Osh- Naryn, Kyrgyzstan 08 June 2011

Compared to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan we are pleasantly surprised how efficiently and easy it was this morning to organize our trip to Naryn and then Lake Issyk-Kul. From Karakol we would go for a three day horse trek in the mountains. All was done in one hour and at a reasonable price.

It has been 52 days since we started the journey. We have been having an overdose of meat, shashlik, kebabs, laghman and plov. The preferred diet of Central Asians is meat, with both number 2 and number 3 as meat. We are craving for vegetable and fruit. Kim and I have game where in turn we mention the names of our preferred dishes. “A glass of red wine!” ahhh! or “Chatini bringelle” ahhh!

Just the names bring all the tastiest dreams to our mind. We are placing our hopes in China, dreaming that once the border crossed our wishes will be fulfilled. We keep fingers crossed.

We went through sun, rain, snow and hail. We gave a lift to a 13 year old young boy name Adelet waiting on the road side in the rain. His daily transport is a passing vehicle or a horse or on foot to go back home to the village which is like 6 km away after his day’s work looking at the animals in the jailo (pastures).

The diversity of the landscapes and their natural beauty leaves us breathless. It is like an interesting movie in a giant screen. We have travelled a whole day – over 13 hours and it keeps changing, offering every time a new scene.

The lift stairwell leading to the apartment homestay was dark and gloomy. In my mind, I was expecting and preparing myself to a hard and rough night in a soviet apartment. But it was comfortable and just right.

Karakul, Tajikistan- Osh, Kyrgyzstan 07 June 2011

We left Karakul in the early hours – 06H00. We have two new passengers, 2 ladies in their fifties from Holland, José and Mariam. We wake up every day with the same feeling. Today cannot be as beautiful as yesterday and yet it is! The morning sun on the lake and the snow peaks in the background is stunning. On the road Soyoun the driver is quite willing to stop for the photos to be able to smoke a cigarette each time. We would have told him to stop everywhere on the 63 km to the border. Again the camera cannot capture the ensemble, whether we look in the direction of China, Tajikistan or Kyrgyzstan. Beauty here is abstract, cold. It is hard on the people who chose to live here. It does not give, they have to pay their tribute. It is cold, windy and snowy with below 0°C in summer.

We were the first of the day at the Tajik border. It took us only one hour to stamp the 5 passports, go through customs. Kim and I had never received and filled the entry form at the border entry at Oybek. The passport officer wanted to send us back 3000 km back. After a long negotiation and 60 som less (15 $) everything was in order and we were able to proceed to the Kyrgyz border 20 km away! Surprisingly there is a village – Bor-dobo – in-between?! By village I mean a few houses.

The Kyrgyz border was welcoming and sunny. The friendly officers introduced themselves to us. Football conversation and they were very intrigued by our road map, boasting that their peaks are higher than the Tajik ones. But it again took a longer hour.

Suddenly the landscape changes, all is green. The grey snowy peaks are behind us. Green rounded pastures with horses running freely and yurts scattered around. The natural landscape looks like golf links with snowy pits (instead of sand ones). Again beauty beyond description. All seems unchanged and untouched since centuries.

We arrived in Osh around 16H00 and it took us one hour to locate the hotel. Merci Lonely Planet! The same happened in Dushanbe when the hotel had moved. Shower was a blessing even if water was cold.

Osh is the second-largest city of Kyrgyzstan. It had its moment of glory with Alexander the great and Babur, but also sadly famously with the riots of 09 June 2010, almost exactly a year ago with 200 dead and 200 000 people displaced. Apparently these riots occurred mainly for ethnic reasons with a large number of Uzbeks living in this region. Again one of the errors of border drafting.

Murgab- Karakul, Tajikistan 06 June 2011

I should stop talking about records and highest point. We have a new Kyrgyz driver, Soyoun, with a Pajero driving us to Osh. The previous one is driving is Niva back to Khorog. Short trip through the high Akbajtal pass at 4665m down to Lake Karakul. The drive is all along the barbed wires Chinese border for km. It was apparently built by the Russians and is about 20 km inside Tajikistan.

Karakul lake means Big Black Lake is a huge spectacular lake at 3914m altitude. Salty but frozen until May every year. Lifeless. No a single fish or any form of life. No wonder the whole village looks at the mountain instead. This region is in fact populated by Kyrgyz and very few Tajik, but the political arrangements in drawing up the borders; it ended up to be in Tajikistan. It has the same time as Kyrgyzstan ie one hour ahead of the rest of Tajikistan.

We are only 63 km from the official Kyrgyz border, but life here is already Kyrgyz.

Bulungkul – Murgab, Tajikistan 05 June 2011

Second pass breaking our yesterday’s personal record, Naizobhi 4314m. Murgab is just a desolate place with the bazaar as the main area of activity. The bazaar is only an open place where all the trucks collect around a square and open the back doors of their containers. People buy directly off the containers. Nothing grows here. So all vegetable and fruit come from Khorog or Kyrgyzstan. This explains how rare they are on the menu.

Menu is a big word. In the homestays we are asked “Dinner?” “Time?” That’s it. Then you wait for the surprise, you eat what you are given. Last evening was some cut cucumbers and a noodle soup with floating spicy red oil over. The 2 girls, the South African and the American girl were staying in the same place and had dinner with us.

Khorog- Bulungkul, Tajikistan 04 June 2011

We took our Diamox tablet since last night. It is supposed to help the adaptation to high altitudes. And we were right we never felt so out of breath for just a few hundred metres walk, with headaches and a strange feeling of vibrations in the fingers.

We went past Jelandy with its hot springs. A very disappointing horrible building in the middle of nowhere and hot smelly common baths. We left after 5 minutes. Ride through the Koj-Tezek pass at 4 272 m, our personal record . Roads winds down slowly to the driver’s suggestion – BulungkuL. No one on the road except a few Chinese trucks. Then the off the main road two lakes Tuk-Kul and Sasyk-Kul. Salty lakes frozen In winter. The track continues to the an empty space. No one nowhere, Finally just a few houses, some children running around, an old man with a herd of cows, yaks, sheep and goat. The driver seems to be known.

After some discussion, we are taken to the “hotel”. Simple lunch of fried eggs, non and some yogourt. We are shown our quarters, 2 floor mattresses and loads of blankets. We understood why after. Toilets are a hut with nothing around within 100 m radius. Fried lake fish for dinner and sleep at 21H00. The night is freezing cold for us even in summer. This place is known to be the coldest in Tajikistan. One can imagine the winter nights.
This is the place where we had the strongest “edge of the world” feeling. It is like 30 km beyond the edge. In fact we did drive beyond to see this unique lake Jasil-Kul, accident of nature. Immaculate span of water half the size of Geneva lake and nothing around except us.
In the middle of the night arrive two French cyclists from Shanghai. Breakfast with them and we are off.

Khorog, Tajikistan, 03 June 2011

Khorog is just a 30 000 inhabitants village where the Aga Khan has created the University of Central Asia, becoming at the same time a hub for the region. Few backpackers such as a Czech biker going to Afghanistan, 2 girls from South Africa and waiting like us to go to the Pamir mountains.

The girls here are amazingly beautiful with unique eyes and skin colour. They look more European than all the turks or other Central Asian population. But strangely the men really look Iranians, or Pakistanese.

Tomorrow we are off through the Pamirs to Jelandy small village with hot springs. We tend to think that the mountains the next day will be the same as the day before. But it never does. Each landscape is unique.

Dinner at the Pamir Lodge where we are staying. Simple dinner with rice, pasta with sauce and a fried egg. I wonder which cuisine this is. I had my first casserole shower ever. I wonder if this is equivalent to the traditional Japanese bath. If the aim was to impress, I was.

It is always interesting to share travel tips with the other travelers. An English couple, the Czech biker and an Australian cyclist. All great travelers having been to most countries.

Kalai-I Chum-Khorog, Tajikistan 03 June 2011

We started early at 07H30 with 2 army officers in the shared taxi. The whole road winds along the Panchir river which separates Tajikistan and Afghanistan, with land mines on the river banks! It would seem that we took a shortcut through Afghanistan during a few km with no questions asked or checkpoints control since our 2 passengers were our warranty. The Afghani villages are amazingly green and beautiful. From the pictures one will never guess the country origin. Travelers on donkeys or horseback walk along the narrow paths high above the river like they were from a few centuries before

Dushanbe- Kalai-I Chum, Tajikistan 02 June 2011

From this morning we will enter a zone where communication and electricity will be minimal. We leave this morning for a 8-hour trip to Kalai-I-Chum where we will follow the road along the Tajik/Afghan side. We will do the 2^nd lap to Khorog the next day before going through the Pamir mountains among peaks of 4200 to 5700 m then to Kyrgyzstan.

No pain, no gain. We preferred the long road to the Dushanbe – Khorog one hour flight for which the Russian pilots are paid danger money. Nevertheless it took us 12 hours to reach Kala-I-chum with a lot of fears. But one of the hardest elements on the way was not being cramped among the 8 passengers in the Toyota Land Cruiser but the same Tajik music for 12 hours non-stop. It was harder than the bumps, the holes, the engine repairs. But this was largely compensated by the 360° views we had all the way. We were in the 3D cinema. The scenes and natural landscape are unbelievable, beyond description.

We slept at Bahrom Sangkuka, an inhabitant of K-I-chum in his house with breakfast and hot shower! We used for the first time our silk sheets and extra-slim pillow. No dinner as we arrived at 22H30.

Dushanbe, Tajikistan 01 June 2011

Dushanbe means “monday” in Tajik and was always a great Monday market. The city has ambition and may be resources to meet its ambitions but it is committing the same mistake as elsewhere.

Rulers feel that modernity and development can only be achieved by erasing the past and building monuments and nowadays preferably glass towers Dubai style. The temptation here is strong. I was taken to the Mayor and the Minister of Construction and architecture to plead for the past and the cultural identity of the place. It may help hopefully. Nul n’est prophète en son pays. My words seem to weigh more than my fellow local architects .

The people here offer a wide range of faces and combination unseen in many places. From the darker Iranian, Indian type to the Chinese/Mongol looking to the fair skinned blondes. But most amazing are their eyes which seem to be always light coloured whether grey, green or brown. It is not a surprise to see a very fair skin with Chinese small blue eyes and the head covered.

Khojand – Dushanbe, Tajikistan 31 May 2011

The drive was much smoother than expected with the road repaired. Six hours drive except for one hour to cross a pass at 3 300m altitude. Two black spots with the driver surfing on the edge of the unstabilised road with the canyon 500 m below and the other black spot is the 15 minute dark and wet tunnel. We thought it would never end. Down in the canyons laid car skeletons.

We arrived in Dushanbe (which means Monday in Tajik). Quiet city with a lot of the young people deserting the country after the fall of the USSR block. The town seems more orthodox than all the cities we have seen so far. It is true that we are now very near Afghanistan. Tajik people form another ethnic group closer to the Iranians, Afghans and speak different versions of Farsi (Persian language). We have been welcomed personally by Bahrom Yusupov and his son. Heavy programme tomorrow where I will meet the Mayor, the architects of the city and the architecture students after a thorough visit of the city.

Taskent to Khojand, Tajikistan 31 May 2011

Tashkent – Oybek – Khojand, Tajikistan

Easy road with 3 other Uzbeks in the car laughing out loud all the way to Oybek. They stopped to offer us a bowl of ayran each. Like most Uzbek, they could not understand why I have only one son and child. They were proud to mention that they have 4 or 5 children each. We walked easily through both the passport and customs control on the two Uzbek and Tajik sides. Once on the Tajik side we managed to negotiate the taxi fare in the Uzbek som left. The land looked desolate, abandoned with no one on the road. Good quality roads compared to the rest of Uzbekistan.

Khojand, Tajikistan

No hotel booked, we walked in Hotel Vadath and were proposed a huge suite with 2 bedrooms.

Khojand is a city the size of Port Louis in terms of population, planned soviet style with a large avenue lined with trees leading to the theatre, main city feature. Next to it is the ancient X^th century fortress walls, built by Alexander the Great, sacked by Genghis Khan as usual and rebuilt awkwardly in 1997.

We were surprised to receive the late visit of an architect of Buston (village next door) who had already been informed by the President of the Tajikistan Union of Architects that we were in town. He drove 200 km to meet us and we could not refuse to have some chay with him. Unfortunately communication was minimal, language being a major problem.

Tashkent, Uzbekistan 31 May 2011

We are crossing fingers. The Tajik visa should be obtained at 16H00 and then we would be off by road for about 3 hours to Oybek the little village on the border. We’ll cross on foot to the Tajik side and catch another marshrutka for another 2 hours before reaching Khojand where we intend to sleep.

We are waiting at a Kontinent food court, the same French Continent. Loud music on large tv screens with advertisement in French and French clip music. Wifi is free and loads of youngsters spend time here during the present school holidays. We could be anywhere in the world except for the Cyrillic ads and menu.

Talking about food. It is amazing as populations take on the conquerors cuisine. I would guess that the present Central Asian food came from the Mongols which means that the name varies from place to place but are only different versions (adapted locally) of the same original recipe. Typical examples are Plov, pilov, pilav, pilaf, pilau, pilao, polo, plo. It even came down to Mauritius. It was renamed and spiced up in India who got it from the Moghuls. It is probably not a coincidence that Indian Rajasthan near the Jaisalmer desert sounds similar to the Samarkand Registan (Sandy place in Tajik). One is not to forget that Babur who came to India was one of Tamerlane grandson. Another example is Kebab and shashlik which runs from Xinjiang, China, to India and Turkey. Same for Samsa, Somsa, Samoosa(India), Sambusa (Tajikistan) Sambucek (Lebanon) , the triangular pastry with various fillings, vegetable or meat.

Dumplings originally from China, now: Pilmieni, Pierogi (Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia), manti (Turkey,Central Asia), wantan/wonton,Jiaozi, Kiao, baozi,(China) Khinkhali (Georgia), Dusbere (Azerbaijan) or even ravioli (Italy) in soup. We are eating them every day in their different versions, here with mutton and beef going to pork in China or Georgia. We prefer not to spend too much time asking of what the filling is made of.  All of this shows a very early form of globalisation long before the Macdo.