Kyrgyz Lada Adventures

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Our stay in Kyrgyzstan began with a days rest, room service and video rental in Bishkek as both of our tummys were showing severe signs of shashlyk fatigue!
We recovered reasonable well and then the next day managed to get ourselves out to Cholpon-Ata, a tourist town on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kol. Here we enjoyed the dramatic scenery, local fish and chips and I even managed a lovely swim in this lake some 1500m above sea level. Lake Issyk Kols literal translation is "the lake that never freezes" and despite the surrounding snow capped mountains, wasn't drastically cold, in fact warmer than both the Baltic sea and the ice cold swimming pool in our Tashkent Hotel.

We then made our way to Kochkor further south, with the local transport system of maniac shared taxis in order to find a Yurt to stay in before we left Central Asia.
At the CBT(community based tourism) office we were informed that unfortunately all the local Yurt camps had shut for the winter. The closest one was on the shore of Lake Song-Kol some two and a half hours away over the mountains and for a small price we could get transport there and back. We agreed a price and waited for the vehicle..........
Naturally we were expecting a 4x4 or at worst a car that would be suitable for the terrain, we were of course heading off tarmac roads and over the Kalmak Ashuu pass at well over 3000m. However, after 10 minutes or so, our vehicle arrived and we were surprised to see a cream clapped out Lada, with all the classic fittings such as a cracked windscreen and a rusting shell, minus a wing mirror or two. Reluctantly we left, on the way Max our driver picked up a spare wheel for the journey ahead, was this a good or a bad thing? I thought to myself.
After we turned off the main road and onto the dirt track for the climb, we both began to get headaches, was it the altitude or the faint smell of petrol fumes in the car? Max was a very conciencious driver, this beast was his baby and we made a couple of stops to check the tyres and tighten wheel nuts.
As we started the final and biggest climb the Lada started making rattling noises, Max wasn't happy and before we knew it, the wheel was off and on the side of the mountain he did a rather efficient wheel bearing change!

There were no more problems as we ascended further over the snow laden pass and down into the lake basin, of course crossing a couple of streams on our way to the Yurt! Here we were greeted with warm chai, and a lovely meal of dumplings, washed down with Kumys(fermented mare's milk) and some vodka which I'd brought along. We slept happily in our Yurt, wrapped up warm with jumpers and blankets.
After breakfast the next day we ambled around the Lake and got aquainted with some of the local animals, it was all very peaceful and our hosts were friendly and welcoming. In the afternoon we left and returned over the pass with relative ease, apart from the odd traffic jam (it seemed that every man and his dog were bringing his horses, cows or sheep back down from the mountains for the winter)
Then about 7km outside Kochkor, our front tyre blew and once again mechanic Max got his tool kit out and changed the wheel in a time that Maclaren's guys would be proud of!

We then negotiated out shared taxi ride back to Bishkek and keeping with the F1 theme of the day, our driver gave us a nailbiting ride, overtaking on blind corners, speeding up into chicanes and getting rather irritated by by the frequent 'backmarkers'
The evening was enjoyed back in Bishkek relaxing with a pizza and red wine, reflecting on our excellent Kyrgyz adventure!

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Photos

A Donkey and an Ass
You choose which one's which

Comments

[Ruth Evans]

toms beard is awesome!
tomma i luv ur beard its awesome!hehe miss u 2 lots luv u! ruth x

[Matti]

So jealous
That is all.