WALKING ON NOMADS LAND

A nice bazaar in Osh and a dodgy money exchange including police and an inexpert thief using the same trick twice with us in less that one minute, is what we will remember from the two main cities in Kyrgyzstan...

With the view of the Tien Shan range and excited to leave behind the boring cities we reached the Yssyk-Kul lake, known as the "warm lake" which due to the thermal activity it never freezes in winter but it does never get really "warm" either in summer as we will find out later on.

Karakol is the main hub for the numerous trekking around the Tien Shan, so we haste organizing everything before the hordes of tourists reach the snowed peaks. Food, tent, cooking set, sleeping bag and a pair of boots is all we think we will need to carry with us to pay a visit to the mountains that we can see from the shore of the lake while we enjoy the cold bath.

Few hours up along the valley taking us away from the city are enough to realize that we are entering the nomads land as many yurts and cattle appear in the green slopes beneath the snow.Master horse riders as their ancestors were, shepherds families built their houses for the spring and summer months to fatten their cattle with fresh green grass growing everywhere.Some of the nomads, curious and still not focused on tourism as many others do nowadays, offer you a place to seat and enjoy of some tea and the strong taste of the fermented horse milk named kumuz.

With the backpacks getting heavier and the slopes stepper towards the high pass that will take us to the next valley, it is time for us to rest and camp before the menacing storm discharges all its fury on us. A rough night trying not to get wet inside the tent is the price that we have to pay to enjoy the breathtaking white landscape that we can see next morning as we come out of the nearly buried in snow tent. The feeling on the top is certainly worth every single drop of sweat going up in the fresh snow that hides the path that we are supposed to follow. Over the pass and after few stops to enjoy to eat and enjoy the views we make it to the big city again just on time to visit the animal market where locals trade their cows, sheep and horses.

Our visa expiring soon and willing to get into China, we leave behind the mountains that definitely have left some funny memories, including our skeptical look at the cooking pot that was closer to a watering pot than to something to cook with, when we went to collect some water from the river; or meeting some stupid "trekker" that after hiring a guide and a porter was hiking with sandals over the snow -"just for the fun of it" , as he said.

THE UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE HISTORY OF LEAVING THE PAMIR HIGHWAY

The Pamir highway is a place that can be hard to leave behind. The main and normal reason would be the stunning landscapes that the high mountains offer along it; for us , once we decided to continue our trip, other factors played their part...
Wanting to hitch a ride up to Osh,Already in Kyrgyzstan, we waited for two days on the road without seeing any possible transport except a donkey loaded with wood which did not seem reliable for the 300km of our ride. Tired of waiting and with the Tajik visa, we arranged a ride for the next day which after agreeing the price with the driver the night before , he wanted to charge us more after consulting it with the pillow, so we had our first session of arguing.
Finally on our way and arriving to the border, you can expect to wait there for quite a long time depending if in that moment the soldiers at the checkpoint are bringing some water or if just they want to check the type of photographic camera that you are carrying with you.
Happy and excited for being in Kyrgyzstan, you have lot of chances to be stopped and be asked to pay a bribe to the guard at the checkpoint, who says that you must go back to Tajikistan, just a few kilometres after crossing the border.
With that sorted and behind us, then is the turn of your driver , who for some reason thinks that he is gonna be of some hep if he waits for a much slower car with a flat tyre stopped far behind us.
After a bit more arguing and convincing the driver to keep going it is time for mother Nature to play it role, which after a storm has caused many landslides on our way, making us stop every few kilometres to try to deal with the cars trapped in the mud and the others cuing to try better luck even when it is obvious that it will probably happen the same to them. Luckily for us , our car is a four wheel drive Jeep that make it over the mud just to break down due to an electrical problem just as soon as we reached the free of mud road again. That will add a couple of hours more trying not to get wet under the new menacing storm forming above us...
Problems solved and closer to our final destination we had the good luck of being stopped by the police that for a change is asking for a bribe again. At this point we were already looking around trying to see where the hidden camera is.
Police asking for some extra cash is quite common in Kyrgyzstan, so drivers are used to bargain down the price but as many things around here takes quite a lot of time, and just to be stopped maybe again a bit farther on...
Finally and only having to wait for a "bit" more we are on route again, until of course we have to get back to the police checkpoint to collect the " stolen" passport as the old woman, sitting on the front seat, explains to us until she finds it somewhere in her purse, just after the driver as gone in again to deal with the police...
Hard to believe but at the end of all that our driver let us know that we are in Osh, our destination. Unfortunately it doesn't take to long for us to realise that we are still several kilometres away that we will have to cover next day because after twelve hours on the road and having to deal with to much, our driver says that he just had enough for the day.