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First stage Switzerland - Thailand
Part 8: Kyrgyzstan, September & October 2008 |
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From
Bishkek I rode towards Osh and had to climb as a first hurdle the
To-Ashun Pass reaching a height of 3195 meters (2300 m ascent from
Bishkek). In the narrow valleys of the northern Tienshan mountains
the sun disappears already in the early afternoon and towards the
evening the temperatures sink close to the freezing point. |
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Picture:
Camping in the acend to the To-Aschun Pass. It is already quite
cold in the Tienshan mountains (close to 0°C). I drink hot tea,
wear two jackets, two pairs of trousers and still feel cold. |
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The
next morning I got a visitor at the tent who smoked self made cigarettes
made from old newspaper and a very cheap tobacco. He asked friendly
for Vodka and cigarettes. As I didn't have such things with me I
opened a roll of biscuits and offered him some. Happily and with
a big smile he took the whole roll, put it in the pocket of his
jacket and went away thanking friendly. |
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Picture:
A visitor at my tent in the early morning |
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Picture:
Towards the pass |
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Shortly
in front of the pass the road winds higher and higher in countless
serpentines. After passing a height of 2500 meters the air becomes
notably thinner. |
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Picture:
Serpentines shortly in front of the pass. |
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At
the other side of the pass I reached a high valley (about 2500 meters
above sea level) where many stockbreeders keep their animals during
the summer. Along the road they sell fermented horse milk. In the
ice-cold upcoming evening an incredible clear starry sky appeared.
Astonished and shaking due to the cold I stood besides the tent
and looked whatever the eyes were able to see. I haven't seen many
times such a beauty on this world. |
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Picture:
Starry sky in the high valley of Otmok (long time exposure showing
the starts circling around the polestar). In the ice-cold air the
drinking water in the bottles was already
competly frozen at 10 PM. The
temperature was about -12°C. |
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The
high valley ends at a height of 3175 m with the Ala-Bel Pass. As
I wanted to take a picture of the signpost and the bicycle some
roadmen and tourists from Tajikistan asked me to take a picture
of them. Of course! After the pass I rode down in a long descent on a very good road to the Toktogul Reservoir and continued the trip through the Ferghana mountain range. |
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Picture:
Spontaneous photo session at Ala-Bel Pass. |
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Picture:
Through the Ferghana mountain range (part of the Tienshan) to the valley
of the same name. |
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Osh
at the edge of the Ferghana valley is the second biggest town in
Kyrgyzstan. It is about 3000 years old and for long time it was
an important station on the silk road. The city is inhabited by
250'000 people and ethnicaly very mixed. During the collapse of
the Soviet Union in the year 1990 violent riots between the different
ethnical groups broke out in this region. The Ferghana valley, historically
and economically connected, is since then cut up by international
borders (Kyrgyzstan and Usbekistan) and Osh is therefore separated
from its hinterland. Just the recently finished road through the
Tienshan mountains to Bishkek has economically reconnected northern
and southern Kyrgyzstan. |
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Picture: View from the Suleiman mountain over
Osh |
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Picture:
The same view half an hour later in the dawn |
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From
Osh I rode over the Chyrchyk pass (2408 meters over sealevel) to
Gulcho. At the pass a kyrgyz family was celebrationg the end of
the Ramadan and invited me spontaneously for a picnic where I had to drink two big glasses of Vodka (about 3 dl) due to their understanding of kind hospitality. Slightly drunk I rolled down the pass to the next hotel where I immediately had to take a nap. |
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Picture:
View from Chyrchyk
Pass. |
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In
the hotel of Gulcho I met Luca, Nazareno and Flavio from "Bella
Italia" who were also on the way to Kashgar in China. We decided
to ride together until Kashgar. |
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Picture:
With Luca, Nazareno and Flavio through the vallys of the autumnal
Pamir Mountains towards the Taldik Pass. |
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Picture:
Autumn in the Pamirs |
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Bild:
Children of Kyrgyzstan. The valleys in the Pamirs are inhabited
until a height of about 3000 m. |
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Late
in the evening we have reached the Taldik pass (3615 meters above
sea level). The very bad road and the thin air had brought me to
my physical limits. Luckily on this day we were not invited to drink
Vodka before reaching the Alau Valley behind the pass ... |
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Picture:
In the ascent to the Taldik Pass. |
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In
the Alau Valley we enjoyed the very beautiful view onto the high
Pamirs. The valley itself is already 3000 meters above sea level.
The white peaks forming the border to Tajikistan are about 7000
meters high, above all the "Pik Lenin" with a height of
7134 meters. |
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Picture:
A chinese road construction camp in the Alau Valley in front of
"Pik Lenin" |
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Picture:
On a very bad road to Erkestam at the chinese border |
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Unfortunately
when we reached the border we had to notice that the customs offices
were closed for four days due to a holiday (end of the Ramadan).
The border village - a godforsaken trailerpark - was not very inviting
at first sight. |
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Picture:
The kyrgyz border village Erkestam |
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As
we were standing at the border quite helplessly - the only guest
house at this place is an incredible dirty rat hole as never seen
before - Rosa (in the picture) offered us a homestay in her trailor
for 4 US$ per person and day, including three meals. |
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Picture:
"Hotel Rosa" |
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Already on the way to Erkestam Nazareno had a bit temperature. Later
on the evening he had over 40°C fever and on top of this stomachache
and strong diarrhoea. A serious sickness in this godforsaken region!
After that our own experiments with aspirin and antibiotics did
not respond as hoped and we even feared an appendicitis, so our
host Rosa called the local nurse. She diagnosed a serious gastritis
and injected Nazareno a dose of drugs that would have been enough
for a big horse! It was a great relief to all of us when Nazareno
was back on his legs the next morning. |
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Picture:
The local nurse cares Nazareno. |
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Picture:
In the kitchen of "Hotel Rosa" where a delicious "Lagman"
is simmering in the pan |
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Earthquake
in the Pamirs: During the night of the 5th of October
an earthquake rocked the Pamirs with 6.7 on the Richter scale. My
italian bicycle friends and I were in the middle of the epicenter.
Erkestam, where we were sleeping, was spared for the most part as
the trailors are quite flexible and can resist therefore the shocks.
But Nura, a village just 3 km away, was completly destroyed except
for 3 buildings. Big cracks had burst the ground, the people were
running in panic out of their collapsing houses. Rescuers confirmed
in Nura alone more than hundred casualities. Many children and older
people did not survive. After the first shocks Nura had turned into
nothing but a big heap of rubble. There were strong aftershocks
up to 48 hours after the first big earthquake wave. |
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| Next page / Part 9: Western China |
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