Bishkek to Jalahabad (April 26-May 9)
923 kms 13 days cycling
Elevation gain: 6365m
Odometer: 2202kms
|
My route through Kyrgyzstan - click on the map to enlarge |
I was very fortunate to see a musical festival the day before I left Bishkek.
I have some videos of the musical performances which I'll load later on YouTube.
|
Solo baladeers and the orchestra. |
|
Gymnastic drummers - Korean descendants of WW2 captives, another Stalinist legacy. |
|
Laughing teenage Kyrgyz girls before their performance |
|
Women playing the komuz, a 3-stringed lute and the men behind playing upright fiddles and flutes. |
|
A hunting eagle at the festival. Very sad to see this wild raptor in hooded captivity. Now a tourist spectacle. |
|
Hunting eagle and his handler. You can also see a falcon in the background. |
|
My hotel room in Kochkor - 150 som ($3) for a room with wall-on-wall carpet, heaps of room for a solo cyclist to scatter his luggage and 4 beds to choose from. No hot water but a piping hot banya (or Russian-style bathhouse and steam sauna) around the corner. |
|
Swan and ducks on Issyk Kol, the 2nd largest alpine lake in the world. (Lake Titicaca is the largest). |
|
Water pumps in villages - great for thirsty cyclists, but a real chore for the villagers hauling heavy water pails to the pumps. |
Kochkor - at the Saturday animal bazaar
|
Behind a rock and a hard camp |
|
Nomad children on horseback |
|
Multi-coloured hills at the entrance of Kokomeren Canyon, with a Muslim cemetery in the foreground. |
|
A Swiss couple I met in the canyon travelling from Europe in a van. |
|
Riding through Kokomeren canyon - a raging torrent, and a long climb on a stony road. |
|
Old Kyrgyz shepherd on his way home from the pastures. He's wearing the traditional Kyrgyz fur cap, called a tebbetey. |
|
Shaldyk (felt carpets) hanging out to dry |
|
Two men in the village of Kojumkil |
|
Girls on way home from school |
|
Horsecarts are common in the remoter valleys |
|
Some delightful camping in the green rolling hills of Kyrgyzstan. |
A yurt camp in the
jailoo - the Ulubek family from Talas come up to the high summer pastures every May to set up their yurts for the summer. The animals follow in a long muster from the lowlands.
|
Papa Ulukbek |
|
The circular opening in the ceiling |
|
Mama was in control, giving orders to her 5 sons. |
|
Straw mats make up the inner wall |
|
Heavy waterproof felt is the outer layer |
|
Pete and the Ulukbek family- 2 houses built in a day! |
|
Kumys - fermented mare's milk. Offered to me by the family. Took a few mouthfuls to get used to the taste.
Mildly alcoholic, unlike the 3 shots of vodka, which came later. I staggered out of the yurt camp and fought against the headwinds to the 3200m Ala Bel pass. |
.
|
My campsite at 3090, just below the pass. Spot the well-camoflagued tent in the foreground |
|
Scenery on the descent into the steep valley |
|
Lower Naryn gorge - most of this valley is now impounded by a series of hydro-electric dams, built by the Soviets. |
|
Bluff campsite, Naryn gorge. I found this magical camp below a forested bluff. Spot the man on a donkey who mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. |
|
Shepherds heading their goat flock up to the summer pastures from the low valleys |
|
At the chaykhana (tea house) in the Fergana valley. A Central Asian tradition - all-male eating areas by a stream or under shady trees. Sitting on raised platforms, and with shoes off the men play cards or chat by a low table. |
No comments:
Post a Comment