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Sunday 2004-06-20 - Osh, Kyrgyzstan
Getting used to camping
Osh, geographically still in the Fergana valley although thanks to Soviet administrators it’s part of Kyrgyzstan now, not Uzbekistan, is not far from the border. We go straight to our ‘hotel’ first: it’s what used to be a sanatorium in Soviet times but turned into tourist lodging - and very basic. There are simple rooms (though with decent beds), with shared bathrooms and washrooms for every couple of rooms. This serves as a good preparation for the next four nights when we’ll be camping in nature, without any facilities at all…
After we’ve checked in, the “truck bus” takes us back into town where we have some time to change money (there are a lot of money changers on the market — as expected at a typical border town) and then roam over the big market which covers a long stretch along the river, at some places on both sides. It’s a nice market, once of the largest in Central Asia in fact, and apart from a few things we buy for dinner (it’s too early for us to eat dinner now), I do a bit of other shopping as well. There’s even time to take some photographs although by six the market is beginning to close down.
Osh is not only a bustling border town but a smuggler’s center as well where a big part of the opium trade passes through. Looking around it’s not only obvious a lot of Uzbeks live here among the Kirghiz — there’s a lot of money around here as well although most people doing business on the market are clearly not part of that economy.
Monday 2004-06-21 - Toktogul, Kyrgyzstan
An uncomfortable feeling
After breakfast in a separate building on the sanatorium grounds (also rented out for weddings and other occasions) our camping trip really starts. From Osh the “truck bus” takes us north along the new road around the corner of Uzbekistan that pushes into Kyrgyzstan here: the old main road went right through that bit but is no longer used as a main connection after the independence of the Central Asian states: two border crossings aren’t all that efficient for the mainly freight transport that goes along the road between Osh and the capital Bishkek. We make a short stop at Uzgen where there’s a complex with an old minaret from the middle of the 11th century, with beautiful brickwork decorations, and two tombs, still being restored. Then we go on. In this fertile area there’s a lot of agriculture: cotton, maize, onions, sunflowers and rice - and more that I don’t recognize from the truck.
A little later we turn north into the Naryn valley: the valley is narrow but the river is wide here thanks to a number of dams. The Toktogul basin, our goal for today, is one of the main reservoirs used for hydro-electric power — power from the dams is Kyrgyzstan’s major export product.
It had been dark for a while already, and now it starts to rain. That is probably the trigger: I suddenly start to feel very uncomfortable. This is landslide country and although with this light rain on still-dry ground there’s no real risk I can’t shake the feeling; the signs of past landslides are all around: big rubble cones right up to the road on one side, rubble cleared away by bulldozers on the other. It’s mainly the memories this brings back: we not only got stuck right here three years ago as a result of two landslides, I’ve seen my share of even bigger ones in Northern Pakistan, Tibet and Nepal as well, one covering several houses.
In spite of my discomfort I can’t help admiring the mountains which show a spectacular range of colors here, from gray-green to bright yellow, warm red and a dark, almost purple color, sometimes in striking combinations in the layers — all that contrasting with the bright blue-green color of the water of the Naryn here. Still, I don’t really cheer up until we leave the river valley and a while later reach our first camping spot on the southern shore of Lake Toktogul. We’re camping right on the stony beach (which turns out to be very bad for my hurt foot) and enjoy a beautiful sunset over the lake.
Tuesday 2004-06-22 - Ala Bel, Kyrgyzstan
Photographs not delivered
We have to make an early start today for a long trip: up at 5, breakfast at 6, departure at 7. First we round Lake Toktogul around the eastern tip and switch back along the northern side; then gradually north and up toward Ala Bel (the Ala pass) at 3175 m where I photographed a nomad family in the snow three years ago. On the way to the pass I notice how at this time of the year there are indeed a lot more flowers than later in summer. The mountains look ‘painted’ with brush strokes of bright colors - most striking is the bright orange of a type of Ranunculus with fairly large flowers, usually just a bit higher up the mountains than the related warm-yellow buttercup which is also abundant now.
At the pass, we stop at the first yurt. Although there’s no snow this time, it’s still pretty cold this high up. With the help of our interpreter Bolot the friendly family that lives there in the summer tells me the friendly old Kirghiz on his horse in the snow in one of my pictures has died; his wife (in the other picture) still lives though and is in a yurt “2 kilometers” farther on. That turns out to be too vague: at that distance there are actually a lot of families in yurts; we don’t have time to stop at all of them to search for her. I’m very disappointed, knowing she is here while there is no way to deliver the photographs.
Tuesday 2004-06-22 - Susamyr, Kyrgyzstan
Bzzzz!
Along the way to our camping spot in the valley of the Susamyr, we make a short stop at a particularly beautiful and interesting cemetery. In Kyrgyz tradition, it’s far from habitation, located at a beautiful spot. Most tombs here are made of mud brick: built once, sometimes with an intricate design, but then left to slowly dissolve back into the landscape again. The tombs here have an extra dimension though: when you enter the cemetery, the constant loud buzzing is unmistakable. A large colony of wasps lives here, having made their nests inside the bud-brick walls (thus helping to dissolve them). They fly on and off in large numbers but don’t mind or bother the humans visiting here at all; they fly by so fast in fact, it’s hard to really get to see them, let alone get them on a picture (though I try, of course).
Our camping spot is a kilometer further on, a nice shaded spot under the trees, and most of us walk there from the cemetery. My foot feels OK, so I walk as well, but when I arrive I discover I have to cross a little brook to reach the camping site: there are stepping stones which I would normally easily hop over — but with my wounded foot I can’t manage (an my monopod-walking stick is in the truck: already at the camp site). I can’t find a sturdy enough branch to serve as walking stick either; I’m stuck! Ultimately Thom finds me and helps me across. Our cook Tatiana cooks us a lovely dinner of soup and macaroni.
Wednesday 2004-06-23 - Song Köl, Kyrgyzstan
Coal and cold
Today we pass through some of the most beautiful landscapes of Kyrgyzstan that I know. At first we continue along the main road from Osh to Bishkek. Then we make a short shopping stop in Chayek (where I buy a nice shawl); this is the last occasion to shop for now: we turn off the main road onto the track that will take us to Song Köl. The track first goes through a valley but soon starts to wind higher and higher into the mountains; on the road we start to see chunks of coal and their origin soon becomes clear: high up in the mountains there’s a huge open-face coal mine — a desolate place in the middle of beautiful mountains where the workers live in old railroad wagons near the mine. This settlement (one cannot call it a village) is called Kara Kichi; we have a photo stop to record the ugliness. Once past the mine we go over a high pass and a little further on we make another short stop: nearby horses are grazing in meadows full of flowers and in the distance we can see glimmering Lake Song Köl: our target for today.
To get to the lake, we take a side track, then an even smaller track through a river bed. Here it becomes really clear why we have a “truck bus” instead of an ordinary bus: it would not make it through this terrain. The truck bus, like a bus built on top of the chassis of a heavy truck with very big wheels, has no problems with it though; such vehicles were (in Soviet times) originally used either by the military or to transport workers to the factories; now they’re very much part of the fledgling tourist industry in this country.
When we arrive at the lake we stop near a yurt to have our picnic lunch. The woman who lives in the yurt (she welcomes us traditionally with fresh bread and cream) recognizes the family in the pictures I took here two years ago: their yurt is a distance away, but maybe I can walk over there this afternoon.
In summer, grazing is good on the meadows around the lake (a nature reserve) and many nomads bring their horses here then. However, the lake never completely freezes and in winter fishermen camp out here in the harsh cold to fish the lake. Lots of birds also take advantage of the fish in the lake. Unfortunately, it’s so cold now (like it often is around the lake, even in summer), we decide to move on and camp in the valley across the mountains where it will be a lot warmer. Alas, that means I won’t be able to deliver my next set of photographs either.
We go back along the side tracks and continue on the main track again which soon takes us into the mountains up to another high pass. There’s a very steep descent with a spectacular road winding down the face of the mountain: some of the turns are so narrow, the truck can’t round them at once. The pass marks a striking change in landscape: while the high plain around the lake is completely bare of trees and even shrubs, right from the pass we see a landscape with mountain sides dotted with shrubs and trees, both deciduous and coniferous. During the steep descent, the changes in vegetation are remarkable, too: buttercups are replaced by white clover; small compact alpine plants are replaced by big sturdy ones; flowering wild roses appear farther down. Our camp is a way into the valley, where we ford the river to reach our camping spot: no problem for the truck but not so easy for humans to get through! Next to our tent is a small meadow with lots of purple orchids, and in the field between our tents are lots of bunches of blue irises (probably Iris germanica): a lovely spot to camp!
Thursday 2004-06-24 - Tash Rabat, Kyrgyzstan
River valleys
Our trip today takes us through a variety of beautiful river valleys. The valley where we camped soon widens; this river is a tributary to the Naryn river which we follow east (upstream) after crossing it over a long bridge. The Naryn valley is very wide here and fertile; mountains on each side are of sandstone and thick packs of sediment, with colors ranging from a pale sandy to dark red.
We make a stop to shop on the market in Naryn, capital of the province of Naryn, both named after the river. Naryn is a regional center, and the only decent-sized town in a large area. There’s a lot of unemployment here though since the factories that employed a lot of inhabitants were closed when the Soviets left after independence. Still, the town does look a little less depressed than two years ago, with buildings clearly in better repair — maybe the economy is picking up a bit? I notice the trolley busses are still going: they have one for each direction on the long central road in this longitudinal town streched along the river (and keep a third one as a spare). But people at the market look sombre and aren’t as friendly as I remember. Others in our group notice the slightly unfriendly atmosphere as well - it’s not just me. We never find out the reason for this atmosphere, but this isn’t Naryn as I remember it. Strange.
After Naryn we turn south again and pass yet another mountain range over the Kyzyl Bel, called “Red Pass” because these mountains consist completely of red sandstone and clay. Soon after the pass, we turn into another wide river valley, first with a lot of agriculture supporting Naryn (we see a lot of fields with bright pink flowers again, which I think must be buckwheat) but later turning into sparse meadows where nomads herd their flocks. Constantly accompanying us on the left now is the long At-Bashi range with snow-capped mountains. Finally we reach the side track which takes us into another narrow valley where — at the end of the 15 km road and the end of the valley — is the building called Tash Rabat.
What is Tash Rabat?
The Tash Rabat building, located at 3100 m height not far from the Chinese border, is somewhat of a riddle. It’s often called a caravan serai in the tour guides but looking at the structure that actually sounds rather unlikely: there’s no place to stable animals here; and usually at a caravanserai there’s a large open courtyard inside the outer walls but this smallish building is completely covered and has a large domed central hall with lots of rooms around three sides of it. Other theories are it could have been a mosque, a prison, even a Buddhist monastery. Unfortunately, no real scientific investigation or excavation has ever been done here; until that happens (if ever) it’s all guesswork.
It’s quite cold up here (again) but luckily we can sleep either in a yurt, put up for the purpose by the family living across from Tash Rabat, or inside their house (for which they free up their own living room and kitchen and sleep in a small side building). Although it costs a little extra, I’m quite glad to be able to sleep inside where it’s warm tonight: last night in the tent it was so cold I didn’t sleep well.
Friday 2004-06-25 - Torugart Pass, Kyrgyzstan
Wildlife
We’re leaving at eight for the border crossing over the Torugart Pass - “Much too late” I’m thinking to myself and alas I turn out to be right. First we go back along the 15 km track to the ‘main’ road to China which we follow farther up. The road is very bad, even for an all-weather road, but most traffic here consists only of trucks transporting old iron to China (another export ‘product’ of Kyrgyzstan of which they have plenty with all the factories that were closed after independence while China is eager for it for its growing industry). The rest of the traffic consists of tourists, of course, and precious little else.
In the valley near Tash Rabat I noticed one of the mountains was riddled with holes; nests of ground squirrels, I suspect, but I didn’t see any there. However back on the main road I do see many ground squirrels, mostly sunning themselves on the mounds of sand next to their burrows, not paying much attention to our passing truck. There are two kinds of them here, one a lot bigger than the other — I see a lot less of the smaller ones, but maybe they’re just more shy. I suspect these are the same species that live on the high plains between China and Pakistan but I don’t know the names of these species (yet).
Because of the bad condition of the road it takes us a long time to reach the passport check before the actual Kirghiz border; we finally reach the main building at 11:45 — the border closes at noon! Border formalities at the Kyrgyzstan border post are simple and quick though - seemingly smoother each year. The truck is allowed to take us right up to the pathetic little pillar now marking the border, replacing the original monumental gate building at 3752 m. The landmark gate was taken down by the Chinese a few years ago when they claimed another 7.5 m of territory — a move not so good for international tourism. We say goodbye to our team; on the other side of the gate our Chinese bus is already waiting for us (well, we’re late: it must have been here more than an hour already).
