |
 |
Bishkek; The freezing from the night
makes the green leaves fall. |
 |
| Bishkek: Antonia reading Harry Potter. |
 |
| Bishkek: Time to say 'goodbye'. |
It is another 400 km from Bishkek to the Chinese border. The area we cross is gorgeous, high mountains and Issyk Kul Lake. The lake is at 2000 m above sea level and is after Titicaca Lake in Peru the highest lake on earth. Three years ago we went there to swim, now it is too cold, but Torsten its some toes anyway.
 |
| Issyk Kul Lake: Sunrise at the shore. |
 |
| Issyk Kul Lake: Marvellous place for waking up in the morning. |
 |
| Issyk Kul Lake: snow-covered mountains surrounding the lake. |
 |
Issyk Kul Lake: When leaving the lake
beautiful colored trees guide us on our way. |
On our way to Issyk Kul we pass a little village called Rotfront. We have already written about it, when we were in Georgia. The village is inhabited by Germans who have been in the area for two centuries and still speak German. We have been here three years ago, visiting the Bethaus and in Georgia we have met a family from here that now lives in Germany. The majority of people have left since 1990 and live in Germany now. We show the pictures of our summer meeting to David who lives next to the Bethaus and he invites us for coffee into his house. We have a nice chatting afternoon with him, before we drive on to the lake.
 |
Rotfront: Soviet sculpture at the entrance of the city
holding the name of the former German settlement |
 |
| Rotfront: Church of the christian community. |
 |
Rotfront: Very warm welcome by David, when we showed him
the picture from his former neighbor, who we meet in Georgia this summer. |
 |
| Rotfront: David shows the milking machine to the kids. |
 |
Rotfront: Some playing infront of Davids' house before we leave
for Issyk Kul Lake. |
We cross another pass at 3000 m, see snowy mountain ranges, huge icy rivers, wild horses, some last yurtes, it is a beautiful day for crossing marvellous Kyrgyzstan landscape.
 |
| On our way to Naryn: Passing beautiful glaciers. |
 |
On our way to Naryn: Gorgeous place to take a break.
First only Johann runs around ... |
 |
| ... later all the kids enjoy the beauty of the place. |
 |
On our way to Naryn: I used a break to clean the overdue air-filter.
Good news: it was surprisingly clean!
Bad news: it was loose and the engine did not get clean air. |
 |
On our way to Naryn: Johann discovers iced gras
in a shady spot of the river. |
 |
On our way to Naryn: Johann gets a sheet of ice from the river
and turns it upside-down: A beautiful structure of crystals appears ... |
 |
and Johann is amazed about his discovery.
(worth to enlarge) |
 |
On our way to Naryn: Test of courage!
Who is gonna make it with try feet over here? |
 |
| On our way to Naryn: Help from her brother. |
 |
| On our way to Naryn: Getting colder! |
One more stop before the border is the town called Naryn. I remember this being a dark and depressive place and when we arrive we see, it still is.
It is tucked into a narrow valley between high mountains. We search for a place to park for the night and end up in front of a military building, where we are chased away by an unfriendly guard with " Dawai, Dawai!", the air in the mountains is crystal clear, but Naryniens manage to pollute their little valley that breathing is difficult, besides on the main road there is no asphalt, dust everywhere. Houses don't seem to have running water, we see water pumps at the streets sides, later we find out, that is not even drinking water, but dirty. As I said a terrible town.
But we stop here because we still have to get some things done before we leave civilization for a couple of days and cross the snowy mountains towards China.
Emma gets some greasing, diesel and water, we get drinking water and print some last documents that were sent by the Chinese agency to pass the border. In China we are not allowed to drive on our own, we need to have a guide with us all the time. We will also get a Chinese licence plate and Chinese driver licences. This is all a pretty expensive adventure, but there was no other way to cross China. The guide will pick us up directly at the border, we have to be there at a certain date, no day later.
For months we have been planning our trip with the Chinese agency. Now we are finally approaching the 28 of October and I am really excited. This date has been our guideline in all our travelling. No matter how much time we stay anywhere when travelling, we have to make sure to be at the Chinese border on 28/10.
 |
Naryn: I just asked to open the can for dinner,
but Antonia created some funny looking piece of art ;) |
 |
Naryn: While getting closer to the Chinese border the kid
decide to build a lego-rickshaw. |
 |
Naryn: before leaving for the border, water repositories need
to be filled up. Here at a quite anachronistic pump. |
 |
Naryn: Filling the grease gun to give Emma some shots.
Joints and cardan shafts needed it so badly.
The to-do-list is getting shorter! |
 |
Naryn: Our propane bottle gets refilled with a quite
'adventurous' (not to say dangerous) construction of this truck.
One liter propane costs us 75 cents. |
Eventually we leave Naryn and after another high pass we enter a huge valley that is breathtaking. I don't know much about "Lord of the rings", but at least I have seen all movies at least once. In one of the scenes they show a village on a hill top, in that village was some kind of thrown hall. The hill is surrounded by a huge snowy mountain range, sitting a wide green valley. And that is what it looks like. Mountains up to 4000 m, wild horses, some scattered houses, really marvelous. The sun has helped and melts some snow so we decide to take the little detour to Tash Rabat. This place was the first stop for caravans coming from China, having crossed the big desert Taklamakan, the desert of no return. The caravansary is hidden in a valley next to a clear river. The guarding lady remembers our kids, from our visit three years ago and opens the big gates for us. We admire the domes and halls made to shelter dusty and tired travelers in ancient times.
 |
On our way to Tash Rabat: When crossing one of the passes
this beautiful scene appears. |
 |
On our way to Tash Rabat: The broad valley and the mountains
remind somehow of 'Lord of the Rings'. |
 |
On our way to Tash Rabat: a gravel road curves the last miles
through a beautiful valley to ... |
 |
| TASH RABAT, the old caravansary. |
 |
A family guarding the heritage lives here all year long.
In a couple weeks conditions get very heavy. |
 |
| Tash Rabat: View from inside through the gate ... |
 |
| ... when two ghosts appear: Johann and Pauli. |
 |
| Tash Rabat: snow coming through the roof holes. |
 |
Tash Rabat: A last picture to remember this place
clouded in secrecy, before we start looking for a place to stay for the night. |
 |
| Iced Stream courses next to the road. |
 |
| The ambiance is magic! |
 |
| Yaks looking for some food before the snow covers the grass. |
 |
In the middle of vaste high plateau we pick an even spot
to stay for one more day (~3000m) to get used of the altitude. |
 |
| Johann reading to Pauli about all the heavy equipment. |
We have another day of quiet time. It is really cold up here at 3000 m and the heating is working all the time, but sun s really bright. The kids get their school rapports for the had work they have done since September. Besides all they had to work for their school at home, we list all the things they have learned on our trip and we all realize how much we have seen already.
 |
| Nutella 'damaged' by the low temperatures. |
 |
| Altitude 'blows up' sealed bags. |
 |
| Day of truth: Antonia gets her fall report. She did really well! |
 |
| And so did Johann! |
 |
| The day off is also used for extensive cuddle times. |
 |
| Kids can run around .... |
 |
| ... without getting lost. |
 |
| It's so spacious! |
 |
| Lat spots of snow are used. |
 |
| Johann enjoying the placearound. |
 |
It's the right place to make one of Johanns' dreams come true:
Driving Emma. |
 |
| He really did well for his first time! |
 |
| All happy after his first ride! |
 |
On our way to the Tourgat Pass (Kyrgyz-Chinese-Border):
some abandoned village along the road, before we pass the first
checkpoint some 50 km (!) before the border. |
 |
On our way to the Tourgat Pass (Kyrgyz-Chinese-Border):
Climbing another pass. |
 |
On our way to the Tourgat Pass (Kyrgyz-Chinese-Border):
Not all of the trucks make it.
My nightmare to face technical problems in this outback
No people, almost no traffic, no cellphone access. |
 |
On our way to the Tourgat Pass (Kyrgyz-Chinese-Border):
Roads are getting icy. |
Tomorrow we will be up in the mountains to enter China. We are really excited and we will be back on our blog soon!
 |
At the Tourgat Pass (Kyrgyz-Chinese-Border):
Some trucks waiting with us until the border opens next morning. |
 |
At the Tourgat Pass (Kyrgyz-Chinese-Border):
Nature here is awesome. I try to hike to a lake nearby
but I totally underestimate the distance. |
 |
At the Tourgat Pass (Kyrgyz-Chinese-Border):
In the window of this house near the checkpoint you can readin big letters 'гости́ница': HOTEL.
Doesn't feel right. |
 |
At the Tourgat Pass (Kyrgyz-Chinese-Border):
Susanne continues to read 'Around the world in 80 days'
by Jules Vernes. This time with an additional challenge
on her back. |
 |
At the Tourgat Pass (Kyrgyz-Chinese-Border):
Antonia almost finished her current
Harry Potter book. |
 |
At the Tourgat Pass (Kyrgyz-Chinese-Border):
Next morning we have ice inside of our windows.
Also the diesel is partly crystallized. It takes a while
until the engine starts running. Apparently diesel filter was frozen
and Emma complains with a lot of noise and smoke.
I really feel sorry that we do that to her. |
 |
At the Tourgat Pass (Kyrgyz-Chinese-Border):
Marvelous sunrise over the mountain range at ... |
 |
| 3700 m |
 |
| Last gate in nomandsland before entering China. |
Beef Stroganoff there is really good. It's amazing.
ReplyDeletebuy panic at the disco tickets
panic at the disco tour tickets
The solomon hill is a very famous place. It nice you found it incredible.
ReplyDeletecompare airport parking Luton
compare parking prices at Luton