TAJIKISTAN - Pamir Plateau

Kyzyl Art pass to Murghab
May 19-22
Distance:196kms
Elevation gain: 1150m
Sealed:  151kms   Gravel: 45kms
Odometer: 2633m

At last, the Pamirs! A dramatic entry into Tajikistan and the Pamirs in a snowstorm, headwinds across the desert high plateau, the azure waters of Karakul lake and the highest pass on the route.

My route through the Pamirs. The dotted line is my proposed route in the Western Pamirs from Khorog to Karakul via the Bartang valley. (Click on map to enlarge)

Over the Kyzyl Art pass (Kyrgyz/Tajik border) in a snowstorm. 20km below the pass I was desperate for a campsite but all very exposed to the howling wind and little water about a parched landscape. Late in the day found a grassy bank for the tent and some dirty water from a pond.

My campsite in the morning after snow had blanketed the Pamir plateau overnight.

Footprints and tyre tracks leading from my camp back to the Pamir Highway.

Back on the M41, the Pamir Highway

Karakul lake, at 3900m with the Pamir Alay range in the background

A scene reminiscent of the Tibetan plateau - yaks, alpine grasslands, salty lake and snow-capped mountains.

I stayed at the small village Karakul, by the lake. The bush teresken is drying on the roof. Used as fuel, much of this vegetation has been exploited heavily and is now in short supply. Animal dung is also used, especially in the remoter areas.

A donkey leading the flock home.

Homestays are dotted all around the Pamirs. This is my room in a Karakul home - $10 a night with 3 meals.
Very cosy and warm - with wall-on-wall carpet.

Climbing up to Ak Baital pass at 4655m, the highest pass on the Pamir Highway

At Ak Baital pass 4655m, with the bandito mask to block the cold wind and stinging dust.

Just below the pass I met Sebastian, a German cyclist heading east. As it was late in the day we decided to camp in the same spot and share stories and information about the roads ahead.

Our campsite below Ak Baital pass

KYRGYZSTAN - Osh to Sary Tash

Osh to Kyzyl Art pass
May 15-19
Distance: 236kms
Elevation gain: 4560m
Sealed:  176kms    Dirt: 60kms
Odometer : 2440kms

The route from Osh to Sary Tash is the dotted line (click to enlarge)

Images from Osh Bazaar

Vegetable stall-holders

A goat's head - the bizarre in the bazaar

A flower and herb seed seller. Many Kyrgyz over 30 have mouths of gold.

Stone Dead - the tombstone art of Krgyzstan

The stonemason at work etching a portrait



His collection in the workshop



A tombstone of wood and stone, complete with horsehair, a nomadic tradition. Sary Tash cemetery


Osh to Sary Tash - images from the road

Family near Gulcha. I camped near their home. The father was very proud of his binoculars and fetched them just for the portrait.

Transport by donkey is common along the Osh-Sary Tash road.

Milking the mare for kumys (fermented mares' milk)

Yurts and green rolling hills

The road leading to the final pass before Sary Tash

The steep and sandy road leading up to Taldyk pass 3610m

A heavy and tired bike at rest

A smiling face in Sary Tash

Family in Sary Tash

Riding out of Sary Tash on a cold wet morning. I had no choice as my visa expired on this day (May 19).

Just below Kyzyl Art pass (4290m), the road had turned into a boggy morass.

OSH - Kyrgyzstan's Dark Side

Ethnic violence of June 2010 - Kyrgyzstan's dark side

June 12 will mark the anniversary of the violent ethnic riots which erupted in and around Osh.
Over 400 people were killed, and up to 400,000 Uzbeks fled the cities of Osh and Jalahabad for sanctuary in Uzbekistan. Some are still languishing at the border refugee camps.

Why did this happen? It was an ugly 'ethnic-cleansing' episode in a violent history, reminiscent of The Balkans or Rwanda. A combination of ancient animosities, geo-political ethnic borders crudely drawn up by Stalin,  and desperation by an unpopular leader and his security forces and supporters in Osh. Uzbeks told me many Kyrgyz were jealous of their mercantile success in the Kyrgyz 'homeland', a fact shown clearly by the scorched iron and wood on the Uzbek businesses.

The Uzbeks made up 40% of the population in Osh, and historically were the sedentary pastoralists, tilling the soil and operating as merchants. The Kyrgyz, on the other hand,  have been essentially nomadic farmers herding their animals across Central Asia. This is the classic Cain v. Abel allegorical tale in a modern setting and although simplistic, may partly explain the deep ethnic divisions here.

Here are some photos I took as I left Osh. The entire Uzbek neighbourhood on the eastern outskirts of Osh was completely destroyed - incinerated by Molotov cocktails and torches, smashed with sledgehammers and looted by the rampaging mob.

The burnt-out shell of an Uzbek shop

Inside a courtyard of a razed Uzbek home, the family's van remains, waiting for its owners to return.

Entire neighbours were smashed, looted and then set ablaze by roaming hate-filled Kyrgyz men.

Russian contract workers rebuilding an Uzbek shopping centre

An uneasy calm exists in Osh Bazaar, with police and army on patrols. The security forces have been implicated in the violence, and the UN hold them responsible for instigating it. 

UNHCR are constructing transitional shelters to encourage the displaced Uzbek refugees to return to their homes. Most of the Uzbek neighbourhood in the eastern area of Osh remains eerily silent and empty.

Go to this link below to see the destruction and human suffering of this violent period.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/ethnic_attacks_in_kyrgyzstan.html

KYRGYZSTAN - Bishkek to Jalahabad (incomplete)

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.

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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.