Back on track............. Bishkek and all points East

Hello to all - apologies for such a long delay in getting the rest of the blog up and running.  Adjusting to being back in the UK has been more protracted that I originally thought.  Reversed culture shock!  But over the next few weeks I will be loading photos in the relevant places in the previous entries as well as writing up (from memories and the all important travel diaries) the remainder of Kyrgyzstan and the 6 weeks across China.  Also I am looking forward to your comments too.

Kyrgyzstan and half way through the trip....................

It seems ages since the last entry - but so much has happened.  Kyrgyzstan may be a small country compared to other Central Asian countries but it has it all.  Our guide told me the story of how Kyrgyzstan came to be.  God was allocating the different countries to the people of the world but the Kyrgyz was asleep.  So the Kazakhs got the steppe because they like to live where they can see the sky and to ride horses, the Uzbeks are good at agriculture so they got Uzbekistan, the Russians like to be cold so they got Russia, Africans like the heat so they got Africa, no doubt the British like to be wet and to fish so they got Britain.  The Kyrgyz woke up just after God had finished and ran up saying "where is my country?"  "Where were you?", asked God.  "I was asleep and now I don't have a country."  "Well", says God, "I had just put a little bit aside for me so I suppose you had better have it."  And that way the Kyrgyz have agriculture, fishing in lakes, horses, heat and cold, wet (in May) mountains, desert and everything.  And it is quite true I have seen desert, I have seen mountains and I have seen lakes.  The Kyrgyz are indeed blessed with their country.  Wherever you go you can always see snow covered peaks.  


The Tien Shan from the homestay

The first day we arrived (3rd of May seems so long ago) it was raining, we stayed at a homestay in Osh down in the South and we left in the rain to go to Arslanbob (read Roger Deakin-Wild Wood to find out more about the walnut forest) and arrived in the rain.  I stayed in a lovely homestay where our host had what seemed like hundreds of bee hives in his back garden and a very comfortable room and the shower was absolutely bang up to the mark modern complete with jets and various other functions which I did not dare try out!  There was a very naughty dog called Jackson who stole all of our shoes off the veranda and deposited them around the yard so our poor host and his son were out with torches trying to recover pairs!  Our host learned a useful bit of English for future occasions which was "bad dog"!!!  But Jackson was only a baby and he must have thought that this was Christmas and birthday all rolled into one when he was given a present of 7 pairs of shoes to play with.  

 

Homestay village



Our homestay



The milk bottle!



JACKSON! the "bad dog" - smiling



The kitchen garden - and all those hives



Another view of the Tien Shan from the homestay

Talking of birthdays I had mine  just over a week ago- I meant to bring the co-ordinates with me today but they are in my diary back at the hotel but when I post the pictures I will show you what I woke up to - see 21st October entry for the photos.)  But to get back to Arslanbob it was all misty on arrival but nothing prepared me for the scene the next morning when I woke up to brilliant sunshine and the most stunning view of snow capped mountains and a blue, blue sky through the trees.  And since then I have seen mountains every day.  The breakfast at the homestay was fantastic and all specially cooked by our hostess and her sister-in-law.  To say nothing of the delicious honey which came from the bees in the garden.

The camping at Lake Issy Kul was a delight.  The lake is a beautiful blue and even when it is cloudy it seems to be blue.  I did some swimming but unfortunately the 3rd time I was not able to get warm again afterwards and I went down with the truck "bug" which has afflicted quite a few of us but even having to have bed rest in a hotel has not spoiled the pleasure I had swimming.     

 

 LAKE ISSY KUL SCENES

The campsite

More of the campsite



The weather changes from moment to moment





Mountains seen from the north shore



A north shore resort



A Lake Issy Kul Butlins!



The Kyrgyz Navy (or Russian warships)

The countryside we drive through is alwasy stunning.  We have witnessed the annual movement of horses, cattle and sheep to the higher grazing pastures, although this does not really start until the end of May.

Transhumance in action - seen from Archie



                The Naryn River which merges to become the Syr Darya                  



Typical mountain scenery



A cemetery



Toktogul Resevoir



Mountain scenery

These pictures represent just a few of the sorts of scenery that we experienced every day in Kyrgyzstan.  After a visit to a women's felt making co-operative and the wild camping time at Lake Issy Kul we made our way to Karakol to "civilisation"!  The whole of the journey I was doing my teeth with the water in the various hotels, but not drinking it, but Karakol was the place where the hotel said not to drink the water and supplied us with bottled water.  I did meet a group of Swiss hydro engineers who were involved in a water treatment project.  Not before time, it would appear.  Nearly all the others went off wild camping, but alas I stayed behind to sleep and rest in the hotel, which was very pleasant and well run.  The company who run the hotel are Swiss (as well as the hydro engineers!).  So it is true.  Swiss hoteliers all over the world.  The hotel had some wonderful displays of textiles by a local felt artist.

Some of my birthday pictures

Archie decorated for .............

..... for the "birthday girl"

& the "girl" herself complete with her lovely present 0f (out of date") beetroot soup mix!

 

A bit more of Samarkand and the utterly amazing Tashkent....................

This may be the last entry for a little while as tomorrow (Sunday) we head off towards Kyrgyzstan and out of the 2 weeks we have in Kyrgyzstan I think we have 3 or 4 nights in a hotel and the remaining time we will be camping in the mountains or staying in yurts so may not be near an internet source for some time.  

Just a little bit more about Samarkand before moving on to Tashkent.  We stayed in a crazy hotel - the Hotel Furkat has the distinction of being Samarkand's only B&B, though I think Fawlty Towers (including a resident Basil) would be nearer the mark!  The room that I was in had the  most wonderful new wash hand basin in pink plastic with the best tap ever, I want one (and there will be an opportunity to see a picture of it when I load up the pictures.  There was a joy stick in the middle of a circular glass disk.  When the joy stick was twiddled water poured over the glass disk into the basin.  However this whole effect was somewhat spoiled by the fact that when the couple in the room above used their shower our shower tray filled up with sand.  However Mr. Furkat was unfazed when told this and just said "no problem" which was the solution to most difficulties at the Hotel Furkat!  



And here it is.............

 




















..... in all its glory!!!!



However the breakfast room, under Russian army surplus camoflage so we would not get accidentally strafed, made up for all the "no problems" open sided on the very top of the building with wonderful views over the city - so for that alone I would recommend a stay there.   5 of the group had had to go to Tashkent a day early to sort out Chinese visas (fortunately all successful) so I was responsible for all their bags being loaded onto Archie.   The bag loader employed to shift our bags into a car to take to Archie had obviously had a stroke.  I started piling the bags up ready to take downstairs and poor man each time he thought that he had taken all the bags I had added another one from the pile in my room.  I felt so sorry for him, but yet again it was "no problem"  But then came the real problem as Archie had been parked away from the hotel and was being allegedly "looked after" when we tried to drive away Archie would not move.  Somebody had nicked 500 litres of diesel!  And finding replacement diesel took ages as only about 1:6 garages stock it and we kept turning up at garages only to find that their pumps were empty.  There was obviously a diesel shortage in Uzbekistan that day - and who knows - maybe we bought back our own diesel!

Anyway we arrived in Tashkent in good time to have a look around later that afternoon.  And yes, we did meet the French party again - some of them though not the "yurt 6" were staying at our hotel - and what is more one of them knew my cousin who lives in France!!! Her grandson had been at school with my cousin's son (and my 1st cousin once removed).  How's that for serendipity - I go to Uzbekistan and not only do I find someone who lives in the same town as my cousin but actually knows her!  

Tashkent is the most amazing city.  It has the most beautiful metro of any city I have been to - and a really neat way of being able to get round the metro without a map - though a map helps - I liked the station with the portraits or perhaps one should say pictures of all the astronauts and they include Uleg Beg which just gives it a lovely inclusive feeling.  But there is another station which has decorated domes - but unfortunately no photos as this is a finable offence.   Tashkent is a city of contrasts.  In the centre full of people dressed in the latest fashions and all very up to date.  But you only have to go to the outskirts to find cows tethered by the side of the road or men trotting about on donkey carts.  But I really like Tashkent - it is a city with a good feel and people are so helpful and friendly.  Today I was shown the way to the Decorative Arts Museum by a woman sweeping the street - literally with a twig broom - in such a kind way.  The museum was hard to find because it was down a residential street but when I got there is was well worth the difficulities finding it.  Full of local art and crafts - some 19th/20th C but also some really modern things as well.  And this evening I went to the ballet to see The Corsair - danced by the Uzbek National Ballet - that was an experience and a half.  The scenery was stunning and the prima ballerina taking the part of Medora was as light as a feather and a very good dancer with brilliant gesture and facial expression.  So  this visit to Tashkent has only been a taster.  I would love to come back to Uzbekistan and be here for a bit longer.  So over and out for the present and look forward to catching up with this at the next internet stop.



Statue of Amir Timur in the main square



Amir Timur with a couple of foot soldiers!



Spice stall - Chorsu Bazaar



Our very kind and unofficial guide round Tashkent



Still in Samarkand - after a lovely long lunch.............................

Just catching up again after lunch.   I realise that I hardly ever, if at all, mention the FOOD yet friends who know me will understand that the food I experience is very much part of this trip.  So a brief description of today's lunch.  The Russian influence on the former Soviet countries has certainly formed certain trends in the food.  Ashbeghat had an enormous Russian Market in the city centre.   There were vegetable stores selling the most wonderful array of fresh fruit and vegetables.  Stands with the most lavishly and extravagantly decorated cakes I have ever seen.  I did not try any because I felt sure that if they looked as wonderful and excessive as they did that the taste could only be a disappointment!  Stores with all sorts of Russian delicacies such as caviar and salmon caviar (I will just have to pop to Waitrose on return!), cold meats and cheeses.  The meat stalls were best avoided with sheeps heads in the window already for boiling into some sort of stew - though it did look as if the eyes had been removed.  Also cows trotters.  We did buy some mince for our truck supper but we made sure that the butcher minced there and then!  However the butcher asked if we wanted it minced once or twice - and when we cooked it it was delicious.  All around the edge of the market were little cafes selling Russian foods.  So back to today's lunch - a range of salads - followed by roast chicken and pots of chay - green tea which everyone serves here.  By the time I get back it will be like I have been at a health spa for a few weeks with the amount of green tea I have drunk.  That was a fairly ordinary sort of meal.  Yesterday a group of us went to an Italian restaurant where I had the least Italian meal I have ever had in my life!  My starter was called "Bird Nest" an halved hard boiled egg yolk on the chopped egg white which was on top of a "Russian salad" of gerkins, boiled potatoes and pickled herring.  All of this was on a "bed of lettuce leaves" and surrounded by fried noodles!  The next dish was pork in sauce - yes pork in a Muslim country - however I did not see any evidence of pork in the Russian Market in Ashbeghat.  Somewhere just before we crossed over into Uzbeksistan we stopped in a town at lunch time and had a look round the "bazaar".  I found the most delicous dumpling stuffed with vegetables and salads.  I have never had anything like that - it was a dream.  The dumpling was soft but with a bouncy texture and when it came to choosng the filling I had a Harry met Sally "I'll have what she's having" moment (but with not quite the same build-up!!!).  I watched the store holder filling one of these dumplings for somebody else saw how much she paid (some insignificant sum) then made my choice all through hand gesture even to having a tiny bit of the hot chilli on top.  The fact that I had an "oh shit" moment immediately after because I left the market at the back gate rather than the front one and had a little bit of difficulty reuniting myself with Archie was more than made up for the moment I sank my teeth into that dumpling!!!!!
The food we have on the truck is delicious.  We have been separated into "cook groups" and we each take it in turn to cook meals.  For my last cook group we did breakfast.  We had a lovely lunch on the way here when we stopped at a sacred spring at Nurata.  The spring water was a lovely blue-green colour and full of rather large "sacred trout".  People take the well water home for sick relatives if they cannot get there to drink it themselves.  It was said that Mohammed's brother put his staff into the rocks and the spring burst out but given the fact that it has a reputation as a healing spring and the amount of "cloutie" trees there are going up to Alexander's Fort above the town I would suggest that it has been a sacred spring for a great deal longer than that. 


A bit more about the yurt homestay- run by the very enterprising Russians.  We met a party of French people from Lyon while we were there and I had quite a good chat to them.  They were in Uzbeksistan for 10 days doing a whistle stop tour of the main sites.  The morning after our rather rowdy night - it was Anzac day the day we arrived so there was a little celebration for the Aussies and New Zealanders in the evening when the vodka came around the table.  It ended with all of us singing our national anthems so I went over the French party and asked if they would sing the Marseillaise for us which they very obligingly did!  Then after that we had a truly magic performance of Uzbek classical music from a traditional singer/player on the dutour - a 2 stringed sort of lute/guitar round a campfire.  The next day we went to a lake - the largest man-made lake in Central Asia - Lake Aidarkul - where, those who wanted were able to swim (1st swim since a week or so before leaving the UK).  A lovely swim it was too, not too deep, not too cold and not too cloudy either.  After the swim the enterprising Russians brought us lunch which we shared with the Lyonnais as they came to have a look at the lake too.  We had a range of salads, probably what we did not eat the previous evening but delicious all the same and cold boiled potatoes with cold fried fish which had been caught in the lake the previous day.  Wonderful! 
We met up with the French party again yesterday in one of the museums and who knows we may yet coincide again in Tashkent.

Bukhara and the "lengendary Samarkand".....................

Bukhara continued - Bukhara is full of puppets and storytelling.  I met a puppet maker called ZoZo (though he was not a puppteer) and we had a long talk about puppet making and he showed me how he makes his puppets.  He kept talking about "my master" then Iskandar "the master" appeared and interestingly he was not a puppeteer either but a puppet maker.  He has some of his puppets in both the Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, and the Horniman Museum so when I am back I feel a little trip to London coming on.  Later that evening I went to the Puppet Theatre of Bukhara to see a very lively performance telling of a village wedding with the two fathers not agreeing the bride price.  The bride's mother bossing everyone around and the bridegroom only appeared at the very end.  The part of the bride was part puppet and part young woman (who was also a puppeteer).  In the middle of the story all the puppeteers came to the front and gave a lively performance of a traditional wedding with lots of singing and dancing.  At one point it was quite sad as all her friends completely took over the wedding presents and started trying the jewellery on, wearing the scarves and generally excluding the bride altogether.  This was a sort of little tragedy as the bride was sad that she was leaving her friends and all they were doing was admiring her presents.  However all was made up and they all sang a song about how sad they were that she would not be with them anymore.  After that the young women went behind the screen again and they became puppeteers and completed the show.  They work really hard as when I spoke to one of them afterwards (the daughter of the puppeteer who had trained them) she goes to college in the morning, then works in the afternoon and in the evening she does the puppet shows. 

Zozo - the puppet maker

The moulds for the puppets

And the puppets he makes!

In the middle of Bukhara you will find a large pool surrounded by restaurants and mulberry trees, this is a great place to eat - either sitting on a traditional daybed type table or more conventional tables and chairs.  Set slightly back from the pool up some steps is a treelined square and there is a statue of the Hodja Nasrudeen on his donkey!  

The "Hodja" on his donkey

Then we were on the road again and this time it was to an "Overnight homestay in yurts in the Kyzylkum Desert with Uzbek families".  Actually it was not quite this as I checked with my guide because everyone seemed to be speaking Russian but a very enterprising Russian who has an "yurt village" where people can stay.  That was magic and the camel ride was not to bad either though rather alarming when the camel sat down when I was totally unprepared for that! 

The Yurt Camp in the Desert



The yurt camp



Waiting for the caravan!



A look of disdain!



A desert sunset



A few moments later .........



A few hours later!



The morning after the night before - a rather quiet breakfast!



A view over the desert

Packing up, leaving camp and ........



on the road to Samarkhand..........

Samarkand - Yesterday (which I think was Tuesday) was a tour round the sights of Samarkand - and what sights.  The Registan Sqare which has maddressas on 3 sides - all of them beautifully restored and decorated with tiles the whole way round the exterior walls as well as the insides.  Last night a small group of us went to a local production of a "wedding story" (not disimilar to the puppets) done with fantastic energy by a group of performers.  I got some great photos from this.  But when it comes to the buildings the highlight for me was the Mausoleum of Amu Timur (or Tamberlane).  Quite simple from the outside but inside richly decorated with gold.  His tomb is surrounded by other Timurs including Uleg Beg (the astronomer who was murdered by his son who did not approve of his astromical research).  Timur's tomb is plain black stone, very simple but to oneside and high on a pole is a horse tail the sign of his people or clan.  The atmosphere was very intense but at the same time very quiet and truly awesome. 

Next off to Taskent so there will be more to write from there.

IMPRESSIONS:

• Steppe at last - very flat covered with low bushes and grass tufts - grey with patches of bright green.
• Stopped at a Caravanserai - the water supply a domed building on the other side of the road. The trading dome an octagonal raised platform and the supporting arches just low plinths to mark where they were.  All those lives, stories, trading, merchants, goods, luxury and bartering that went on there.
• Yurt stay- lovely dawn with a few pink clouds in the sky.
• Listening to overnight rain in Samarkand pattering down.

Khiva and Bukhara...........................

While in Khiva coming round a corner on to the main square I was confronted by a group of men wearing Uzbek coats, fur lined metal helmets with swords, spears and shields.  For a moment I thought that I had done a time warp.  I know that Khiva is a UN world heritage site but surely this was taking it too far!  Then the penny dropped - we were not in an Uzbek timewarp but there was a film crew and actors.  The giveaway was one of the "soldiers" with a script trying to get his lines and being distracted by a group of tourists!  A chat to the extras who assured me that they were "actors" revealed that the film was about Omar Khayyam, who spent time in Bukhara - but Khiva makes a better filmset.  But to begin with it was one of those little surreal moments that seem to be part of this journey.  The director and the director's assisstant, however, were not pleased with this disctraction and kept trying to chivvy the actors along but they were more than happy for the distraction and wanted to pose for photos with the "tourists".  A bit later I was catching up with the group and came across a "guard" slouching along with his spear dragging on the ground.  I promptly went into "I surrender" and he sharply drew up and went "on guard" this was followed by laughs and a wave and he went back to being a soldier. 

Another long trek across the desert in Archie.  The roads are rather poor and we go slowly but the advantage of this is being able to see the landscape.  I found the desert surprisingly green.  In fact is is all shades of green at the moment as there has been some rain.  Also some interesting plants - don't know the names.  At one of our lunch stops we saw a group of men on the other side of road with a breakdown.  Their engine had burst - the only way to describe it - the whole engine appeared to be by the side of the road.  I realised this when I saw one of them waving a head gasket - at that point I thought "this is serious".  They appeared to be quite unfazed by the whole thing and were patiently putting it back together.  Though they were happy when we offered them some sealant along with water and food. 

Bukhara......................

To be continued but it did involve a puppet performance.  

The display board for the Bukhara Puppet Theatre



The "folk" opera performance

 
 

In full swing



 

 

                    A tiny little bit of the "folk" opera