From Kashgar to Bishkek

Well, I hope you enjoyed my trying to catch up with my pictures even if you didn't see much prose. I am now in Bishkek since 12 days (!) as I have to wait for a recommendation letter from RBRU because otherwise I only can get a 5 day transit visa through Russia which I don't like as it would force me to drive relatively fast which under the present wintry conditions I under no circumstances want. While RBRU acted like a lightning, the Russian Foreign Ministry does less so and needs 15 business days for this procedure which in the end will make me stay here for almost a month including the time it takes the local consulate to issue a visa. The whole procedure is somewhat illogical as the Russians demand from me a 3 months Kyrgize visa in my passport even though Austrians don't need a visa for Kyrgiztan for 60 days and even that could easily be extended… To get the Kyrgize visa I had to make a trip to the, fortunately close, border go across and get back to be able to get a 1 month business visa which now is in the process to be extended for another 2 months by the local foreign ministry. And I also had to get another Kazach visa which was at least without difficulty. Needless to say that all this causes totally uncalled for additional expenses…

All that would be a nightmare for some poor person with a job… but I'm filthily rich with time (eat your hearts out!) and so I am enjoying myself with reading, writing and putting pictures in the blog, although even that hasn't been possible the last 2 days and I have not been able to figure out what the reason could be…

Now back to where I left off after the last blog…

To literally make a long story (relatively) short: I had to spend 9 days in the vicinity of Kashgar. It was, thanks to the hotel of our kind customer and Jeff its financial manager, a very comfortable stay although several days I didn't leave the hotel as the town was totally covered with dust from the neighboring desert. It was like fog and indeed many flights had to be cancelled during this period.

On the Thursday after my arrival we made an attempt to cross the border but one of 11 documents wasn't complete… So they had to send somebody to Urumqi by plane. The person had to go through 16 departments to get all necessary stamps/permits and finally on Thursday, Nov 8th we left for the border station again. The procedure there took a little more than an hour and the documents and my car were inspected at least 3 times before I got the signal to go and bode my farewells.

About 10km into my trip to the 'real' border which is about a further 80 kms away at 3700 m I get a call and have to return. The border officials forced Jeff and his driver to accompany me all the way to the top…
Thank God the weather was brilliant and so we drove rather swiftly although the road got progressively worse. Several further checkpoints had to be crossed before we arrived at the top at 3700m and after a short wait I could say my really final farewell and thanks to my host who must have been extremely happy to finally being rid of me…
As soon as I passed the gate the road became a gravel road and a rather bad one until I reached the next gate about 10kms further which was the Kyrgize border post. Only one truck was waiting. But it was shortly after 1300 and they were out to lunch till officially 1400, in reality 1415. But then things began moving fast: a friendly border post waved me ahead of the truck and to the customs house. Another took a cursory look at the car and asked me to come in, presented me with a customs form which he guided me through while I tried to fill it out (it was only in Russian), asked me to fill it out in a second copy, stamped it and wished me a good trip. The whole procedure had taken less than 30 min! What a contrast!

The road then became marginally better but the weather and scenery were spectacular and traffic almost non-existent. About 90 kms from the border is one of the main historic sights of Kyrgiztan, the Tash Rabat. It is about 15km off the main road on again a quite bad road. But it definitely was worth the detour if only for the dramatic mountain landscape in the late afternoon sunlight. Tash Rabat is 15th century caravanserai at about 3500 m altitude tucked away in a valley below a high mountain pass. It was closed, but most of it could be seen from outside including the inside of a dome which probably was the seat of the local ruler. There are indications that the (stone) building even dates back to the 10th century and might have even been a Christian place of worship.

Here a link: http://www.kyrgyzstan.orexca.com/tash_rabat_kyrgyzstan.shtml

My destination for the evening was Naryn, the first larger settlement about 220 km from the border. Although most of the road was new and good, the last 50 kms over another pass were really dreadful and slowed me down so I only reached it after dark. And dark it was there as hardly any street lights were on, a phenomenon I experienced later in Bishkek too. The reason is quite simple: lack of electric power. This and the weak infrastructure are a chief impediment for the (industrial) development of this beautiful country. But what is much more remarkable is that it managed to achieve a really functioning democracy since the last turmoil in 2010. And this is quite some achievement if you look at all her neighbors…

Naryn is nothing to write home about but I managed to get a local sim cards for my phone and one for the internet. The girl there spoke remarkably good English. But what surprised me too was that traffic was relatively strong and was dominated by Audi 100s and E-Class Mercedes of late 80s vintage. There seems to be a roaring trade between mainly Germany and Kyrgiztan for these type of cars as many were obviously from there as also many buses and trucks. The original owners names and logos were still there. This picture continued in Bishkek, however, there about 25% of the cars are right hand driven Japanese models which are imported via Russia from there and are considerably cheaper than their left hand drive equivalents. Most Kyrgize are apparently smart enough to shy away from buying new cars… ;-)

The next morning I drove around the city and did a little shopping at the otherwise not very interesting bazaar and set off towards Lake Issyk Kol. The road was 'mixed' but I made quite good time. When I got closer to the lake a toll station asked me for 10 USD to be able to continue to the lake. It is the second-largest Alpine freshwater lake in the world (after Lake Titicaca), 170 kms long and 70 kms wide, although 'freshwater' may not be the right word as it is slightly salty, the reason being that it has no escape. Its name means 'Warm Lake', well, everything is relative, but true, it doesn't freeze over, but that also might be due to its salinity… It is impressive with its high mountains around both shores.

Less impressive was the first town I drove through, Balykchy, which is basically a Soviet time time-warp. The only thing remarkable were the typical ornate Russian window frames which were a drastic contrast to what I had seen during the past 3 months. I definitely have left China behind me now… I drove a few kms along the lake but as it was late afternoon and early November I definitely picked the wrong time of the year to visit this interesting place.

So I turned around and went towards Bishkek. The road became progressively better, but again I had underestimated the distance. I decided to stay in a town about 20 kms before Bishkek named Kant. Although a few of the Volga-Germans transferred by Stalin here during the war are reportedly still living there the name has nothing to do with the philosopher but means sugar cube in Kzrgize and yes, a sugar factory was established during Soviet times. Well, it had gotten dark and traffic was flowing and I didn't see any sign for Kant but soon I noticed that traffic got less and I read a sign of a village that didn't sound 'right'. I turned round and after about 3 kms I saw a giant sign 'Bishkek'! I had passed through Bishkek without noticing! In fairness: the main road/street passed rather far north of the city center… I drove a little around town to get a feel for the (rather very badly lit) city and stopped for the night in front of a well lit bank.

The next morning I contacted the niece of friends of mine who I had met on my first trip to Bishkek about 10 years ago and who owns a hotel in the center. Her receptionist was able to point out a place where I could fill my propane bottles which was high time (temperatures from now on will be almost permanently well below freezing). Yet, what proved to be totally impossible in China, took half an hour to achieve and I'm now comfortable in the knowledge that refilling from now on will be no problem due to the fact that Russia apparently has the same standard flanges like Germany and Austria… After that I found a tire dealer who was able to get me a set of snow tires (apparently the only one in town) which I urgently needed as was proven 3 days later, when it started snowing… Funnily they are Chinese although I was unable to get them in Kashi… So far their quality seems to be ok after first test drives in snow. (my summer tires that I left here still had profile for another 10000 km after 57000 partially brutal kms with no flat…)

I also found the ideal place for me to stay (internet, of course), a guesthouse about 4 kms out of the center, quiet, with parking in front of it, a nice room with bath overlooking gardens and a lovely Russian couple running it. Ideal because whenever I need something from the car it takes me a minute. The breakfast is amazing and changing daily. There I also met a Croatian Journalist who was giving a seminar to local journalist, a very interesting character who I hope to see again... The only downside is the streets for about 1 km once you leave the main avenue. It is full of deep and big potholes, impossible to avoid and a torture for car and driver.

The rest of the weekend I spent looking around town and the main markets/bazaars one of which is simply huge in its size and sells everything from car parts and tires to textiles and household goods. It consists totally of large containers that are stacked next to and on top of each other and walking from one end to the other takes the better part of half an hour.

The money changers, however, are to be handled with care. Many are crooks and I had already 4 occasions where they tried, however unsuccessfully (always with the same trick), to cheat me. It works like this: you give them, say, a 100 USD bill and they give you currently 4720 SOM, or better, they are supposed to. So they pay in 200 SOM bills and the guy asks me to give him 80 SOM so he'd give me 24 200 SOM bills and he counts in front of me. Well, banker as I am, I recount. Alas, there are only 23 bills. So he adds a 200 SOM bill and counts again in front of me, putting the bills in a right angle on his side of the counter, but in such a way that they are sticking out slightly over the counter on his side. Then he hands the pack to me thinking that that will be it. However, I recount and now there are only 18 200 SOM bills! So what had happened? He counted in such a way that when he placed the bills with the right hand on the counter he took with his left hand with a lightning movement at the moment when he placed the last note a few bills from the bottom and dropped them on the shelf below the counter. When confronted all he did (and all the others) was, to give me back my 100 USD bill and smiled. So I went to the next one who was honest but 3 others tried exactly the same trick the next day…

Cheating foreigners is a bit of a sport, I get the impression. One of the next days I wanted to buy 5 bananas and about a kg of tangerines and the guy had the nerve of asking the counter value of USD 10 for that and when I gave them back he offered to sell for a 'mere' 7 USD. When I stopped at the next supermarket I paid 3 USD…

Yes, and in the museums foreigners are supposed to pay 3 times what locals pay…

But apart from these cases it is a pleasure to be here. People are friendly and help whenever you need, the food is very different from China and definitely more 'European' despite being Central Asia. You see all kinds of different faces, Kyrgize, Chinese, European, Uyghurs, Uzbek etc.. Parking is not yet a problem even with my 7.5 m 'Datcha'. Prices generally are low as salaries are very modest and generally the country is rather poor still.

I even have some kind of social life thanks to my Kyrgize friend's relatives which invited me already for lunch, an excursion to the local History Museum which from the outside is a quite attractive 1970s building. The inside, however is full of scenes of the revolution in socialist realism over life-size 'dioramas'. A visit to the opera for a performance of the Troubadur was very enjoyable and of surprising quality with mostly Russian singers. Quite some time is spent with getting my various kind of visas…

This is it for today and obviously this is now a somewhat quiet time which I enjoy reading the books I didn't have time to read so far so my next report will probably be after I get my Russian visa…

Stay tuned…