Yuri Gagarin on the silk road

Kazakhstan. Last country before home. After a week in Almaty we begin the longest hitchhiking neither of us have ever done. More than 1200 km to cross the country from the very south of the ancient capital until Astana.

Almaty was normal. That's the best word to describe it. The other would be boring. Nothing really fascinating about this big modern city. It could be anywhere in Europe. To save it a bit, I could add that if it's not so interesting to visit, it must be pleasant to live in. The city is clean, green, young, active, and the level of life in this place reaches much higher than many place of Central Asia. But soon we left it to hit the road one last time.

When we imagined hitchhiking those almost 1300 km, we wondered a lot how we would make it. It went actually easier than we thought! Soon after starting, a young and friendly man took us for free until Balkhash, roughly half way between Almaty and Astana and near the lake of the same name. Actually he would have taken us until Astana, but we wanted to make a stop, and enjoy the road, rather than to drive it at once.

And what a road! Most of the road from Almaty to Balkhash is a desert. Wide and plain. In all four horizons one can see kilometers of nothing. Not a man, not a house, not a tree. Sometimes a rare eagle spread its fast shadow on the dry ground. Only once, on the side of the road, four poor houses offer tea to the cars that stop. ''There's no network here'' says a woman who must have endured the hottest summers and the coldest winters. Behind the small sheds and wagons, altogether four of them, four toilet houses are standing lonely in the middle of the windy fields. I am thinking about the president's determination to make Kazakhstan enter the top 30 highest developed countries of the world before 2050.

Balkhash lake is the largest of Central Asia since the Aral sea is shrinking. It spreads in a long snakelike shape and has also the peculiarity to be half of fresh water (in the west) and half of saline water (in the east). Closer we get to the lake, the more people we see. The more camels too, carrying their furry two-humped backs in the dry land. And the more policemen, who are really everywhere in Kazakhstan. Nothing really grows here. Except marijuana. Long time ago, when no one knew such Kazakhstan, Chu valley was already known in Russia for that reason, tell our driver. This might be one more reason for policemen to stand here.

Arriving in the city of Balkhash we soon get caught by a half crazy woman called Lastochka who still shows helpful as she finds us a cheap place where to stay a couple of nights. We rented a flat from two overdressed young ladies with heavy make up. Do not drink in the streets, come to drink in the flat, one of them warns us while closing the hole in the window with a tape. We spent so two nights in this place, and one incredibly hot day (around 35°). We looked for freshness near the lake where I had a swim in sensibly cooler water (probably between 15 and 20°).

The next day we were back in the outskirts of Balkhash, thumbs up. We didn't wait long for a car to pick us up. It was a van full of dry fishes smelling mouthwatering and strong. We travelled the remaining 600 km to Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan.

9 days of lepeshka

Day 1

We've arrived in Karakol, the starting point of our walk. The 4^th biggest city of Kyrgyzstan is a village with a breath of glorious past and only two asphalt streets. We are immediately in love with this place and don't understand why Lonely Planet is underestimating it so badly. Keeping in mind that Kyrgyzstan is famous for its nature, not the cities, Karakol is probably the most interesting city we have visited.

At the evening we try banya, russian sauna, wich is very popular here. Still we are not brave enough to go to the public one, as it's gender seperated and probably totaly naked. Family one we rent for one hour turns out to be a really neat, little private sauna. An old woman at the entrance gives us two metal bowls for washing and wishes C лёгким паром! Even if we both love sauna and have one at home regulary, Nicolas later admits that the last time he has had such a heat was probably in Finland.

Day 2

We start walking only in the afternoon and are surprised to reach our today's destination in just two hours. Jeti-Oguz also called The broken heart or Seven bulls is a row of red sand rocks, each of them somehow cut in half right in the middle. There is no cafe here so we go in the only shop opened to ask for a warm cup of tea. Besides the tea we get also a place in a yard to build a tent and a friendly dog for guard. Night seems the longest of my life as the wind from nearby portentous mountain valley brings rare snowflakes and freezing cold.

Day 3

Picnic in the tent, brushing teeth in the yard and around 8:00 we are ready to walk again. Our new guard and friend treated with a slice of sausage follows us for the next 20 km until we reach Shalba village. No cafes or shops here, we are lucky to be invited for a lunch at local's home. Kind old woman offers us colostrum (young milk) and remembers Latvia for it's good cows that were brought to Kyrgyz kolkhozs during USSR. After lunch she refuses to take any money, but is interested in our dog. We decide that it wont be allowed on plane to Riga anyway and agree to exchange our friend for a free meal.

Day 4

Finaly we reached the lake and built a tent on the beach between bushes of sea buckthorn. We are trying to make a fire of material available here – dried sheep poop and branches. Poop makes a lot of smoke but no fire, while branches burn out so fast that we hardly have time to cook our dinner. Menu of this week is simple – sausage, cheese and lepeshka, traditional Kyrgyz white bread in the shape of Yulia Tymoshenko's hairdo.

Day 5

Sleeping in the house of a local family tonight. Here in countryside people are very kind and often offer us help (food, ride, their yard) without asking anything for it. Still Kyrgyz people like to say they are poor. Very often they will start a conversation with – So how do you like Kyrgyzstan ? Poor people, no? We are wondering in wich country we have met the most happy people. Surprisingly it's in India, country whose people have probably the most reasons to be unsatisfied.

Day 6

In the drab and half abandoned village Tamga, a sign over the post office door says – mail, telephone, telegraph. Sometimes a man on a horse crosses the dusty road, and we have a feeling that we've arrived in American far west. Locals say that summer is crowded with tourists. We like to travel off season.

Day 7

We've reached our final destination - Skazka (Fairytale) canyon. It looks like in a fairyltale indeed. Different shaped and coloured rocks form a natural maze. There is no shadow, no sound. Probably it's the most epic place we have camped and definately the highlight of this walk.

 

Day 8

A guy we meet on the road tells us about a nearby lake, so salty one can float on it. That's an experience we can't miss so we decide to stay one more day and try to find it. After a short lift in a very fast truck and a long walk between sandy hills we arrive there. The salt lake turns out to be a bay of Issyk Kul. The water is too cold to relax and float, but Nicolas has a fast dip. We return to our tent to empty a bottle of fake Tsinandali, made in Kyrgyzstan.

Day 9

The trek is over. It's time for us now to hitchhike back to Bishkek, and to get ready for a new country...

See : 9 days of daal bhat

Миллион алых роз

Often in Kyrgyzstan it would be easy to forget we are not in Europe. However when it comes to the pure European tradition, such as as drinking or hitchhiking, people here don't really know what it is or how to do. And we realize then, we are far from home.

Forget about the easy rides of last summer, hitchhiking in Iceland. In fact, people here expect to be paid for the ride. We had very hard time explaining them what is hitchhiking. And even after explaining, the reaction was like : "So... How much can you give?". We finally gave up on a free ride and started bargaining a price with drivers. Eventually we managed to get a fair price and a car to Osh.

We didn't do this ride for Osh itself, but rather for the road through Kyrgyzstan that was reputated for its landscapes. And we were not disappointed. Old Russian chanson on the radio, we could contemplate the beauties of Kyrgyzstan by the windshield for more than 13 hours. We definitly got the slowest driver of Kyrgyzstan. Maybe of all Central Asia. But the view was gorgeous. Up to snowy highs where rare locals sell honey and kymyz (a sort of kefir made from mare's milk) and huge ravens draw circles in the sky over the most unspoiled snow. Down to some valleys where horses run in the wild, shepherds gather livestock (mmh... shashlik!), kids race on donkeys... Time by time a handwritten sign shows "Gasoil" and points to a private yard. On the way we passed by Toktogul lake, a large mountain lake in a unreal blue color.

Osh is a city at the border with Uzbekistan. Much smaller than Bishkek, less russified also (we could finally hear people conversing in Kyrgyz and in Uzbek). The main site there is Suleiman Too, a muslim pilgrimage site on a rocky hill in the very center of the city. This hill makes a pretty park where to have a walk, with high caves where to climb. But the first thing that caught our attention in Osh was a huge statue of Lenin (at the end of Lenin street!) welcoming us in town.

One evening, going out for diner, we ended up in a kind of salle des fêtes/tautas nams. There we met old Uzbeks celebrating what seemed to be a marriage anniversary. Ladies were singing Raimonds Pauls' Миллион алых роз on karaoke and we were soon invited to dance with them.

The way back could have been quick. This time we ended up with the fastest (and most dangerous) drivers of the country. However we got caught in a snow storm on the pass in Ala-Too mountain range, about 100 km before Bishkek and had to remain immobile for about 10 hours.

On a totally different matter, we have some news to share with you guys. First it seems we won't be able to finish this trip as we intended, driving back home on the transsiberian railway. We saw our visa application to Russia being refused. At the embassy we were told to go to our home countries, apply for visa there and come back in Kyrgyzstan. Great. Positive point : we now have more time to explore and enjoy Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Then you can expect us to be back in Latvia. Here comes the date : May the 6th, 2015.

From Punjab to Kyrgyzstan

That doesn't happen everyday to fly from Amritsar, Punjab to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. And even to us, those two destinations seemed, at first, a little random. During the last week several people have been asking us : Why Kyrgyzstan? - Eh... why not? While travelling, we've been speaking for a long time with Tince about our next great trip, where we would go, etc... And Central Asia turned up being a destination we were keeping in mind for it. We were in India, looking in every directions where to go after our visa expire. Our first idea was to go to the South-East, do Thailand and some countries around (like every backpackers do). But we soon realized we were not very excited about that idea. And then we saw Kyrgyzstan on the map. So why waiting a next trip to go there if we can go now!

We went fighting for Communism!

After India, Kyrgyzstan is so normal. Being here feels like being back in Europe, or almost. An old school version of Europe, where one can buy pickled cucumbers and cigarettes one by one in the streets. Many things here remind Tince of her 90s childhood. Bishkek is a 100% soviet city. The map of the city looks like from some kind of boardgame. Parallel streets of gray blocks. Sometimes a park, featuring statues of heroic socialist characters, brings some "colors". Between blocks, two men are playing chess on a small table, keeping warm by sharing samogonka. Time to time a cheaply decorated caterring offers plov and kompot. Traditionnaly Kyrgyz people are nomadic people but Soviet union forced them into a settled lifestyle. For centuries Bishkek was a caravan stop on the silk road and only developped as a city during soviet era.

Over the skyline of the city we can see massive and snowy peaks. We can't wait reaching them. Unfortunatly we had to spend our first days in Bishkek to prepare our future trips. Everyday we walk through the long streets of the city from an administrative building to another, to Kazakh embassy, to Russian embassy, etc... Only once we managed to escape out of the city, and spent the day at Burana tower with two Kyrgyz friends. Hopefully starting from next week we'll spend more time outside of Bishkek and discover more about Kyrgyz culture.

Because Kyrgyz culture is not an obvious thing to catch in the streets of Bishkek. Everywhere here you read and hear Russian. Russification has been strong here and education system still supports it. Even two Kyrgyz persons would speak to eachothers in Russian rather than in Kyrgyz. And parents talk to their children in Russian too, often. They don't seem to care much about their language or their culture. This surprised us very much at first, especially Tince who comes from Latvia where language is so important. But I just wonder if they realize that's how a language slowly dies out.

Cinema theater "Rossiya"

This weekend comes an big celebration : Nooruz. Nooruz is the Zoroastrian new year and an important spring festival in Iran, Central Asia and Mongolia. In Bishkek the city is getting decorated and ready for celebrating. Spring is in the air and we're getting excited for the last part of our journey!

Goodbye, India!

We are back in Amritsar, the Golden Temple of the sikhs. Five months ago we started our journey through India from here. Tomorrow we are finishing it and moving forward.

If someone would mark all the countries of the world on one straight line, Iceland and India would be placed on the two opposite ends of it. We started our journey in Iceland, and Iceland and India are just so different in... everything. Lifestyle, people, esthetics, availability of clean and warm water, wealth, population, nature. I feel like we have had a chance to see two different worlds during this one trip.

When we just arrived in India we couldn't understand those many travelers who once have been here want to return again and again. We decided that it's worth to experience India, but ...once is enough. Now, after almost half a year spent here, we are already planning our next trip to North-Eastern states.

Of course, I am excited to leave tomorrow, our trip has took unexpected turns and we still have many unknown places to explore before returning back home. Still I'm a bit sad as during the time spent here I have learned to love India. I can love it as I can love a relative. I can see all its disadvantages, it can often annoy me, I can disagree with it on many things, still I love it. Incredible India.

Kashmir wears snow

A week ago we took a car to Kashmir. This was truly one of the most fantastic part of our journey in India. Stuffed in a minibus from Jammu we soon got to know that it is illegal to drive between Jammu and Srinagar at night. In case of a police control, we are asked to lie about our destination. We don't really understand if that's for political or climatic reasons. For a couple of hours we've been driving through the most norrow mountain roads as well as crossing a dry river, asking the locals for an alternative path. The night goes on and we have to wait on the way. People are cleaning the road from a landslide. We befriend with our neighbour, a truly kind person who offers us tea and sweets. There is only one way from India to Kashmir since the Partition between India and Pakistan. And that goes crossing a very long and old tunnel. The narrow corridors goes and goes and we wonder if it will end. But when it does, we come out in a beautiful snow landscape : we are in Kashmir!

View from our homestay

In Srinagar, no more snow. Kashmiris are known for being wonderful hosts. I wouldn't have believed how true this was before seeing it myself. The friend I mentionned earlier invited to stay at his family home on our arrival. He lives outside of the center in a big new house with his three sisters, his parents and his grandmother, a traditionnal muslim family. On our arrival we were offered salty Kashmiri tea, bread and butter. Here we traditionnaly eat and sleep on the floor. Everyone carries a hot pot of embers that one can put under his/her long coat for keeping warm. Everyday we are feeded and dressed. During the dinners we have long talks with the sisters. The eldest is very talkative. She studies sufism and speaks in quotes of the Quran. Once we asked about men and women relationships, and she explained us that the sun shows up in the day and the moon in the night and that is for the good of humankind they keep a definite distance. The second sister laughs all the time and the youngest is shy and very quiet. It was really a magical stay and we feel very thanksful.

 Tince in Sherwani with a hot pot

Nicolas waiting for shashlik

On our second day in Srinagar it started snowing. A very heavy snow. That day Srinagar looked a bit like Rīga, with its buildings of wood and red bricks, and snow all around. We bravely faced the snow to explore the mosques and shrines of the old city. Mosques in Kashmir feature interesting architecture, typically with a green wooden pagoda roof. At the end of our little exploration we arrived on a small mausoleum. We can barely see a huge grave from the window. Outside a quote of the Quran (translated in English) tells us about the prophet Isa (Jesus Christ) who didn't die on the cross (according to the holy book of the muslims). There is one controversial theory that I got to know in India during one of my readings. Some believe that Jesus survived his cruxifiction and travelled then to India with St Thomas. He'd die in an old age and would be burried in Srinagar. Well. I've read the famous Jesus live in India by Holger Kersten (inspired from the works of Nikolai Notovich). It's a fine fiction. First I was quite open to this theory. But the book is a total fantasy and hard to take seriously by someone with a minimum of religious culture. Not only Jesus survived and came to Kashmir, but he also spent his teenagehood in India with buddhist monks, Abraham was born in Kasmir and brought the Hebrew people from Kashmir to Canaan and Moses is also somehow burried in Kashmir! A little bit too much.

 

Kashmir is not India, we are regulary remembered. It is true it feels here like a totally different country. People's behaviour and faces bring us far away of what we have seen in India so far. Kashmiris are very proud of their Kashmir and always want be sure we find their land beautiful. The food also is different. We finally get to eat meat! And a lot of it. Kashmiris love kabab, shashlik, tandoori... Street dogs look healthy, almost fat, eating meat wastes. Unlike skiny Indian dogs on vegetarian diet. During the next days, snow disappear. However important landslides prevent us to leave the country. The only road is closed, and still today we don't know yet when we'll be able to take a bus. Hopefully tomorrow. Hopefully.

This gives us more time to explore the city. We are off touristic season here, and maybe the only whities in town! The rain force us to hide our face and the rickshaws drive without noticing us. We visited the museum of Srinagar. A part of it actually, most of the museum being closed due to flood. The content of the museum wasn't interesting but the museology was amazing! Some old statues from the 7th century BC put on the floor with no protection, piles of stuffed animals loosing their hair in open showcase... On a sunny day we took a boat through the canals of Dal lake. Many people live on the lake. We are discovering a second city! Different districts (for fishermen, for shopping, etc.) are here, and also a mosque and a hindu temple. See on the pictures!