B - reporting
We are finally ready to leave Bishkek, about 4 days after the original plan!
Up early for porridge, then ran around Bishkek picking up sausages and photographing Lenin. It was a very slow drive west as apparently today is market day for every small town, and the venue for these markets was the highway.
At Kara-Balky we picked up a couple of mystery samsas and petrol (from different places) and headed towards Toktogul, our first stop en route to Tajikistan.
The road led up tight bends, switchbacks, crazy overtaking, a 3km unlit, unventilated tunnel and over our first mountain pass: 10,000 feet. We had read so much about altitude sickness, one of whose symptoms is paranoia, that I am not sure if I imagined feeling tightness when I breathed. It could also have been due to the fuminess of the tunnel, now I think about it!
We then crossed a very broad flat plain, with herders moving horses and cows down to lower lands. Circular patches of gravel beside the road were the only indication that this plain had been home to many gers.
We reached Toktogul after another pass, and amazingly managed to find the hotel we'd picked really easily! It was right by the highway...
Our room had no curtains, only nets. And our view was of the petrol pumps just outside our room. We resolved to always ensure the presence of curtains before agreeing to take rooms, in future.
We ate strange noodles in the hotel's cafe, chosen at random as they had no menu. Lucky we are adept, even expert, at ordering bread and tea. We then retired to our goldfish-bowl room for the night.
We are finally ready to leave Bishkek, about 4 days after the original plan!
Up early for porridge, then ran around Bishkek picking up sausages and photographing Lenin. It was a very slow drive west as apparently today is market day for every small town, and the venue for these markets was the highway.
At Kara-Balky we picked up a couple of mystery samsas and petrol (from different places) and headed towards Toktogul, our first stop en route to Tajikistan.
The road led up tight bends, switchbacks, crazy overtaking, a 3km unlit, unventilated tunnel and over our first mountain pass: 10,000 feet. We had read so much about altitude sickness, one of whose symptoms is paranoia, that I am not sure if I imagined feeling tightness when I breathed. It could also have been due to the fuminess of the tunnel, now I think about it!
We then crossed a very broad flat plain, with herders moving horses and cows down to lower lands. Circular patches of gravel beside the road were the only indication that this plain had been home to many gers.
We reached Toktogul after another pass, and amazingly managed to find the hotel we'd picked really easily! It was right by the highway...
Our room had no curtains, only nets. And our view was of the petrol pumps just outside our room. We resolved to always ensure the presence of curtains before agreeing to take rooms, in future.
We ate strange noodles in the hotel's cafe, chosen at random as they had no menu. Lucky we are adept, even expert, at ordering bread and tea. We then retired to our goldfish-bowl room for the night.
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| Crazy mountain roads |
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| We let him Lie. |
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| Scary Tunnels |
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