Kyrgestan-one of the world's best kept secrets

Greetings from Karakol, We drove from Almaty to Bishkek and had a quick look around Bishkek before driving around the north shore of Lake Issyk Kol. the lake is a huge dent filled with water between the Kungey Alatau to the north and the Terskey Altau to the south, which together form the norther arm of the Tian Shan mountains. It is extremely deep and there is thermal activity and mild salinity-it never freezes. It is over 170 km long, 70 km across and the second largest alpine lake in the world (Lake Titicaca is still number 1. While scores of streams pour into the lake, none escape; the shoreline rises and falls and artefacts have been recovered from what is called the submerged city of Chigu, dating from the 2nd century B.C. Someone had the forethought to plant beautiful poplar trees along the lake and you feel as though you are driving through natural arches of greenery. There were quaint roadside stalls selling dried fish and then it started to rain. After that we saw very little except oncoming headlights through the rain and arrived in Karakol at the Amir Hotel in the dark. We met our guide, Aziz and our cook, Tashtanbek and had a quick sleep.

We started first thing in the morning on our trek. A huge old Russian truck picked us up at 0900h. We drove with our new team, Aziz, Tashtanbek and porter, Murat to the park gates. The road reminded me of a steep mountain road on the way to Valkyrs but in much worse conditions. The rocks and ruts were big, but our truck lumbered up and over each. The views were more and more spectacular. Steep mountains rising out of the valley floor and summer pastures; grazing flocks of sheep, goats, horses and the yurts of the ranchers. We put on our packs and the team of 5 started to climb. The cook and porter with 35kg packs simply disappeared and we slowly took one step up at a time the trail.

Within about an hour the altitude started to hit me (Corine). I felt lightheaded, nauseated and short of breath but Stefan seemed okay. After another hour and half we arrived at a shelter called "Sirota". This is a Kyrgez word meaning orphan because it is all alone. Camp was set up when we arrived and a good thing too because within minutes, it started to rain and the rain and wet snow continued. It was good on one hand because it made us stay there and acclimatize to the altitude, but the snow was discouraging. On the otherhand, the scenery was so beautiful. The giant peaks were there and then they disappeared in the snow. It felt like a dream-a rather cold, wet dream. We started the Diamox and started peeing every 2 hours, but felt much better. On the 3rd day, the weather cleared and we had a long hike up to Lake Ala Kul. The hike was steep and exposed in a couple of places. I can say that the trek is not for the timid, but I can die a happy woman now that I have seen Lake Ala Kul. It is 80m deep, 1 km wide and 3 km long winding through the mountains. Big snow capped peaks all around. The campsite is on the rocks so it would be very cold but Spectacular!

Because we had stayed 2 nights at Sirota, we decided to carry to over the Ala Kul pass to the Karakol gorge (3700m). That's when the altitude hit Stefan like a ton of bricks. For the first time in history, I was faster than he was and I was feeling great. We were climbing through about 1/2 meter of heavy snow and it was sort of cloudy in the pass. The guide, Azia wanted to do this but was a little timid in approaching the cornice. So Stefan kicked off a big avalanche and the snow rolled down as far as we could see. This was great because we could scree run all the way down. I think that our experience in scree. We camped that night at the bottom the scree run, but on the snow. The team was just excellent and our meals were hot and nutritous. The most important part, they were very clean and we didn't get sick. Ecotreks was a very good investment and I would highly recommend the company. Descending 500m Stefan was feeling much better. We got up to hard snow crust and slowly made our way down through the high pastures, called Jailoos (rhymes with J-Lo). Seeing and walking in the Jailoos was my dream. Sleek fat horses, cows, sheep and goats cling to the mountain sides and graze along the river on high pastures. The cowboys ride among them and we met a few-always, it seemed, just when I had my pants down behind a bush. The walk through the ge was truly spectacular, trees suddenly started up out of the rock and funny little bridge crossings were found in the woods. The trails were not blazed, there were few cairns (no Innukshuks)and a GPS would be useless. Our 19 year old guide was just outstanding and we soon found ourselves in Altyn Arashan. Arashan is a cute little mountain village, blessed with hot springs. The cottages dot the hillsides and the people live close to the animals. The few houses were sort of Russian styled, with verandas filled with babuska wearing-fat ladies in colorful dresses, who chain smoke. Nothing passes the view of these ladies and I'm quite sure that they know all of the latest gossip (if not the fashion). Some of them probably come up from nearby Ak Suu village or Karakol for the summer to eat, smoke and tend the pools. The bathing pools, called the Source, were a longish hut, two rooms with locks. Inside each was with a deep concrete pool, about 3M X 3M-an inlet with hot, mineral water and an outlet going somewhere. The walls didn't go to the ceiling, so we could hear the neighbors spashing and moaning. I tried not to moan loudly, but my god, the hot water sure felt terrific. The Source was very basic, clean and unspoiled. It was a perfect end to a very, long hike. We decided to take the room with the pool access as the $10.00 price for foreigners was about the same without the room. For the price you can go back in 3 times. We went back after dinner to warm up. The price to bathe for Kyrgz is 100 som (46.2 som/1 USD), free for EcoTrek staff and our team who set up their tent in the pasture. The village (family houses, kids running with the animals, wool sweaters) sort of reminded me of the Arn valley in Italy about 30 years ago (but without the plumbing). I suppose with time, the full outhouses will be replaced with real plumbing, but then the charm might also disappear. The morning dawned bright and clear.

We hiked the last 3 1/2 hours down along the Arashan river and had a last picnic with our team. A truck met us at the trail end and we drove to the town of Karakol, population 66,000 where I'm told there are 11 schools, a big animal market on Sundays, and a clinic. The rows of giant poplars and the little gingerbread, Russian houses makes for a nice place to retire. Oh if only to speak Russian or Kyrgez.

I'm sure that there must be other tourists still coming to Kyrgestan, but there are few. The hotel had a few German-speaking hikers, there was an intrepid Japanese American woman at the hot springs, but that's all we've met. All in all, it's easy to fall in love with Krygestan-one of the world's best kept secrets. Small towns, big mountains, nice, friendly people. A few too many geo-political problems, but otherwise, once down from the mountains, the fruit trees are producing, the farms look in good shape and the animals are fat. Tomorrow we'll be at the market bright and early to see the sheep that we watched get herded all the way down from the Karakol gorge get sold for our plates. This trek was about 48km, over 4 days, but the altitude was the challenge. We had a very competent support team. Tomorrow, after visiting the market and thinking about buying a few sheep, we'll visit the Karakol regional museum and then the Przewalski museum. On Monday, we'll drive to Kochkor and onto Tash Rabat, the Stone Castle. Don't know when we will have computer access. System access is very slow, but thanks to Mark, we are able to post to the blog.

Love to all. Corine and Stefan (Stefan doesn't seem to like to type, so this is pretty much Corine's version of travel-you might get his version once we're home).

Beijing to Kyregestan

"Beijing, once the center of the universe" is showing signs of once again
becoming a world leader. It was fun to stay in a Hutong in the 800+ year
old center. Small courtyards have been renovated into small hostels and
ours with only 8 rooms was run by 3 cute girls. The Hutong Ren Creative
Cultural hotel was very clean, friendly and our bathroom opened out into
the courtyard. Fortunatly there was a full time running fountain to
masquerade the bathroom noises. We found terrific restaurants nearby and
enjoyed nice spicy Szchuan food. The Metro makes getting around easy and
the streets are clean and public toilets, while holes in the floor,
flushed and were conveniently located so whenever the nature called, I was
happy.

Our flight to Almaty took us over the soaring Tian Shan mountains. We had
good views of towering peaks covered with ice and snow. As we neared
Urumchi we could see the Flaming Mountains-well named because even from
20,000+ feet, they glowed red in the setting sun. Fortunately the stop in
this direction was short. We could see the sandy desert and hear that the
temperatures were around +35, but a dry heat.

Almaty struck us a bit Russified but busy, modern city. Bishkek is small
and we could see burned out buildings, evidence of the riots and protests.
Yesterday we drove from Almaty around Lake IssyKol in the rain to Karakol.
We are just going in for breakfast and then plan to start our trek. The
next 4 days will be fun and we hope that the rains will abate.

It seems that access to Google is blocked across China and in most of
Central Asia. We are able to email only 1 person at a time and will ask
our friend Mark to post this blog.

So far, have eaten well, slept well, and other functions are working
normally. Love from Kyrgestan to all.
Corine and Stefan

Silk Road and Aral Sea

Aral Sea

"Millions of years ago, the northwestern part of Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan were covered by a massive inland sea. When the waters receded, they left a broad plain of highly saline soil. One of the remnants of the ancient sea was the Aral Sea, the fourth largest inland body of water in the world. The Aral is an inland salt-water sea with no outlet. It is fed by two rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya. The fresh water from these two rivers held the Aral's water and salt levels in perfect balance. In the early 1960's, the Soviet central government decided to make the Soviet Union self-sufficient in cotton and increase rice production. Government officials ordered the additional amount of needed water to be taken from the two rivers that feed the Aral Sea. Large dams were built across both rivers, and an 850-mile central canal with a far-reaching system of "feeder" canals was created. When the irrigation system was completed, millions of acres along both sides of the main canal were flooded. Over the next 30 years, the Aral Sea experienced a severe drop in water level, its shoreline receded, and its salt content increased" (internet sources).

Many Silk Routes

"The Silk Road (German: Seidenstraße) (or Silk Routes) is an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean world, as well as North and Northeast Africa and Europe. The Silk Road gets its name from the lucrative Chinese silk trade, a major reason for the connection of trade routes into an extensive trans-continental network.[1][2][3] The term "Seidenstraße" (literally "Silk Road") was coined retrospectively by the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877 and has since found its way into general usage. In recent years, both the maritime and overland Silk Routes are again being used, often closely following the ancient routes" (internet sources).

Comments:
Some of you asked me for a map of the Silk Road and wondered whether or not we would visit the Aral Sea. Well, we had considered visiting the Aral Sea, or what is left of it. However upon reading Daniel Metcalfe's description of the area in his book, Out of Steppe (2009), and learning about Aralsk 7, we decided to skip the Aral Sea and instead will visit Nukus to see the Savitsky collection. (According to the Lonely Planet, the museum owns about 90,000 pieces of art. Many of the early 20th century Russian paintings that did not conform to Soviet Realisim were banned by Moscow but found protection in Uzbekistan. About half of the paintings were brought here in Soviet times by renegade artist and ethnographer Igor Savitsky. The 3rd floor is famous for housing "lost art". Of course, I'm very curious to see what's here).  The pollution, nuclear and biological testing in the Aral Sea area have rendered the soil, the air and the whole environment, hazardous! If recorded, morbidity and mortality must be staggering. You can google Aralsk 7 when you have time, and then think about eating, sleeping and breathing toxic, swirling, salty dust. The remains of anthrax and biological experiments and the pollution contamination will require considerable restoration efforts, but I'm not volunteering.

"The Silk Road" conjures in our minds all that is romantic about travelling and stimulates our imaginations: different ideas and ways of being; new foods and ways to eat them; people, their differences and similarities; ancient routes taken by so many others. I have longed to walk along those very old paths. I am hopeful that we will meet more good people than bad and that we will be able to communicate. Stefan, in addition to growing a white beard, has been studying Russian and has memorized the alphabet. He has a pretty good vocabulary and with the help of an amazing electronic translator, he should be able to ask the drivers to 'slow down' or request 'pit stops'. (If he holds the translator behind his head, he can be a ventriloquist). Corine will rely upon her "point at it picture book", charades and a hopeful smile. In Russia a few years ago, I worried about being attacked for "looking Asian". Now in Central Asia, maybe trying to speak Russian will cause more problems than "looking Asian" / "Han Chinese"!

We have just received an email to advise that one of our flights in Kyrgestan has just been cancelled and more borders are closing. It is a bit worrisome, but we are going to have to risk taking a very small local flight from Bishkek to Dushanbe, to avoid the civil strife still going on in Osh. I suspect that the aircraft will have seen better days and hope that Stefan might be able to fly the beast if we get into trouble. Sadly it seems that the internal civil strife in Kyrgestan is not settling down. Our original plans have changed several times since the uprisings of a few weeks ago. We will have to stay flexible and adjust our trip along the way. If it looks like civil war, we will have to make diversions. I suspect that the Takijs are worried about Kyrgz refugees crossing the borders.

The Central Asia corridor has been the focus of the Great Game played out among China, Russia and Britain (India) over so many years and a100 years later, with involvement of new players (the USA and the EU) really, little has changed. The ethnic tensions remain high, the promises of money, more money and aid continue, the regional war lords weave poppy into cash, and local people continue a life-long struggle to survive.

The next blog entry will be News from Beijing. (When you have time, dig out Pearl S Buck and reread her wonderful stories. No surprise that she was a Nobel Laureate). We plan to post to the blog as we find computers and wifi along the way.

Ready, Set, Go!

Central Asia

Corine and Stefan are counting down "the sleeps" to the travel in Central Asia. Leaving August 19, 2010. Why Central Asia you ask? Corine has been packing around a copy of the Adventures of Marco Polo, a 1948 edition. The year of her birth you know. Anyway, she had been romanticizing for ever about the travels of Marco and his father and uncle. Also, Corine had been reading about the much earlier travels of Hsuan-Tsang, the Buddhist pilgrim of the 7th Century. Hsuan-Tsang walked across deserts and climbed incredible mountain passes from China to India and back over 20 years in search of truth. We read about the foreign devils who pillaged the ancient Buddhist sites along the Silk Road and dreamed about seeing the ruins that remain along the Silk Road, the architecture, the high pastures, the reed and wool screens, yurts, beautiful carpets; and meeting the resilient people who have survived and thrived in economic, political, religious, environmental and even geographical chaos. Stefan quickly became a willing collaborator when he realized that we would be able to hike in the Pamirs with passes being at 3700m. Packing with the thoughts of trekking with a backpack at that altitude has meant paring down to a change of underwear and socks, sleeping bag, rain gear and of course, water filter. In the eyes of many, this is not a very relaxing or glamous trip, but Corine is counting on being able to shop for haute couture in Beijing on the way home, in November. We have been inspired by good friends (Sue and John) and family (Roger, Shelley, Chris, and Pete) who have traveled to the 'Stans and/or Xinjiang and hope that the record of our trip will bring back good memories for them.
Just incase that you have forgotten the basics about Central Asia, here is some background info for your reference (adapted from Stats Can. and from the Lonely Planet guide books):
Canada:
Area: The total area of Canada is 9, 984, 670 sq km
Capital: Ottawa
Famous for: POGG (peace, order, good government). Of course one could argue this is a myth
Population: Canada is the second largest country in the world in terms of land area, yet it ranks only 39th in terms of population. According to Statistics Canada, Canada's population in 2006 was estimated to be approx 32 million. Of course, with the long census forms no longer mandatory, we may never know who, where, when, or why people actually live in Canada or what they/we are doing for a good time.
Turkmenistan:
Area: 488,100 sq km
Capital: Ashgabat
Famous for: golden statues of Turkmenbashi (past president), gas reserves, horses, carpets, camels, deserts
Population: approx. 5 million.
Kazakstan:
Area: 2.7 million sq km (9th largest country in the world)
Capital: Astana (recently moved from Almaty)
Famous for: oil reserves, steppe-nomadic people and sophisticated urban population
Population: 15 million.
Uzbekistan:
Area: 447,400 sq km
Capital: Tashkent
Famous for: ancient architecture in Samarkand, Bokhara, Khiva; Aral Sea pollution; and Tamerlane
Population: 25.2 million.
Kyrgyzstan:
Area: 198,500 sq km
Capital: Bishkek
Famous for: towering Tian Shan mountains, eagle hunting, nomadic people and most recently for civil unrest
Population: 5.2 million.
Tajikistan:
Area: 143, 100 sq km
Capital: Dushanbe
Famous for: civil war, Pamir Mountains, towering Hindu Kush mountains, borders Afghanistan (LP indicates that the mined areas are flagged. Let's hope that the wind hasn't blown down the flags)
Population: 7.32 million.
Xinjiang: Biggest of China's provinces:
Area: 1/6 of China's area (China is one of the biggest countries in the world. It has an area of about 9.6 million sq km which comprises about 6.5 per cent of the world, with population of 1.3 billion)
Major city: Urumchi
Famous for: oil. natural resources, camels, carpets, heat of the Taklamakan Desert, countless minority groups
Population: 8 million Uighurs + relocated Han Chinese.