Day 55

 

 

We hit the road early to Dushanbe passing under a mountain through a tunnel that was still being completed around us and was about 2km long it was quite cold and very dark. It felt like off-roading in the dark. We arrived in Dushanbe in the early afternoon and circled the town to find the hotel and found it near an Australian version of KFC so we got sorted and headed to the Chicken King for Lunch/ Dinner and waited for our room to be ready. Then we went out to see what the city was like in the evening. We were refused from one Café that was full of men, I think it was a Muslim club, no women.

Day 56

We were up for breakfast and then back to the room for some laundry before exploring the city. We
found it quite hard to explore as there were no maps to be found and we didn’t have a bible (Lonely Planet) so we sat with a few others and had lunch then stocked up on some stores for the next week as we were planning on a long time of bush camping. The evening was spent on the computer with the slow Wi-Fi trying to upload photos, the blog and chatting to everyone on Skype including half of the Wynne Family at the wedding which was nice as we wouldn’t have missed it if we were at home.

Day 57

We were ready to hit the road for the Pamir Highway the next day leaving Adam and Corinne in Dushanbe to meet them in Bishkek in two weeks. There had been a bit of trouble with rebels in the Pamir Highway so we weren’t sure if we would be able to travel on it so when we got there we were told it was closed to tourist as of two days previous and only locals could travel on it. It was around 3 when we arrived at the check point so we decided to camp close by and try again the next day so we parked up in a field with the amazing colours of the Pamir Mountains behind us and a lake in front.  We were checked on by the local police that night just as we were going to bed, as always, asking us to check into a hotel for the night, but “no russki, only English, no russki, we camping, ok” and they headed off laughing after 20 mins of a circular conversation.


Day 58

We headed for the check point again the next day, but still no luck so we headed to the Kyrgyzstan boarder on the outside of the Pamir’s which were amazing. We went through two Checkpoints with a bit of banter with the soldiers. We crossed the boarder and the boarder guards were really nice bringing out half a watermelon to us in the heat and chairs for the older ladies. We had a time to wait at the Kyrgyzstan side. I was feeling a little unwell after the boarder so I slept most of the evening to the bush camp. We camped in a newly harvested field with the Pamir’s still on our backs for the night, I was unwell for the evening and went straight to bed with only a little dinner to try and get rid of it as soon as possible.

Day 59

I woke up feeling a bit better the next day as we headed further into Kyrgyzstan I spent most of the day asleep but figured out that a lot more of the truck were sick as well in some way. We got to Osh in the early afternoon, but none of the hostels we found had space or were acceptable so we stopped for lunch and headed on towards Lake Song-Kol. We camped on a hill over the motorway that night.

We sat and watched the stars for a while before bed.

Day 60

 

 

We woke up early and did some truck maintenance for most of the morning including changing tyres, fixing the roof vent and changing the air filter. It was all hands on deck for the morning so we all ended up helping to lift tyres, tighten the nuts etc.

Once finished we were back on the road again. We drove for most of the day and stopped for the night at a lake that was in the middle of a mountain range. It was lovely, when we arrived locals were swimming and enjoying the good weather by it so as soon as dinner was ready we headed down for a nice swim to cool off because even though it was 7 in the evening it was still really warm. There were little fish in the water and if you stayed still they came up and nibbled on your feet, better than any spa, but too weird for me. We slept on the roof that night under a blanket of a million stars.

Day 61

We were on the road the next day passing through the farm lands of Kyrgyzstan seeing the farmers in the fields hand harvesting their crops and making their hay bales and stacks. Martin still was unwell so we stopped off at a doctor’s and collected some wood while he was in with them. He looked a lot better after. We drove further through the country side up into the mountains during the day. It seemed like most of the truck was getting sick and Yvonne was next to be sick during the day.
We drove until it was getting dark and parked on a hill not too far from the town near Lake Song–Kol. It was very very windy and cold so we had a quick dinner and headed to bed around 8 just to get out of the cold wind that would cut you in 2.

Day 62

Porridge with local honey, which you can get everywhere, was on the cards for breakfast because of the cold. We then went to Cotchcord, the village to book a Yurt stay for the night up by the lake. The lake was at 3000mt so it was going to be cold so we stocked up for some hot dinners for the next two nights. We found a café with some Wi-Fi that was pretty expensive but a quick 5 mins to touch base with home then off to Lake-Song-Kol. On the way up we passed some wood on the side of the road so we stopped for half an hour to stock up and then headed up further into the mountains to the lake.

The roads there were tracks in the grass and you had to remember which one you were looking for. We were out on the front for that part. The lake was on a plateau with nothing else on it with short coarse grass like the Curragh with loads of Yurts in twos and threes around the lake.

We arrived at ours by lunchtime and set up camp beside them as there were over half of us staying in them. The sun was beating down with a cold wind so we sat out for most of the day enjoying the comfortable weather. The water in the lake was cold so we didn’t swim but it doesn’t freeze even in the winter because it has thermal vents opening in it.

We helped with dinner and had it just as it got dark in our thermals as it was extremely cold once the sun disappeared. Once dinner was over we sat and talked close to the fire before heading to the Yurt for a girly night with a film on our laptop that Yvonne had brought. It was nice and cosy in the Yurt with its heavy padded felt walls and thick heavy carpets on the floor. We slept in a kind of sleeping mattress which folds in two and you sleep in the middle with extra heavy handmade quilts and blankets over you if needed. It was so heavy you couldn’t turn over in the night unless you woke up. I slept so well.

Day 63

I woke early in the yurt and headed for breakfast which was included. It was cold pancakes, homemade jam and as much tea as you liked. It was great. We then headed back over to the truck for the last calls for more tea. Another overland truck had pulled up while we were at breakfast, they had a Japanese film crew on it, they were documenting one of the passangers of their second truck’s journey.

We set up the tarp for shade during the day as it was to be hot by the middle of the day. We did some washing during the day by the pump as that was the water supply and then had lunch. We met some people traveling in the area and chatted a bit with passers-by and played with the children from the family staying in the yurts. It was a nice afternoon and didn’t get too hot as we had cloud cover for most of the day. In the evening after dinner we sat around playing cards, poker on the truck and switch under the tarp. The rain started at 8 and was down for the evening. We played cards for a while then headed to bed.

Day 64

We were on breakfast the next morning and we had to spend ages coaxing the fire to life to boil the kettle. After breakfast we filled the tanks all 400ltr each by hand from the pump, over and back with buckets, it took a good hour and a half to fill both. There was tea and coffee after then folded up the tarp and we headed back over the flat lands to go down the mountains. On the way down we met the second overland truck belonging to Oasis Overland they were going from Istanbul to Beijing. The crew were really good friends of Will, Karen and Johnny so they organised to bush camp for the day together further down the mountain. We got a ride on their truck to the next village to get some supplies for the day and headed to the camp near the river.

Their truck had inward facing seats and tarp sides with no fridge, or toilet and they didn’t have the large water tanks on the bus. Their lockers opened under their seats so they could access everything from the truck. It was very different.

We set up camp and got out both tarps and made an “L” shaped camp. We chatted to their group which was an older group and the crew getting stories of past trips etc. It was nice. The two cook groups cooked together and we invited a group of 5 cyclists from Madrid to join us for the night and made a party of it. It was a great night talking to so many different people. It was a late one by the time we headed to bed.

Day 65

We had a group breakfast of fried potatoes, baked beans and eggs. It was really nice to have baked beans for a change. We then packed up and said good bye to the other overland truck and headed back to Cotchcord to stock up before heading to Jeti-Orghus near Lake Issyk-Kol for two nights for a truck clean and some hiking. We went to the internet café again to check in and have some coffee then headed back to the truck to get on the road.

We drove past Lake Issyk-Kol which was very big the only way to see the other side was the distant mountains. It was very tourist driven lake with lots of café and restaurants and hotels on the edge of the lake. There were lots of Toursit Information centres to be seen and some signs in English.
We drove up a gorge to the north of the lake where people go hiking and parked up beside the river in mozzy heaven. We set up camp and had a wander to see what was in the village below us. We found a little café/shop that sold everything from atlases to mars bars and traditional felt hats and shoes. We then went back to camp and helped with dinner ate dinner and headed to bed with a book as it was dark by 8 in the valley we were in.

Day 66

We were up and started the Truck Clean by 8 which ment taking absolutely everything off the truck, cleaning it, cleaning the truck, taking stock of what food we had and then tidying it all back in the truck. It took about 3 hours to get it all done as everyone was given a job and helped with other jobs when theirs was finished. The guys on the truck were given the task of fixing the truck springs that had broken along the way which took them all day nearly to fix.

When we finished we reorganised our own bags and cleared most of the stuff from under our seats before putting our stuff back on the truck. We then had lunch and went for a walk up the mountain to find the waterfall. It was a nice walk with a mixture of forest and clearings. There were lots of yurts along the way and we found a yurt village and decided we had gone far enough so came back down to find dinner already started, a stew, yum. We sat and chatted while dinner was cooking and met a French guy traveling by himself from Being to Turkey for 6 weeks by public transport, he sat and chatted for a good hour before heading on to catch his bus. Dinner was ready by dusk, it was amazing one of my favourites so far and people headed to bed after it. We stayed up a bit longer by the fire having a quiet chat before turning in for the night.