The 5 Stans of the Silk Road

RoMambai · Sep 18, 2019

Osh used to be predominantly Uzbek - it's the major urban centre of the eastern Fergana valley - but it was the scene of politically engineered communal violence about a decade ago that saw many driven over the border. The famed bazar there was also razed. The Fergana Valleyin general was Al Qaeda territory in the early naughties. But then president Karimov cracked down hard. Thousands were killed and many more were locked up. It pacified the problem but the place still smoulders. Great pics!

RooFlyer · Sep 18, 2019

Kyzyl-oi turned out to be a pleasant surprise. As I mentioned early on, tours of the Stans 5 or more years ago mostly did the west, then flew to the east over western Kyrgyz Republic, as there was little tourist infrastructure there (here) As in coughlanbob, there is now a 'community tourism' initiative here, where households and groups of villagers have banded together to put in guest houses and meals for westerners. The folks at Kyzyl-oi have done well

.

That said, you wouldn't call the place anything more than 'very rustic'. Dirt roads, many run-down places etc ... you wouldn't stop unless you had to! The piles are cattle dung pats being dried to be used for fuel over winter.

Nice views, though!

The group of 18 were put up amongst about 5 houses and we had dinner together at one of them. The place JohnM and I were in was a purpose-built house, with about 5 bedrooms, a 'western' toilet and shower, fly-wire on the windows etc. Perfectly comfortable, and we were of course expecting just this type of place when we signed onto the tour.

RooFlyer · Sep 18, 2019

Also, importantly, there were three different shops where we could buy booze - as in beer or vodka. Unfortunately we discovered the one thing our house lacked was a good supply of glasses, so we had to make do.

The 1.5 litre beers in plastic containers cost about A$1.50 and was pretty good.

So, having refreshed ourselves, I went for a bit of a walk around town. The evening light was fantastic.

And as i walked up the main street, i found that the light had changed!! (Cheap shot, sorry ... it was a great place to stay)

Dinner was held together at one of the places, with ladies from most of the houses pitching in. Salad (guaranteed bottled-water washed!!), soup and a sort of rolled dumplings, which were really nce. in fact the whole meal was very nice.

And the troops in the kitchen ...

craven morehead · Sep 19, 2019

RooFlyer said:
Also, importantly, there were three different shops where we could buy booze - as in beer or vodka. Unfortunately we discovered the one thing our house lacked was a good supply of glasses, so we had to make do. The 1.5 litre beers in plastic containers cost about A$1.50 and was pretty good.

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So, having refreshed ourselves, I went for a bit of a walk around town. The evening light was fantastic.

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And as i walked up the main street, i found that the light had changed!! (Cheap shot, sorry ... it was a great place to stay)

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Dinner was held together at one of the places, with ladies from most of the houses pitching in. Salad (guaranteed bottled-water washed!!), soup and a sort of rolled dumplings, which were really nce. in fact the whole meal was very nice.

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And the troops in the kitchen ...

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Fantastic photos and really something most people will never experience.

JohnM · Sep 19, 2019

craven morehead said:
Fantastic photos and really something most people will never experience.

But it is very easy to experience it

. I think Exodus had about 12 departures this season, leaving at weekly intervals and all fully-subscribed.

RooFlyer · Sep 20, 2019

JohnM said:
I think Exodus had about 12 departures this season, leaving at weekly intervals and all fully-subscribed.

Still lots of availability

but I think we got a good price!! They are definitely upgrading the hotel used in Ashgabat.

The Five Stans of the Silk Road

Vast deserts, rolling steppe, fertile valleys and majestic mountains form the backdrop to the five former Soviet republics of Central Asia which are commonly known as the five Stans. Amongst this changing and varied landscape are traditional villages, ancient towns and modern cities which tell a...

www.exodustravels.com

JohnM · Sep 20, 2019

RooFlyer said:
Still lots of availability but I think we got a good price!! They are definitely upgrading the hotel used in Ashgabat.

The Five Stans of the Silk Road

Vast deserts, rolling steppe, fertile valleys and majestic mountains form the backdrop to the five former Soviet republics of Central Asia which are commonly known as the five Stans. Amongst this changing and varied landscape are traditional villages, ancient towns and modern cities which tell a...

www.exodustravels.com

Still plenty of availability for 2020 but looks to be filling fast. I guess the price rise is partly the AUD devaluing, partly the popularity and partly a tweaking of what is still a fairly new tour. I’m glad we went when we did.

RooFlyer · Sep 21, 2019

Next day was a bit of a 'short' drive, to Lake Son-Kul, and our yurt camp experience. The road from Bashkaingdy to the lake was a rough dirt road

Some more gorges and roads along green-water rivers.

Photo stop at this remarkable 'vertical beach' as it was called. A very steep sand slope. Imagine the business opportunity here - sand surfing down the slope in cardboard boxes!

We broke out of the canyons to a wide valley ...

... and a town where where we could stock up on booze before hitting the yurt camp.

A pretty typical selection for a small store. Mostly vodkas and brandy, but those reds at the right would be JohnM and my downfall ...

JohnM contemplating these 6 packs of beer (which was pretty good, and cheap!!). We should have gone with them.

RooFlyer · Sep 21, 2019

After a bone-jarring drive through more canyons, we started to climb up to the alpine plateau, heading for 3,000m. First there was a lunch stop, by the road (picnic style), with lovely views over a coal mine.

As you can see from the jumpers and coats, the weather was turning chilly and windy.

That's the #2 van bringing up the rear, after a flat tyre, way back ...

We'd be pretty thankful for the coal by the time the night was over!

Eventually, at last, the lake came into view, with many yurts along the way and near it. Again, the folks here tend their sheep, cattle and horses up here in the summer, in yurts, and then head down into the valleys for winter, in about a month.

This is a commercial yurt camp, like one we would be staying at. Lake Son-Kul is 29x18km, and holds 2.6 cubic km of water. Its only really accessible from about June to September, so we were coming in at the end of the season (the last Exodus tour was following us, a week behind).

And this is our camp. Two to a yurt; there's a new shower and western toilet block, a kitchen complex, dining yurts ... and lots of space. You might notice that its a bit blowy! It was cold!

Inside a yurt. pretty comfy - power, of course (although the generator was only on until 11pm)

The luxury were these little coal fired stoves. The 'fire man' would light it up at 9pm to warm the yurt up for bed, and then he would re-appear between 5 and 6am to light it up again for morning - basically a handful of kindling, a generous squirt or three of kero or parrafin, and some lumps of coal!!

And the shower side of the shower/toilet block, with doors blown open (and nearly off!!). the trick, in the early hours of morning, was to make it to the actual toilets ...

RooFlyer · Sep 21, 2019

The lake from the camp; its further than it looks.

The altitude did make you get out of breath pretty easily. By next morning i think everyone was OK with it.

Trying to look cheerful in the freezing wind (vodka helped), and a 'climate friendly' beer chilling technique,

Major · Sep 21, 2019

The fire doesn't seem to be doing much

drron · Sep 21, 2019

Beautiful coal mine.

RooFlyer · Sep 21, 2019

Major said:
The fire doesn't seem to be doing much

It was only lit in the late evening and very early morning; it got the yurt warm for maybe an hour or two.

RooFlyer · Sep 21, 2019

Dinner supplied by the camp people. pretty basic, but as always, what we were expecting. A nice roast vege salad, soup, and a kind of plov, with donuts for dessert.

JohnM and I continued our adventures in Kyrgyz red wines, with this unhappy choice, that tasted of cherry/grape juice, but we finished it, with gritted teeth, for the sake of research. BTW, all our wines had a date of around 2008. but then there was a date also stamped on the back, usually a couple of weeks prior to current day. The wines certainly haven't been in the bottle since 2008 - we reckon that was some sort of random date, and they had been bottled on the stamp date - as in, ... yesterday! That's what they tasted like.

Outside, a nice sunset.

RooFlyer · Sep 21, 2019

It was a f-f-f-f-freezing cold and windy night!! I must admit I didn't make it as far as the official toilet hut to have a leak during the night.

The 'fire man' came at about 6am and lit the fire, so at least we could get out of bed for brekky without icing up. Instant fire - kindling, 2 bags of coal, and some kero!

(This is actually what was set for the evening fire, later that day)

Outside

Breakfast - cold cuts, bread jam/honey, pancakes, cheese omelette or fried eggs

Coming up: horse rugby (with a simulated goat) !

OZDUCK · Sep 21, 2019

Looks amazing - but that snow line looks far too close for comfort. I can understand why you were freezing.

JohnM · Sep 21, 2019

That was light fresh snow overnight. It melted the next day.

The beds were cosy, I thought.

RooFlyer · Sep 21, 2019

An 'optional activity' that we paid for (abt US$70 for the group of 16) was to watch a game of Kok boru, otherwise known as Buzkashi or 'horse rugby'. Its played with horse riders battling for possession of a decapitated and gutted goat

- well, you are reading this for some cultural enrichment, aren't you?

Our tour leader took an executive decision that they would play with a 'simulated goat'.

So, we gathered at Son Kul stadium. The ground staff had done a great job clearing away the morning ... frost ... and getting the ground into tip-top condition. We were a bit disappointed that our Corporate Box applications hadn't made it through.

Not sure if the dogs were watching the game, or the 'goat' ...

Some of the local supporters turned up, and brought the family ...

Awwww....

At last the umpire was in position, and we could begin.

RooFlyer · Sep 21, 2019

It was 4-or-5 a side, and the object was to get the goat and carry it to one of the 'goals' (raised podiums) at either end. The 'goat' looked as though it weighed 30kg or so. It was fast, and obviously took some skill to get the goat off the deck while other horses and riders were in melee, then to carry it while at a gallop; having it tucked under your leg seemed the way to go.

And thanks to @Daver6 , here's some video