Krygyzstan Part 3.1 - Krygyz Ata

15/07/18 - Take 3

Tired out and a bit demoralised I was feeling decidedly unsure of my decision to fly south when I boarded the plane at 7am, back in Bishkek. It didn't take long before things started to look up however. 

My most pleasant experience in Kyrgyzstan so far: after getting on a bus from the airport and going way beyond where I needed to, I got a friendly cab a quite considerable distance back to the right bus station for Nookat. The basic eatery at the station looked promising and I was after a good feed before heading into the hills. With a lot of pointing and copying what others were eating I got myself a pot of chai, a bowl of potato and meat broth with a big meat stuffed pepper and half a wheel of bread. Delicious! Best meal I've had here.

Waiting for the bus to fill, I sat on the end of the bench with all the guys. Every now and then someone would say hello with a round of hand shaking down the line. I was included as one of the bench guys, without hesitance, every-time - even when I was looking the other way!

From Nookat, I was straight onto another bus for Djany-Nookat, and there I found myself in the midst of a big Sunday carnival; the street lined with colourful stalls, screams of kids and adults from fairground rides hidden in the trees and lovely aromas coming from the various tents and shacks that spread into the surrounding woods.

A nice thing about Kyrgyzstan is that you don't feel like a spectacle. Sure, you get a few curious glances but there's no hassle and it's an easy place to mingle.

Down in the village show ground I got sucked into a circus show, with a few magic tricks and some impressive bouncing along an elastic high line (somewhere between a tight rope and a slack line). Returning with a drunk and an ice cream the show really got intriguing when the guy came out parading his baby boy, trophy like on an outstretched hand. The toddler then proceeded to do a few tricks (turning around on the spot was a popular one) and got tossed around a bit by (presumably?) his dad. He seemed to enjoy it. As I was trying to get myself away, they then proceeded to pull a big lizard out of a bag. That one didn't do so many tricks though so when they resumed more conventional displays I finally got on my way and headed out the village along a track and into a deep gorge (which I hoped was going to open up somewhat further down the line!).

That's a toddler doing the splits

I'd barely been walking for half an hour when I got scooped up into an old lada and befriended by two young guys heading home, up the valley. It was an impressive car! 3 times we had to stop and refill the radiator with cold water from the river, and I was amused to see the petrol tank was a plastic bottle in the boot!

And the day got better and better. Arriving at our "destination" I was transported over the river in a bucket and with some home made fishing rods we attempted to catch some dinner. The fish weren't hungry but we had a lovely dip in the cool river and gorged on delicious, perfectly ripe, small orange plums. After that, it was up to a hillside shack for a platter of bread dipped in thick fresh cream, kafir and washed down with tea. It was a real treat!

My new pals

Typical Krygyzs hospitality

The day was sealed with a ride back down the hill on the donkey. Rysbek and his pal had to head back to town so after an unexpected afternoon of entertainment and goodwill, I found myself continuing my hike, extremely content.

Enjoying the cooler evening, I hiked until 8. I'd just picked my camping spot, a nice flat grassy area next to the track, when a 4x4 passed with some cheery waves before coming to a sharp stop and shouting me over. 3 guys jumped out all smiles and friendly chat and practically thrust a wheel of bread and some apples in my hands. Just so they could ask for some painkillers for a headache it seems. So at the end of the day I've found mself with a big bag of plums, some apples and another wheel of bread. I'm trying to lighten load!

The days spoils

17/07/18
After all the fun of the day before, yesterday was a disaster. Camped right next to river, the volume and worse, the grinding of stones being pushed downstream - the vibrations reverberating through the ground - made it hard to sleep. And then I was ill again. My fragile gut was liquidated, and I was up through the night to relieve the explosive bursts of watery unpleasantness.

I was wiped out in the morning, but hoping it was nothing too serious I gamely packed up (ready to fly later) and slowly continued along the road. The breaks got longer as I persevered for short stints between shady trees. I was just psyching myself up for another stretch after a prolonged break, when one of the small trucks pulled up and the cheery driver greeted me and assertively told me to jump in the back. With every decision requiring a 15 min nap beforehand, I didn't hesitate to do as I was told, and took the ride up to where the valley splits, the main track turning west, with myself heading east. I didn't get any further and spent most of the day curled up, exhausted, under the shade of a tree, only moving to rotate around the tree following the shade. I eventually summoned the energy to pitch my camp where I'd been dozing next to the river again (thankfully now a slightly  smaller torrent of water).

I seemed to be getting worse if anything and fearing I had salmonella or something similar, I really thought I may have to beat a retreat to Osh and piece myself back together. By the morning however, the frequency of my outpourings had thankfully reduced and although I was still depositing a foul green, bile like substance from my rear, I was feeling noticeably better. Two sweet children roused me from my tent, come with bowls of cream and kafir for me. I had to politely decline, trying to explain the state of my bowels with sign language. Later, another child turned up with half a water melon and shortly after that a guy offered me his bag of... A honey coloured, slightly sweet, moist grainy thing (the smell is familiar but I can't place it) and invited me to come and eat with them. Again I had to decline and tried to explain why. I'm camped just off a side track from the main road, inbetween a couple of shacks.  Every now and then someone passes by on a horse or herding cattle, although all the activity seems to be in the morning. I get mixed responses from the Kyrgyzs: quite a few are indifferent, some are openly curious - almost shocked - and tend to just stare, and others are incredibly friendly, welcoming and generous.

Camp 2

I'm resting up today then and planning on flying tomorrow. Just over the pass to the east is a place called Kalday which has a long valley running to the east. By the looks of of there is a track heading in at either end of the valley so should give me options to hitch a ride out if not flyable (which seems fairly likely given what I've seen on the way in).

I went for a wee reconnaissance hike in the late afternoon climbing up the slope behind me to get a better view of where I was hoping to fly tomorrow. Proved to be quite revealing and well worth it! After a short climb I came out on a nice grassy plateau with quite a few shacks around and planted fields. With a bit of height I could see that this was a common feature of the land and the hills were quite well populated higher up on the plateaus. I also seem to have found all the trees in Kyrgyzstan! The mountain I had been thinking of flying off doesn't look so promising after all, with no obvious launches higher up and a high sided valley to escape from. I'd had high hopes of flying out of that valley from the main 3800m peak but it just looked like too much of a gamble for a lot of hard work. There is a much more appealing and rounded mountain to the north which should allow a glide down to kalday at the very least and hopefully will connect me with the nice south facing ridge on the other side.

Up the valley. Not so good after all. 

Looping back round I came back past the home of the guy I'd met earlier and he duly invited me in for chai and food. I couldn't face the butter but the small bowl of meat broth with a bit of pasta was ideal.

We managed a sort of conversation with various gestures and shared photos. He was very intrigued by my pictures and it's a shame I don't have many on my phone. Must save some family photos!

All earth and stone homes here... where are the yurts?!