Our Silk Road adventure began when we were given a book by Peter Frankopan. We knew little about its enthralling history or how the people of this part of the world populated many other parts of the world. So we decided to find out by visiting the Stans or more particularly Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
Day 1 Arrived in Bishkek at 5am to bright sun and our first view of the snow capped mountains which surround the city. Copious amounts of food is grown around here with plentiful water - stone fruit, vegies, wheat, corn and plenty of sheep, cows & many horses.
Bishkek is the capital of Kyrgyzstan and most of the buildings date from the Soviet era, fairly brutal architecture with some important buildings marble clad. The city is only 150 years old, settled by Russians and built in a grid pattern. It is easy to navigate if you can understand the Cyrillic script that all street signs and advertising is written in. We did get a bit lost but thankfully a Kyrgyz gent helped us find our way back to the hotel.
Because we're on an Intrepid Adventures organised tour we stayed at a hotel used by the tour company. The tour didn't start until the evening which gave us the opportunity to catch up on some sleep and to walk to the bank and acquaint ourselves with the city. After meeting our fellow travellers, our guide and driver we went out to a wonderful meal. We got to know our friends, all fellow-Aussies and taste the Kyrgyz cuisine which consists of a lot of meat, salads, tandoor baked bread, soft cheeses.
Day 2 The first real day of our tour we walked around the central city in the morning, through some lovely parks, acquainting ourselves with each other and Lisa our guide. The weather was pretty warm, low 30'sC and as it is mid-summer the snow-capped mountains didn't afford any cooling. After a lovely lunch Sally & I headed to the market for a look. More for locals than anything tourist-orientated once we got away from the mass produced Chinese household goods and toys to the food section it became quite interesting. Mountains of spices, plenty of stone fruit and a large variety of different flours. Another great meal in the evening in a local Georgian restaurant recommended by guide books with plenty of local wine and beer to wash it down.
Day 3 Hea
ding east out of Bishkek we stopped initially at an 11th century Burana tower near Chuy for an hour or so. The tower which is now half it's original size after an earthquake in the 18th century is all that is left of a huge ancient city that was destroyed by floods.
Next we were spectators at some horse games held nearby. Traditional Kyrgyz life was nomadic which relied on horses for transport and sport. We saw horse wrestling, that is the riders wrestled each other off the saddle. Buzkashi, a form of polo played with a dead goat was particuarly entertaining as the teams had to race in and pick up the goat from the ground and then head to the goals at full tilt and chuck the goat on a raised platform. A few of the tour group had a canter on the horse before we went to their village and had a nice lunch of lentil soup and a traditional beef and vegetable dish.
Then it was onto the road again in our trusty Mercedes bus with Ivan, our ex-trucky driver. We drove to Issy Kul a huge lake, 178 kms long and the second biggest alpine lake in the world after Titicaca. The road leading to the lake is bordered by endless shops and there is a huge concrete batching plant on the lakeshore at Balykchy. According to Lisa, Issy Kul was a popular spot for the Soviets back in the 1970's & 80's and it has that faded seaside town look.
Onwards we drove to an appointment with an eagle! Hunting with eagles has always been popular in these parts of the world and we were given a demonstration of their capability. Until you see an eagle in full flight beside a human it is hard to visualise their immense wing span. We all had a chance to "put on the glove" and hold the big bird before heading off on the road again.
A large service town used by traders on the Silk Road, Kochkor was our destination for today. We stayed in a guest house in the centre of town and ate a pleasant meal in a restaurant run by a women's cooperative. We had a demonstration of felting, with some beautiful handmade carpets, bags and other crafts. The womans cooperative has 200 members, who sell their work.
Day 4 After a great nights sleep, not surprising after yesterdays full itinerary we ate breakfast of local bread, fruit, eggs before going to another handicraft shop run by the cooperative. Some wonderful craft, mainly felted and at ridiculously cheap prices when you know how much work has gone into making them. After looking at floor mats the previous evening we decided to buy one here. Will it fit in our bags: no, but somehow we'll work it out.
Today's driving was south then east to reach the high alpine lake of Song Kol, at an altitude of 3016 d metres above sea level. It was only 130kms but it took about 4 hours on some pretty atrocious roads. Mind you the scenery was fantastic as we climbed up through a pass at 3446 metres before descending down and skirting around the lake. The weather as you can imagine chilled down considerably quickly and we were putting on extra layers as soon as we arrived.
The meadows surrounding Song Kol are used as grazing land by farmers who migrate up in June with their families for 3 months. These are large flocks of 6 or 7 hundred sheep, a few dozen horses, a few goats, chooks and sheepdogs. The amazing part of it is that they bring everything with them: their houses and flocks are all transported up every summer and dismantled and transported home in autumn. They live in yurts, made of timber and felt mats which can be built in a matter of hours and they live off the land. We stayed in a yurt and ate in a yurt and the family in whose group of yurts we stayed in entertained us with singing in the evening after dinner. There are a growing number of community based and family businesses like the yurts and other guest houses and restaurants catering to tourists, where the money goes direct to the people rather than a middle man.
In the afternoon a group of us went climbing up the hills behind the lake to search for 2000 year old petroglyphs, carved into the rocks by visiting nomads. We found a few petroglyphs but the views of the lake and surrounding mountains was what really aroused us.
We also visited one of the farmers to find out a bit about their lifestyle as we had an ex-farmer from New England in NSW in our group; lots of talk was about the care of sheep.
Day 5 Sally was quite poorly with altitude sickness this morning and took a while to come right as we descended back down to about 2000 metres on our way to Kyzyl-Oi. Once again the scenery was breathtaking, driving through high mountain passes and along beside swollen rivers on pretty ordinary gravel roads.
We stopped to take some photos of a coal mine way below in the valley and then ended up driving right through the middle of it as it was the only road. Kyrgyzstan has few natural resources apart from copious quantities of water and in turn food, some gold and coal. This mine provides low quality cheap heating for the very cold winters when snow covers most of the country. There are central heating plants in major towns which provide winter heating for homes but at a price. Low grade coal is cheaper.
Once we'd passed the mine the road improved as the only way to get the coal out is by road. The surrounding hills were all colours and shades and very reminiscent of Otago. We stopped for a picnic beside the Jungal River near Aral then drove onto our destination of Kizil-Oy.
A pretty village nestled in a valley it has a lot of Community Based Tourism guesthouses. It was a relief of sorts to have our own room and to be able to have a shower after the yurts last night. Lisa took some of us for a wander around town which enabled us to see how a small settlement lives and what people do for a living. Kizil-Oy has a population of approximately 1000 inhabitants, probably 15-20% of whom work overseas (Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan), the same percentage are subsistence farmers, it has one school (from ages 7-18) and a couple of shops.
We made bushbul together, a Kyrgyz deep fried bread and then had a hearty meal of soup, beef & veg stew, beer & local cognac.
Day 6 Another hearty breakfast of Kyrgyz porridge, fresh bread & jam and we were back on the gravel road driving through gorges and beside swollen rivers. A procession of cars driving at high speed towards us to visit a famous Krygyz peasant who was 2.36m tall and was able to heave a cow onto his shoulders, slowed us down.
We climbed onto the Suusamyr Valley, a high steppe plateau at about 2,200m altitude and saw a group of Kazakh bikies on Harleys at a petrol stop. The scenery was breathtaking, high peaks, snow capped, green valleys, and thousands of yurts spread out along the road with families and animals. Stalls were selling dried cheese, a Kyrgyz speciality eaten for centuries by Silk Road travellers but definitely an acquired taste! We travelled across Ala Bel, 3184m high where we met a German couple cycling from Beijing to Istanbul at a picturesque photo opportunity.
Our lunch stop beside the Chichkan River was in a wood panelled restaurant where we had borscht soup and tasty Chinese style beef & potato dumplings. The road was the best we had encountered, all sealed now as befits the main highway between the country's biggest cities, Osh & Bishkek. With no other means of transporting goods this road is used by all the trucks servicing the Kyrgyzstan. A little further on we reached Lake Toktogul, a colossal water reservoir built by the Soviets, one of the many reasons the Aral Sea has now effectively dried up. All the rivers in Kyrgyzstan flow towards the west, through Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and to the Aral Sea.
We drove around Tokogul until we reached our destination today, a run-down Soviet-era hotel on the lake's edge. Not much has been done to the infrastructure of the place in last 30 years and sadly it doesn't seem to have too many guests. Fox & lynx pelts hanging in the bar, swans lighting the corridors, three swimming pools empty and weed grown.
Day 1 Arrived in Bishkek at 5am to bright sun and our first view of the snow capped mountains which surround the city. Copious amounts of food is grown around here with plentiful water - stone fruit, vegies, wheat, corn and plenty of sheep, cows & many horses.
Bishkek is the capital of Kyrgyzstan and most of the buildings date from the Soviet era, fairly brutal architecture with some important buildings marble clad. The city is only 150 years old, settled by Russians and built in a grid pattern. It is easy to navigate if you can understand the Cyrillic script that all street signs and advertising is written in. We did get a bit lost but thankfully a Kyrgyz gent helped us find our way back to the hotel.
Because we're on an Intrepid Adventures organised tour we stayed at a hotel used by the tour company. The tour didn't start until the evening which gave us the opportunity to catch up on some sleep and to walk to the bank and acquaint ourselves with the city. After meeting our fellow travellers, our guide and driver we went out to a wonderful meal. We got to know our friends, all fellow-Aussies and taste the Kyrgyz cuisine which consists of a lot of meat, salads, tandoor baked bread, soft cheeses.
Day 2 The first real day of our tour we walked around the central city in the morning, through some lovely parks, acquainting ourselves with each other and Lisa our guide. The weather was pretty warm, low 30'sC and as it is mid-summer the snow-capped mountains didn't afford any cooling. After a lovely lunch Sally & I headed to the market for a look. More for locals than anything tourist-orientated once we got away from the mass produced Chinese household goods and toys to the food section it became quite interesting. Mountains of spices, plenty of stone fruit and a large variety of different flours. Another great meal in the evening in a local Georgian restaurant recommended by guide books with plenty of local wine and beer to wash it down.
Day 3 Hea
Next we were spectators at some horse games held nearby. Traditional Kyrgyz life was nomadic which relied on horses for transport and sport. We saw horse wrestling, that is the riders wrestled each other off the saddle. Buzkashi, a form of polo played with a dead goat was particuarly entertaining as the teams had to race in and pick up the goat from the ground and then head to the goals at full tilt and chuck the goat on a raised platform. A few of the tour group had a canter on the horse before we went to their village and had a nice lunch of lentil soup and a traditional beef and vegetable dish.
Then it was onto the road again in our trusty Mercedes bus with Ivan, our ex-trucky driver. We drove to Issy Kul a huge lake, 178 kms long and the second biggest alpine lake in the world after Titicaca. The road leading to the lake is bordered by endless shops and there is a huge concrete batching plant on the lakeshore at Balykchy. According to Lisa, Issy Kul was a popular spot for the Soviets back in the 1970's & 80's and it has that faded seaside town look.
Onwards we drove to an appointment with an eagle! Hunting with eagles has always been popular in these parts of the world and we were given a demonstration of their capability. Until you see an eagle in full flight beside a human it is hard to visualise their immense wing span. We all had a chance to "put on the glove" and hold the big bird before heading off on the road again.
A large service town used by traders on the Silk Road, Kochkor was our destination for today. We stayed in a guest house in the centre of town and ate a pleasant meal in a restaurant run by a women's cooperative. We had a demonstration of felting, with some beautiful handmade carpets, bags and other crafts. The womans cooperative has 200 members, who sell their work.
Day 4 After a great nights sleep, not surprising after yesterdays full itinerary we ate breakfast of local bread, fruit, eggs before going to another handicraft shop run by the cooperative. Some wonderful craft, mainly felted and at ridiculously cheap prices when you know how much work has gone into making them. After looking at floor mats the previous evening we decided to buy one here. Will it fit in our bags: no, but somehow we'll work it out.
Today's driving was south then east to reach the high alpine lake of Song Kol, at an altitude of 3016 d metres above sea level. It was only 130kms but it took about 4 hours on some pretty atrocious roads. Mind you the scenery was fantastic as we climbed up through a pass at 3446 metres before descending down and skirting around the lake. The weather as you can imagine chilled down considerably quickly and we were putting on extra layers as soon as we arrived.
The meadows surrounding Song Kol are used as grazing land by farmers who migrate up in June with their families for 3 months. These are large flocks of 6 or 7 hundred sheep, a few dozen horses, a few goats, chooks and sheepdogs. The amazing part of it is that they bring everything with them: their houses and flocks are all transported up every summer and dismantled and transported home in autumn. They live in yurts, made of timber and felt mats which can be built in a matter of hours and they live off the land. We stayed in a yurt and ate in a yurt and the family in whose group of yurts we stayed in entertained us with singing in the evening after dinner. There are a growing number of community based and family businesses like the yurts and other guest houses and restaurants catering to tourists, where the money goes direct to the people rather than a middle man.
In the afternoon a group of us went climbing up the hills behind the lake to search for 2000 year old petroglyphs, carved into the rocks by visiting nomads. We found a few petroglyphs but the views of the lake and surrounding mountains was what really aroused us.
We also visited one of the farmers to find out a bit about their lifestyle as we had an ex-farmer from New England in NSW in our group; lots of talk was about the care of sheep.
Day 5 Sally was quite poorly with altitude sickness this morning and took a while to come right as we descended back down to about 2000 metres on our way to Kyzyl-Oi. Once again the scenery was breathtaking, driving through high mountain passes and along beside swollen rivers on pretty ordinary gravel roads.
We stopped to take some photos of a coal mine way below in the valley and then ended up driving right through the middle of it as it was the only road. Kyrgyzstan has few natural resources apart from copious quantities of water and in turn food, some gold and coal. This mine provides low quality cheap heating for the very cold winters when snow covers most of the country. There are central heating plants in major towns which provide winter heating for homes but at a price. Low grade coal is cheaper.
Once we'd passed the mine the road improved as the only way to get the coal out is by road. The surrounding hills were all colours and shades and very reminiscent of Otago. We stopped for a picnic beside the Jungal River near Aral then drove onto our destination of Kizil-Oy.
A pretty village nestled in a valley it has a lot of Community Based Tourism guesthouses. It was a relief of sorts to have our own room and to be able to have a shower after the yurts last night. Lisa took some of us for a wander around town which enabled us to see how a small settlement lives and what people do for a living. Kizil-Oy has a population of approximately 1000 inhabitants, probably 15-20% of whom work overseas (Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan), the same percentage are subsistence farmers, it has one school (from ages 7-18) and a couple of shops.
We made bushbul together, a Kyrgyz deep fried bread and then had a hearty meal of soup, beef & veg stew, beer & local cognac.
Day 6 Another hearty breakfast of Kyrgyz porridge, fresh bread & jam and we were back on the gravel road driving through gorges and beside swollen rivers. A procession of cars driving at high speed towards us to visit a famous Krygyz peasant who was 2.36m tall and was able to heave a cow onto his shoulders, slowed us down.
We climbed onto the Suusamyr Valley, a high steppe plateau at about 2,200m altitude and saw a group of Kazakh bikies on Harleys at a petrol stop. The scenery was breathtaking, high peaks, snow capped, green valleys, and thousands of yurts spread out along the road with families and animals. Stalls were selling dried cheese, a Kyrgyz speciality eaten for centuries by Silk Road travellers but definitely an acquired taste! We travelled across Ala Bel, 3184m high where we met a German couple cycling from Beijing to Istanbul at a picturesque photo opportunity.
Our lunch stop beside the Chichkan River was in a wood panelled restaurant where we had borscht soup and tasty Chinese style beef & potato dumplings. The road was the best we had encountered, all sealed now as befits the main highway between the country's biggest cities, Osh & Bishkek. With no other means of transporting goods this road is used by all the trucks servicing the Kyrgyzstan. A little further on we reached Lake Toktogul, a colossal water reservoir built by the Soviets, one of the many reasons the Aral Sea has now effectively dried up. All the rivers in Kyrgyzstan flow towards the west, through Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and to the Aral Sea.
We drove around Tokogul until we reached our destination today, a run-down Soviet-era hotel on the lake's edge. Not much has been done to the infrastructure of the place in last 30 years and sadly it doesn't seem to have too many guests. Fox & lynx pelts hanging in the bar, swans lighting the corridors, three swimming pools empty and weed grown.
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