Life in Cambodia

Over the Irkeshtam and into Kyrgyzstan

Heading out of Kashgar and fending off a cheating taxi driver, we found ourself at the China/Kyrgyzstan border crossing of the Irkestam Pass. The terrain between the two places was quite bleak and desert-esque; not the place you would want to call home. The border crossing formalities, though uneventful, took far longer than we had expected. The distance between the Chinese customs post and the Kyrgyz customs post was unwalkable and there is no real transport that runs back and forth since most of the traffic are buses and trucks. Luckily, the Chinese official was extremely nice and tracked down a ride for us. That, however, only got us to another Chinese checkpoint within the "no-man's land." As if we sneaked in without first stopping at the custom's post. From there, it was a 15 min walk across the border to a tiny Kyrgyz checkpoint. Here, my 10 words of Russian came in handy with the border guard as we became buddy-buddy. As he took our passports into his office, he turned around like he had forgotten something and yelled, "Welcome to Kyrgyzstan!" to us before stepping inside. We officially felt welcomed. Afterwards, he, in turn, found us a ride to the final, offical Kyrgyz border check point, where we hoped to find transport onto Osh. Here, we got lucky. We got on a little mini-bus that was just disgorging a flock of French tourists going into China. Their Kyrgyz guide, who was returning into Kyrgyzstan was also continuning onward to Osh and asked if we wanted to ride in the mini-bus with him. Opting for the ride in hand instead of two in the bush, we agreed. Turns out that this guide, Kanat, is not only a professor of French in Osh and spoke it quite fluently, he also knew his way around English, Uzbek, Kyrgyz and of course, Russian. Following the border/passport check and a quick bite to eat (minced lamb and onions wrapped in a thin dumpling cover (called 'Mante', yum) we were off. We had heard the road was bad and that it took a long time to get between the border and Osh (despite a relatively small distance) but we were unprepared for what we would come up against. As soon as we got out of town, the road literally disappeared and became nothing more than a dirt track into the mountains beyond. And this is one of the major transport corridors for goods between China and Kyrgyzstan. To make a horribley bumpy road worse was the tons of fine dust that filled the air, coating everything in and outside the mini-bus. Needless to say, it was an unpleasant ride. Luckily, there were only four of us in the mini-bus so I had space to lay out across the seats. By the end, everything we owned would be coated in dust and grime. During the ride, Kanat also asked us if we wanted to stay with his family; we had previously planned on a hotel in Osh. We agreed, and I think Maggie will agree that it was a wonderful decision, but more on that later. Somewhere about the 534th choking cough, we stopped for a sip of kymys, a national drink of fermented horse milk. I was unable to rouse myself from my little seat, but Maggie went out for a taste and came back a kymys convert (as everyone does!...ahem, not quite, Maggie says) . Forget the eggnog this Christmas! Since Kanat doesn't have shower/bathing facilities at his house, he reccomended that we stop at a Banya (Bath house) in the forest a few hours before Osh. Afterward, he said, the road to Osh is good so we won't have to worry about getting dirty again. Kanat must be a practiced liar, but that road was just as bad, if not worse and we were soon dirty again. The bath, however, felt nice as it was from a natural hot springs and included pool, sauna, and shower. I opted only for the shower, which was plenty nice for me, but Maggie took advantage of the sauna as well. We also had a little bite to eat at the bath house as well with an entourage of folks that the other van in the group had been picking up along the way: 2 truck drivers caught without proper paperwork, random teenagers making their way to the big city etc. All wanting to know about how much bread costs in the US, what the monthly salary is, all the important questions...we finished our meal and trudged the final few hours to Osh.

Kanat's house was quite nice, though we didn't really get much of a tour as all of us were ready to just fall into bed, as the entire trip from Kashgar to Osh was probably a 16 hour nightmare (and that is considered a quick journey; many people do not make it in one day!) . A quick hello to his wife and mother and we called it a night around 1am. We couldn't get out of bed until someting like 9am, and even then we were dragging butts. During our stay at Kanat's, we would also be getting breakfast and dinner. How nice that first breakfast was of warm bread, sweet pomegranate jam and all the coffee you could handle. We finally rolled into town with the goals of checking out the bazaar, finding some internet, and climbing Soloman's Thone, a large hill smack in the middle of town. Well, two out of three ain't bad. We cruised around the bazaar for a little bit, oohing and ahhing at the sausage, cheese, and other goodies that are uniformly unavailable in China. After a snack of dried apricots and walk through the park, we found ourselves an internet cafe whose seats would have molded to our butts had we stayed a bit longer. "We'll do Soloman's Throne tomorrow," we said. Yeah right. That night at the house, I got drummed by Kanat's father in chess. Without going into details, it was embarrasing. I was on the defense from the beginning and his father had everything planned out; he knew my moves before I did. The next night I would redeem myself with a faux victory, though (and I am hesitant to admit this) he removed his queen and one rook from the board before we even began playing. Even then, I think he just wanted to humor me. Dinner at Kanat's was fit for kings and kings we were. Plov (Kyrgyz rice pilaf with lamb), mante, breads...if you can cook it, we probably ate it. All the time, Kanat's mother, "Eat! Eat!" How could we say no? Maggie asked about vodka, and vodka appeared. No one in the family, save for Kanat's mother drank and drink she did. Luckily, vodka only appeared at dinner time. Once, when I was first in Kyrgyzstan, I had to weather two shots of vodka before breakfast before having to wave a third one off. The next day was day off for Kanat so Maggie and I accompanied him to the "Car Bazaar" where is father was trying to sell their Audi. It was a strange place, just a huge area filled with cars. From cheapy little Russian Ladas that probably cost $100 to legitamite BMWs and Mercedes Benz costing god only knows what. After hanging out there a bit we made our way back to the regular bazaar for a little gift buying; a quick stop at the bank; a Soloman's Throne pointing and eventual dismissal of a hike and we were back at the house for tea. After another wonderful dinner, we all loaded up in the yet unsold Audi and tackled Soloman's Thone the way it is meant to be done, by automobile. The hill afforded a wonderful view of nighttime Osh.

The following day, we set off towards the town of Arslanbob, in the mountains a few hours north of the city. Luckily, Kanat's father did a portion of this run in his Audi and took us a bit of the way and helped us locate transport for the next leg. A few taxi hops and we quickly found ourselves in the town of Arslanbob. I visited here in 2004 and as expected, things hadn't changed much. Arslanbob is a little, mainly Uzbek, town of dirt paths and old, mud brick homes. It is home to a Community Based Tourism (CBT) office. The CBT, as you might have figured out is an organization that specializes in local homestays and tourism events that supports individual, local families. Upon arrival, you select a homestay and are taken there to live with the family during your stay in Arslanbob. We stayed at the same place where I stayed in 2004; its a nice place, friendly and warm. From the town center, its only a little jump into the walnut forests that surround the town. Our first day there we cruised around the forest and watched people getting ready for the walnut harvest. Looks like family members move out into the forests for days at a time and collect walnuts until, well, there just aren't anymore to collect. Arslanbob is a wonderfully quiet place; in stark contrast to China, where a similar town would have tour groups with megaphones, people dressing up in "traditional" Uzbek garb, and basically a Disney atmosphere to the whole place. It was nice to just walk into the forests and find a nice rock to sit on for a while. The next day, we opted for a bit more: horseback riding! The horses here were a bit larger than the ones we rode in China and our butts seemed to fit nicely on their backs. It was a pretty long day of riding/walking, though it was broken up with a nice picnic lunch in the mountains. Our first stop was the "small waterfall," which is actually a single river that gets split into two waterfalls right at its top. Via a panaromic view of the valley and some shortcuts through town, we dismounted in a shaded grove surrounded by mountain streams near the base of the "big waterfall." Here we met up with the cook, who had been preparing a meal of breads, teas, & kebabs. We would need to get a bit of rest because the hike up to Big Waterfall is short, but grueling. Anyway, we slept a little bit, ate our fill of kebabs, and slept a bit before making for the waterfall, 30 mins uphill. About halfway up; whezzing and coughing, we came across a group of little old ladies who had made the climb, thus shaming us into a quick ascent to the top. The Big Waterfall is (I think) considered holy and the old fence is covered with prayer cloths and whatnot. Its big (hence its name) and luckily had a nice place to rest at the top where we could catch our breaths. At the top, we met an American family which included a former Kyrgyzstan Peace Corps volunteer who we shook down for some extra traveling info. After the descent from the falls and a hour ride back into town, we finally left the horses behind and walked around like old Russian babushkas for a bit before getting our land legs back and cruising through "downtown" for some juice. That night, we had some tasty treats for dinner called galupsi, basically a large red pepper stuffed with mutton, rice, and onions. We'll see if we can't search some more of those out in the coming weeks! The next day, sans horses, we took to the town ourselves, retracing partial routes from the day before, but also getting lost in the hills beyond town. We picked our way through an old Soviet turbanza, basically a Soviet fun park that now has the run down, sad feel of an abandoned amusement park. We packed our own little picnic of dried fruit and sausage and found a nice tree by the river to sit under for a while. That night, with a few more galuspis under our belts we packed for our immenient departure from Arslanbob; and now, on this fine cool evening find ourselves back in Jala-bad and awaiting transport to places north.

posted by Life in Cambodia @ 12:33 PM