Life in Cambodia

On the way out of Kyrgyzstan

Once we finally got our Uzbek visa we made a break for it and headed south. We had a few other Kyrgyzstan places we wanted to visit, but snow was coming and it was getting too cold. Kyrgyzstan is a paradise of outdoorsy activity but once the winter comes - its game over. We took the hint and headed back to Osh in order to cross over into Uzbekistan. In theory, you can get there directly from Bishkek, but Central Asian borders are a bit un-user friendly and the road detours through Kazakhstan (thus requiring an additional visa) so we opted for the route less taken. We paired up with a couple of Germans and headed south. We had a few days to kill before our Uzbek visas kicked in so instead of just bumming around Osh for 3 days we found a ride to Ak-Terek, a small village in the hills that was reputed to have homestays. We had to pay far more than we would have liked for the pleasure of a beaten up, old school Lada taxi, but eventually we got dropped off in some random village. Just as we were staring at our Lonely Planet, we were approached by a local English teacher who pointed us in the right direction; the village head who was in charge of homestays, etc. We ended up staying at this guys house, but as soon as we dropped our bags we headed out for a short little hike around town/the valley. The hills are pretty steep on each side so we didn't stray too much from the road and the corresponding river that wound its way through the valley. There wasn't much out there in terms of people/traffic, etc other than a few little homes, some guys on horses and some goats; and the views were amazing. It was nice to be in a place so unused to tourists--the village head said that he got 50 tourists in a year, which needless to say, isn't much. We walked for hours along the road before turning to loop back along the river, which we hoped to follow all the way back to our homestay. We got a few hundred meters before a Kyrgyz man began yelling at us from the bluff above, motioning that we shouldn't go any further but should come up onto the road, so we complied. We were walking through his yard when he ran over and shuffled us into his house; it was like we didn't even have a choice - we were going in there for what started out as tea and turned into quite a bit more. Here was our first meeting of Askar and Sonya. They didn't speak a word of English, but we were all able to communicate through broken Russian and plenty of miming. Askar is a teacher of American History (?!) at the local school in town, and for living out in the boonies, knew his stuff and knew it well. In addition to the tea, we also got another taste of kymys, which if you remember, is fermented horse milk. How do they think of such things, I do not know. We didn't have time to ponder things though as we had a pretty big bottle to work our way through. On top of that, Sonya provided a big bowl of plov, a local rice dish (which is quite tasty I might add). EAT! EAT! We also learned how to break walnuts with bare hands - no small feat. We ate/drank/mimed for hours before we finally had to head home before the sun went down. They asked us to stay the night with them, but we were already set up, but promised to return the next day and spend the night. Once we returned home, there wasn't too much going on. We sat outside a bit and with the use of a yogurt ball and bottle cap, explained to one of the guys hanging around the house (checking out what the foreigners were up too) the phenomenon of how it can be 6am in Bishkek and at the very same time 3pm somewhere else. "Ne Pravda" - not true he said, though he eventually came around to the idea (or he said he did just to get rid of us) . We ate, we slept, we woke up and went for a quick hike around our neighborhood before heading over to Askar & Sonya's, about a 30min walk away. So as to keep us entertained, we were given a huge cane fishing pole and told to catch some dinner down in the river. Askar dug up some worms and we were off. The river is cold and fast and the cane pole long and if I squinted my eyes just right, I could imagine that we were fly fishing in northern Vermont (or something like that)... We were all excited, getting ready for all the fish we were going to catch and all that. And then we waited...and talked about how fishing takes patience and then waited...discussed if fish could live in such cold water (because of course if they aren't biting means they must all be dead) and waited. Askar came down to laugh at us, but he didn't do any better. We got the hook stuck in some rocks though and Askar dove in, a feat that I would repeat about 30 mins later. Needless to say, the water was cold and it sapped my desire to catch fish and we all headed in. Askar declared that we would, in fact, have fish to eat and broke open a can of sardines to snack on. And then we drank a bit more kymys to wash it down, and then we had a bit more kymys to wash down the first bit. Dinner came early and we were force-fed until we couldn't possibly eat anymore. After dinner, we were presented with some gifts, a kalpak (traditional hat) for me and a scarf and handmade pillow cases for Maggie. From there, we were split up with Askar and I going to visit his father and Maggie and Sonya off in the other direction to visit neighbors and other family members. At his father's place we drank more tea and ate more manty until I physically couldn't have eaten any more. We sat there for hours waiting on Maggie and Sonya to arrive, but they were waiting for us at other houses. The long and short of it is that we both got put through the feeding wringer in different locations (though Maggie got it worse than I did--3 dinners in one night!) . Maggie here, yes, Sonya and I, as usual, were waiting on the men per the designated plan, that they, uh, I guess just decided to forget. Sonya and I, after waiting at the house, went to a neighbors place where we chatted, drank more tea and I was forced to eat more plov and bread. Then we decided to head over to the brother's house to find the men. This was also a bit risky, as we had no flashlights (they were locked in the house, of which Askar had the key) and well, wild or semi-wild or just crazy dogs were roaming the streets. Sonya motioned as we got onto the road that we should take a big stick to fend off the dogs, if needed. We found suitably big and pointy sticks and headed out, calling the name of Askar's brother all the way, until he heard us and came out to scare off the dogs. We got into the brother's house and of course the men weren't there, but Askar's sister-in-law was sure preparing the manty, which I was to later find out, would be my 3rd dinner of the night. Anyway, after waiting for awhile, I asked where the men were and we were lead outside and next-door to pop's house where we found Matt and Askar lounging lazily amidst candy, tea and bread...waiting on the manty. ANYWAY, we ate our required portions of manty, dutifully thanked the family members, who of course pressed more candy in my hand for the road. We headed back home and had some tea and hot water (nursed our aching bellies), while Askar prepared his lesson for the next day, Sonya prepared soup for breakfast and Askar insisted we watch the Fashion Channel on his satellite TV (this was strange, but the only English language channel they had, so Askar was convinced we would love it...). We now know all about Paris fashion week 2007. As to be expected, we rolled into bed and woke to the chickens squawking and Sonya's soup simmering. We made a quick visit to Askar's school, met the teachers, took pictures and wished them well. It was the best way we could have closed out our Kyrgyzstan visit: so hospitable, warm despite the cold weather outside and we met friends we know we can consider family--we always have a home away from home in Kyrgyzstan.

The next morning, Sonya took off early and Maggie and I went out for a quick visit to Askar's school. We were afraid that we might get recruited into a bit of song and dance for the kids, but other than showing us his office and meeting some other teachers, we got off the hook in terms of classtime. Askar had to get to his kids and Maggie and I had to return to Ak-Terek to catch our ride and we were sorry to have to say goodbye, though we left with the promise that we would return someday when the weather was warmer and we'd go up into the hills to hunt/camp/fish.

After the last night in Osh, we caught an early ride the next morning into Uzbekistan. The Uzbek border is only some 10km away from Osh and other than some guy in line making a scene "America Bad! America Bad!" it was an uneventful crossing. A bit bureaucratic, but what borders aren't these days (especially for the Evil Americans!)? From there it was a straight shot into Tashkent, though we did have to navigate about 50 roadblocks (though we only have to cough up our passports once). Tashkent is a much bigger city than Bishkek (the biggest in Central Asia) but truthfully that's not saying much and Maggie and I walked just about all of it in a day.

posted by Life in Cambodia @ 6:36 PM