Monday to Wednesday, the 11th – 13th of June
Our last ride through Tajikistan was quite beautiful: leaving Karakul village, we drove by the lake on our way to the Tajik-Kyrgyz border. These last 50 km or so were deserted, the mountains were snow-covered and the road was good. The border crossing itself was quite uneventful; the Tajik side was at the border itself, on a mountain pass of about 4200m. Certainly one of the more remote borders we’ve ever seen. They tried to pull the usual insurance/disinfection scam, but we’d been warned by others on the IOverlander-app, so didn’t fall for it. Some army guys even offered us tea and cookies while they stamped our passports!
After this came 20 km of no-man’s-land, until we got to the Kyrgyz border control. We actually saw some people living here, and wondered how they got by (living between two countries). Again crossing was smooth, to the point where they didn’t even bother inspecting our car. Quite strange, when you know Tajikistan is one of the most important trafficking countries for Afghan heroin… We also met 2 different groups of Belgians, crossing from Kyrgyzstan to Tajikistan. Small world indeed!
We drove on towards the first Kyrgyz village, where we had lunch by the side of the road. We had to decide whether we’d go to Peak Lenin or not (or at least to the base camp). Peak Lenin was the second highest mountain of the entire Soviet Union (over 7400m high!). But the weather wasn’t looking good (so no views), so we decided to drive on to Osh, the second city of Kyrgyzstan. Very scenic drive: while we were still in the mountains, these differed greatly from the Tajik Pamirs: lush vegetation, horses everywhere, lots of habitation (yurts by the side of the road)…
We meant to stay in Osh mostly to rest up after our stay in the Pamirs, and to start preparing the rest of our trip. So on Tuesday we cleaned out Suzy (carwash, dusting out…), exchanged our leftover Tajik somoni into Kyrgyz som, and got our car insurance. The insurance guy turned out to be a really nice and funny guy. We exchanged Kyrgyz and Belgian movies to watch, and he warned us about swimming in Kyrgyzstan’s glacier lakes (and their shrinking effect on male private parts).
Wednesday was spent writing and planning. Also: Wafa got her clothes back! In our previous post, we mentioned that we’d forgotten some clothes, all the way back in Dushanbe (before the Pamirs). Turns out the hostel there had sent them with another driver to Osh, to the exact same hostel we were staying in. So after more than two weeks, they found their way back to us again!
In the evening we met up with Mattias, our German friends Jonas and Michael and others for a beer. Mattias would leave the next day to stay on a Kyrgyz farm, so after 2 weeks travelling together, we had to say goodbye. Jonas and Michael had dropped off their Toyota Landcruiser in Osh, and were once again dependent on other transportations. They were planning to go the same way as us, so we invited them to drive with us.
Thursday to Saturday, the 14th – 16th of June
On Thursday we left Osh and travelled to Arslanbob, to the north. Jonas hadn’t been feeling too good since coming down from the Pamirs, and this wasn’t helped by the lack of space in our car. He and Michael had to fit in one seat in the back:
Once we got to Arslanbob, Jonas only wanted to sleep the sickness away, so the rest of us hiked towards a ‘small’ local waterfall:
(The view from our homestay in the evening.)
Jonas was feeling a lot better on Friday, and we hiked more than 20 km through the main sight of Arslanbob: the world’s largest walnut forest. What started out as a fresh walk under grey skies, soon turned into a misty and muddy ordeal:
We also intended to go the large waterfall, but never found it. We don’t know if this was because of the mist, or our navigation app just playing tricks on us again… We had been told this was also a day of festivities: the end of Ramadan. When we got back to the village, however, we didn’t see anything happening. Maybe they were already sleeping of the wodka?
Saturday was spent driving: from Arslanbob all the way to the north of Kyrgyzstan, to its capital Bishkek (600 km). Even though the roads of Kyrgyzstan are some of the best of all of Central Asia, this still took us from 10 in the morning to 10 in the evening. Some things that happened along the way:
- Tom got pulled over for speeding. Kyrgyzstan is infested with manned speed cameras. We’re not exaggerating if we say we saw something like 25 speed controls on this 600 km stretch of road. Tom proved to be pretty adept at playing the ‘stupid tourist’, so after half an hour they just let us go without paying. It turned out we would need this stratagem a lot more in the future…
- We had lunch near one of the bigger lakes (Toktogul), where Jonas and Michael also went for swim. Turns out there are some interesting plants growing in the wild in Kyrgyzstan:
- We bought some mare’s milk along the road. Had a really acidic and smoked flavor, so we’re wondering if this is normal or just the effect of fermentation?
All the driving (and having to be a passenger sometimes) had worn Tom out though, so by the end of the day his nerves were frayed and he turned into a grumpy asshole (once again). So in order to recuperate, we decided to stay a few days in Bishkek…
Sunday to Tuesday, the 17th – 19th of June
So on Sunday, for the first time during the whole trip, we did absolutely nothing! Wonderful! Tom finally managed to finish the first book he started reading (‘The Silk Roads’ by Peter Frankopan, highly recommended!), while Wafa, being Wafa, socialized with all the other travelers in the hostel . In the evening, we met up with Chris for dinner. Chris is an old friend from our time as students in Leuven; he also stayed in the COPAL dorm, but has been working and living in Bishkek for the last four years. We had a really nice night catching up, talking about the region in general (Chris is an instructor at the American University of Central Asia’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communications (and yes, I had to look that up)), and getting to know his lovely wife.
Monday was another day full of practicalities: after submitting a visa request at the embassy of Mongolia (we need to apply for two visa on the road: Mongolia and Russia – see also the preparation blogpost on administration), Tom took Suzy to a garage for servicing (more than 20 000km on the road!). He was planning to change oil and filters himself, but after being told this would only cost 2,5 euro to be done by an actual mechanic, he chose the latter option. Still took all afternoon. Apparently Kyrgyz mechanics are not that experienced in changing Suzuki fuel filters…
Wafa spent her afternoon going to the Osh bazaar of Bishkek, together with Guillaume (French) and Anthony (French-Canadian). Bazaars in Kyrgyzstan are a bit different from what we’ve seen so far: mostly it’s just containers with little shops inside, stacked next to and on top of each other. During the evening everybody met up for beers and to watch the Belgians beat Panama in the World Cup. Nice!
After sleeping late on Tuesday (still resting up), we decided to go to the national park just south of Bishkek, Ala-Archa. Supposed to be real nice for hiking and views. The afternoon turned out to be not so nice though: first we were pulled over by the cops again. This time we would have to pay a fine for crossing a solid white line. Very understandable, but this was a 2 meter (!) white line at a crossroads. Tom had simply changed lanes to go in the right direction, but was immediately pulled over on the other side of the crossroads. This time it took him an hour (!), but he managed to talk himself out of the fine again. But not before being yelled at while the cops drove away: ‘Плохо! Плохо!’. Which means as much as ‘Bad! Bad man!’. Tom now carries this as a badge of honor.
By the time we got to the park, the sky had become grey and overcast. So after walking up the mountains for an hour, and seeing the rain head towards us, we decided to make a run for it, back to the car. The rain made everything slippery though, so Tom had a nasty fall (like seniors of his age often do), and cut/bruised his arm. Let’s just say we weren’t in a festive mood while driving back to Bishkek…
(That last picture has the rain bearing down on us in the background.)
Wednesday to Thursday, the 20th – 21st of June
After sleeping late again, we weren’t decided on what we’d do on Wednesday. We were forced to get of our ass when the other travelers in the hostel barged through our door at noon, though. It had been decided we would go to Song-Kul, a mountain lake in the middle of Kyrgyzstan. So off we went!
We would find each other at an arranged point at the lakeside, the Belgian car and a Dutch car filled with Jamie, Jonas, Michael and Anthony. We wanted to pay for our Mongolian visa first though (has to happen through a bank, not at the embassy), so we tried to do this first. Not as easy as it would seem. First of all, it had to be a branch of a specific bank (only this bank can handle a money transfer?). Then all branches of this bank in Bishkek had either moved or were under renovation. So after driving around Bishkek’s hellhole traffic (apparently in the top20 worldwide for congestion problems) for about two hours, we gave up and drove off to Song-Kul. In the end we managed to pay in a bank in a small village along the way.
The drive to Song-Kul was otherwise quite nice (stunning views!), but we were of course pulled over again by police. This time for speeding again (Tom had been following the car in front of him, which was not a smart idea, it turns out). This time he talked himself out of a fine in 15 minutes, a new record! By the time we got to the lake, it was already 8PM. We couldn’t find the others at the meeting point, so we spent the night in one of the CBT yurts along the lakeside (CBT = Community Based Tourism, a grassroots travel and homestay organization in Kyrgyzstan). Slept very well, even though it got ice cold at night!
(After the Tajik toilet, the Kyrgyz version!)
The next morning, Tom took the opportunity to go horse riding for the second time in his life. Wafa had had enough for a lifetime in Cuba, so decided not to join. The wide open plain and gorgeous background made for great riding. Tom even managed to go at full gallop a few times! (Getting off the horse, everything below the waist didn’t feel so nice, though…)
We drove back towards Bishkek via Issyk-Kul, which is the second largest alpine lake in the world. It certainly looked the part: while pictures hardly do it justice, it looked like an actual sea ringed by distant mountains!
Friday to Saturday, the 22nd – 23rd of June
On our last full day in Bishkek, we went to pick up our Mongolian visa at the embassy. In 5 minutes we were in and out, visa in hand. Really smooth procedure! After a couple of hours of resting, we met up again with Chris to say goodbye. We had dinner in a nice Georgian place (Georgian cuisine (and culture in general) is famous in all of the ex-Soviet Union. Again greatly recommended!). We discussed all sorts of things and people we found baffling during our travels in the region. It was really nice to have a ‘local’ like Chris, with inside knowledge, being able to explain so much to us. After a warm goodbye, we headed back to our hostel. We loved seeing a familiar face during our lengthy traveling!
The next day we meant to get going quickly, having a border crossing (Kyrgyzstan – Kazakhstan) and a couple of 100 kms on our agenda. Just 300 meters outside of the hotel, though… we got pulled over again by the police (4th time!). This time it was an alcohol control. After Tom (stupidly) admitted to having a beer the night before (long out of his system), he had to blow into a breathalyzer. Which came back ‘positive’! What the actual f**k?!
It should be noted that all the ‘Stans’ have a strict zero-tolerance when it comes to alcohol in traffic (still lots of drunk drivers though), so you’re positive as soon as you have any alcohol in your system. But this was just plain bullshit: more than 14 hours after a couple of beers, these are long out of your system. The breathalyzer itself was also a joke: without even touching the apparatus, Tom had to ‘whistle-blow’ into it.
This time, we both lost our cool a bit (because of the obvious shadiness of the whole thing), and protested rather heavily to the cops. This did not have the desired effect though, as they got more aggressive and started shouting. We backed off and took the time to try calling our consulate: not reachable. We got Chris on the phone, but he couldn’t really help us either (his knowledge of Kyrgyz does not include the vocabulary to talk yourself out of an alcohol control, strangely enough 🙂 ). But apparently the threat of getting the consulate involved had impressed the cops enough to let us go; we got our papers back and they told us we were free to go ‘as long as Wafa drove’. So without further ado, we packed up and got the hell out of Kyrgyzstan!
The Kyrgyz – Kazakh border crossing was otherwise very uneventful (long wait), so before long, we were on the road to Almaty, the old capital of Kazakhstan!
Kyrgyzstan epilogue
So what is our impression of Kyrgyzstan, you might wonder?
While we had a great time in Tajikistan, as you might’ve gathered from our previous post, things weren’t so clear-cut in Kyrgyzstan. While we could certainly see the potential here (nature, traditional nomadic culture…), we also encountered a number of things which weren’t so agreeable:
– The cops: We were warned about Central Asia’s law enforcement in general before we left. Up until now, we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of problems we had encountered, though. So it was a rude awakening in Kyrgyzstan, were we got a real taste of post-Soviet law enforcement. It would seem like other countries (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan) have tried to get their shit together and have turned around their police forces, at least in their behavior towards tourists. Or we just got lucky before. Either way, it really feels like we got chased out of Kyrgyzstan. We’re certainly not planning on going back anytime soon…
– The people: While we did meet a number of kind and welcoming locals, we met just as many indifferent or just plain rude people. We have been told this is due to the fact that the Kyrgyz people are already more used to tourists, and thus have lost some of the warm hospitality which is otherwise so typical of the region. You could say Kyrgyzstan is more like Europe, in this respect. Another explanation is the effects of long years of Soviet rule on the morals and institutions of society. We certainly had to adapt after Tajikistan, where you literally couldn’t go 5 steps without being invited for tea.
– The weather: Weather in Kyrgyzstan has been extremely unpredictable, often going from sunny and warm to cold, rainy or even snowy in the course of a single day. It certainly makes things… more interesting (see also photos of Arslanbob and Ala-Archa).
Overall Kyrgyzstan was an interesting experience. As somebody explained it rather nicely to us: whereas you can still find morality and a sense of traditional culture in the countryside, Bishkek has everything you can expect from a post-Soviet capital: no morals, corruption and a sense of dystopian society unlike anywhere else.