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Notes from the Stan's

I really should "write essay's thesis endless Often more goal Such is life never presents When Time Itself.

What a bureaucratic month! We are now in Tajikistan after almost 12,000 kilometres ridden and 31 flats. However, we have passed three potentially difficult borders and are still functioning altogether relatively correctly both mentally and physically. Oceanne is slightly sick with a cold which she caught from myself after a rapid visit back to my homeland, more of that later but nothing altogether serious.

The last time l wrote we were still in China. That did not last long as the previously talked about jeep which we were sharing with two middle-aged Americans to share costs duly arrived on the Wednesday morning. We had to tie the majority of our baggage onto the roof including the baggage trailer, both bikes and the majority of the baggage. It's a right pain transporting our lives on vehicles but l think l've already said that before. Compromises have to be made sometimes! This was infact a REAL pain this time as the baggage had to be attached and re-attached not just once, as could be reasonably expected but THREE times! Once, obviously at the beginning and at the end of this mammoth 10 hour journey which as the crow flies did not cover a huge distance but in any case covered an important political one. Twice, to check every single piece of baggage through Chinese customs. This, you do realise is to exit the country, and thirdly to change cars at the official border line as private cars or bikes for that matter are not allowed to pass! We were now in Kyrgyzstan after a little under four months in China and now officially in Central Asia. A region that may not be huge in size but very interesting in it's diversity. Not just in it's peoples but also in it's attitudes to Islam and of course the landscape. Uzbek's for example, especially in the Farg'ona valley in the eastern part of the country are particulary religious but seem to be so open in their daily lives. Not something that always goes together with intensively holy people's. Not in my experience in any case. Personally, the Farg'ona valley is a paradise on earth and all should visit it before you drop off. Do not just fly in, have a look at Samarqand and Buxoro, think you've seen it all and then fly out again. It's green, the food is great, the monuments are historic, grapes grow wherever, the weather is out of this world, the majority of the population is here which means the markets are full and where you are also offered vodka in a cup, a large cup at that while eating in a market, in a town that is very very holy. That is open as far as l am concerned. People greet you by shaking your hand and holding their hand on their heart. That is fine and it is totally genuine. Conversations between men involve a right process before beginning. How's your children, how's your health and then and only then, the news of the day! Attitudes to women may be their biggest fault but everyone's not perfect right?

Kyrgyzstan should come first though. It is true that we were only supposed to originally cross a small distance in the far south of this country but bureaucracy called at this time which created a right mess and our time in this country was dominated by return visits to the capital, Bishkek, some biking, a ridiculous journey to England and back and then a flying and unpleasant car journey to get to Osh and then out of the country. Thankfully by bike. Our time biking in Kyrgyzstan if not under stress was great. It is beautiful if never flat! This is what makes it so majestic however. We biked perhaps 400 km's from Naryn to Karakol; over the 3030 m Dolon pass which was unpaved gravel and a bit bloody hard with the house trailing behind, and then along the deep blue lake of Issyk Kul where we swam! Dorothee was followed by some good hearted children on a difficult section which just goes to show how slow-going it was. The roads were not great and the Kyrgyz drive like crazy in 1990's Audi 100's from Germany and certainly bought on the black market. Aggressive sometimes, if l happen to be standing in the road, nonchalantly of course and obviously in their way and on THE good piece of tarmac and they've had a few too many vodka's. Yurt's were everywhere where the nomad's were selling their fermented horse mare's milk by the road as they set up camp for the summer before moving lower down in altitude for the winter. I regret to say we never tasted it. The closest l came was the tea with milk that l had up in the Pamir's at Lake Karakol with the Chinese Kyrgyz. They all had beautiful horse's and some have large herds of sheep. These summer pastures are called, 'jailoo's' and it is real sound of music country with huge grassy meadows surrounded by mountains but with no fences. Makes it very easy to find a camping spot!

We first went to Bishkek from Kochkor to begin the process for my Uzbek visa and find out how l could acquire a new passport as l only had one free page left in it and that would be for the Uzbek's. We duly began the two week process for the visa by following diligently the manners in which how to properly prepare your documentation. The passport was another matter entirely. The British Consul had recently left to England due to family issues for a period of seven months without a replacement. I ask, where do your taxes go! Too much of this crap is going on in British embassies and consulates around the world and l can assure you it can stop but no-one is surely listening to me. It was an honorary consulate which l think is short for as no-one else can tell me, 'l can't actually help you as l'm lazy and paid too much', so it probably was for the best! The best the Foreign Commenwealth Office could tell me was to send my old passport to Moscow with a birth certificate, application form and the MONEY of course and you SHOULD recieve a new passport in FIVE weeks upon reception and please do not travel during this eternal time. I thought WHAT the F++K. Are you silly, stupid and lacking a brain. I'm not the violent type either! First l coulden't have applied for a new passport in China as you can't enter and leave on different passports and you certainly do not mess with Chinese bureaucracy so this could not have been done earlier. Second, l was travelling and you need a passport as ID in Kyrgyzstan plus the fact that you can only stay in the country a maximum of one month on entry. Third, l don't carry a birth certificate and how do you think l got the original passport. So basically l had a PROBLEM. Not least because we were going to Uzbekistan in three weeks and also needed to begin the process for a third time for the Iranian visa which this time we would try to do with an agent and hence would take a month where they first would need a scan of my new passport! It was the passport office in London that finally gave me the one and only and particularly expensive and crazy option. This was to fly to England with an appointment for 4 hour passport processing and then fly back again. Luckily l like crazy options and also losing perspective of things like money. So this is what l did. Crazy it was, tiring it was and an expensive Aeroflot ticket via Moscow it was. Large debt we surely have but who gives. I have a new passport, the game for the visa for Iran has now started again and we passed the two borders of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan with my old and new passport as the visa's could not be transferred. This was the last hurdle but it proved not to be a problem. I'm still tired a little over a week later but l had a really good time seeing a few priveledged friends in the process. The thing that get's me is that this doeen't need to happen. I was travelling and l had a serious problem. British diplomats are useless especially when l have heard stories of Slovenian and Dutchmen getting a passport abroad while travelling with little issue. Plus, the Irish upstart, who l had the pleasure of talking to on the telephone at 11.30 p.m in a sleepy Kyrgyz town seemed to be trying to do me over. I was trying to arrange this appointment in London and he had the cheek to tell me that l coulden't actually apply for a passport in the UK. His perfect reasoning was that it was because l had abandoned the UK 4 years ago and do not have these priveledges anymore. I put the boy right straightaway l can tell you and he soon saw the error of his way's when he understood my predicament. Before l put him right though he continued on saying that l should have done it in Canada before l left. That is how those consulates are funded! Deluded that is all l can say. I had ten pages left and five years validity. He then said l should have sat down with an adviser to learn how many pages l would be expected to use during the trip. How an earth did l know l would stay for four months in China, use five pages just in China etc etc. All l can say is, seriously deluded. It's these type of process's that make the world so full of profiteering blockheads. Luckily we can still go in search of the great and the genuine which there are still thankfully a huge amount.

It was Ramadam for the most of our time in Kyrgyzstan but it didn't really affect us too much. We had the pleasure of staying with a really nice family in Kochkor where the Mother of the family and her children would spend all the Saterday afternoon preparing a great meal that many people would enjoy after sundown. They apologized profusely in advance for the noise they would make but for the amount of people that were there it was hardly noisy at all. Apart from when we were camping we would stay with a family as most accomodation outside Bishkek is in the form of homestay's and infact the only affordable accomodation in Bishkek is in a homestay/hostel! Otherwise it is European levels. The Kyrgyz in general are very reserved and family life is quite closed even if sometimes Oceanne could play happily with the other children. It was a huge change compared to China. I have never seen such a huge change in culture by crossing a frontier such as China's with Kyrgyzstan. No more Communist controls for internet or what hotel we could stay in! After we had finished biking in Karakol we took an ancient Russian military jeep up into the Arashan valley at 2600 m on what was little more than a very rocky track. The driver was pretty skilled and the jeep perhaps ever more so. Valentine, our Ukranian host had built his own covered hot spring pool next to the charging river in a valley that was well known for it's thermal baths. It was a small piece of paradise even though the weather turned not so great soon after we arrived. The accomadation was basic but to be able to go down to the hot pool upon waking and then a bit of a hike later was a good bit of time together before we put the bikes on a bus to Bishkek again. This time to pick up the Uzbek visa and then fly to England.

Upon my return we were soon packed and prepared to speed to Osh, the famous embattled town 10 hours to the south where the only crossing into Uzbekistan for tourists is open. All border crossings are closed to locals. Strange why they choose Osh as the crossing point between the two countries as only 3 months ago it was the scene of such carnage. Our lift to Osh was with a Kyrgyz man who was a bizarre character but at least we got there. This road it turns out is the best in Kyrgyzstan in terms of surface even though it crosses three huge mountain ranges. I lost a bit of money during the journey and l can still not work it out if it was me or him. Very bad to accuse though. We arrived in the early hours of the morning where l had to pay a small fine at the military checkpoint that guard's the entrance to the town. Supposedly for the baggage on the roof as there was no more space in the boot. Checkpoints still control all entrance's to the town and the burnt houses and business's are very much in evidence. All of them Uzbek. No Central Asian country likes another one and the Kyrgyz want the Uzbek's out but the thing is they have been here the whole time and so essentially they are Kyrgyz but no, it is not that simple. It is all due to Stalin and his creative drawings of the frontiers. Designed to force conflict and it works very well. After a day in Osh we biked to the border and l have never been so happy to enter a country as l did on entering Uzbekistan. Not because it was great as l didn't know it yet but because after all the backwards and forwards of the last month and even my personal doubt of passing this border, we were finally moving with our pedals and we both felt really good. The gates were locked when we arrived at the border but they were opened for us. That was a good feeling but it still, so very really, highlighted the problems that this border has. It was a major bonus that the Farg'ona valley which Osh is also a part of, was such an amazing place. We have since biked right through the valley to Khojand in Tajikistan which is the direct route to the western side of Uzbekistan such is the sense of the Central Asian borders. The borders take two hours to cross and exiting takes just as long as entering as everything is done by hand. We will probably be back in Uzbekistan tomorrow. In the Farg'ona valley we passed through Andijon, Farg'ona town where we saw how they still made silk in nearby Margilan from worm to finished product using the original methods with little or no electricity and then to Kokand with it's impressive Khan's palace and Juma Mosque. We then crossed over to Tajikistan for our two day ride, in headwinds it has to be said but Khojand is a good place to relax for the day, being mainly Uzbek in population and with a really active bazaar. Uzbekistan has really surprised me as a country and l look forward to seeing if the more visited western part suits us like the east did. Fingers crossed for Iran too. If we don't get it after a third time trying then you've just got to give up l suppose. Let's see if the adage of, if you don't succeed then try, try again Actually Works!

All the best, Rupert

11.951 km's and 31 flats.

Purple And Blue Highlights

The Uighurs, Xinjiang and Kaxgar

Hello,

Since Bishkek, already almost at the end of our stay in Kyrgyzstan, I can speak with some delay the Uighurs.

The Uighurs are from Mongolia. They put an end to the domination of the Tang Dynasty in Xinjiang in the 11th and 12th century. Only in the 14th century that Islam penetrated in the region. Han Chinese presence does not date from the 20th century. I will not dwell on history, you can go for example on Wikipedia! After a short first first Republic of East Turkestan in 1933-1934, the 2d Republic of East Turkestan, Soviet satellite, remained independent 5years. It was formally integrated into China in 1949 after its leaders have disappeared in a mysterious plane crash going to a meeting with Chinese President Mao Zedong ... After that, the Xinjiang region has served in exile during the Cultural Revolution and land for nuclear tests ...

Since China uses the petroleum resources of the Taklamakan desert, the interest in this area has developed. We encourage Hans to migrate in this region. They pay no tax and revenue benefits. The growing presence of Han creates tensions with the Uighurs. The cities we crossed, at the northern desert have become very "Hans". Apart Turpan and Kuqa or there is a life and a significant Uighur neighborhood, we find very dilute Uighurs in other cities. Urumqi, for exmple, is a city now has 75% Han. Change is not only in terms of population, but also in terms of urbanization. The Chinese are the same as what they did at home by removing the Hutongs, the little old houses and replacing them with high-rise apartments. In town, there are still a large square with fountains. People come to watch the "spectacle" of the fountains which operate only at the end of the day, often accompanied by music. And then, what are the main avenues. My biggest shock was to see the demolition neighborhoods in the city of Kaxgar, mythical town in the history of the Silk Road. 2 million inhabitants were expelled. The statue of Mao and the square are somehow the separation between the city and the city Uygur Han "old". But the latter is becoming increasingly disabled in architecture. The houses are not falling apart and refurbished, ready to be demolished. Apparently, a neighborhood will be preserved for them to do sightseeing.

We talk about the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, but it's pretty ironic. The Uighurs do not have the freedom to choose what form of architecture will be rebuilt neighborhoods. Someone suggested the idea that China built long and wide avenues in place of the maze of streets and alleys that kinks because there was easier to control the population. This expands the visual field. I also learned that the Uighurs, like Tibetans, were not allowed to own a passport - no right to leave the country. This is one of the employees of the hostel Kaxgar, computer science student, who spoke to me. He wants to go to gain experience abroad, but it remains a dream. The only way is not guaranteed eventual move to another province, not an "autonomous region" to live there for 5 years that the address on the ID card is changed and then be able to apply for a passport. After 5 years, it is often Minutes have something in studies ... I consider this as a suppression of human rights. That does not hold the Uighurs has senior professional positions in the hierarchy ... A country like Cuba to Cubans leaving the experience abroad. but the strength has come back so that their expertise is not lost. The Uighurs can not even do this. If they fail to take some expertise, it is brought in Hans. That is how we found the majority Uighur minority in becoming the low ranks of society and minorities becoming majority Han in the high ranks.

Apart from that, has Kaxgar and only in this city, we saw almost every night of military trucks and police (I do no visual difference) moving on the main avenues. As if they were always prepared for demonstrations, they were seen sitting in trucks protected by their shields. Probably to impress ... While in all cities it is possible to request an extension of one month in China, it is not possible a Kaxgar only if you need a little more time to leave the country, as it is a city not far from the border with Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. If it is to extend our tourist season, we must make the request in another city, more to the east.

excepted cities, on our way, all the villages have remained almost entirely Uighur. Food was close to that now found in Central Asia. The writing is in Arabic, following the conversion to Islam of the Uighurs. In 1956, the Cyrillic alphabet was adopted in 1959 to secure it abandons the Latin alphabet. In 1981, the Chinese authorities decide on return to the Arabic script to meet the demands of elite Muslim Uighur. It seems that this is one reason why the Uyghurs have an easier time learning English than the Han. We met a lot more than Hans Uighurs speak English. The language is close to Turkish. It was in an area where we felt more at home as well in the rest of China. Besides a Kaxgar, there were Turkish products in the grocery Uighur. Nothing to do with grocery hans! The Uighurs are not subject to the policy of the Chinese birth rate. I think it is the same for all the autonomous regions for the survival of minorities. Some we spoke to have the right to have 2, others 3. other 4 children! Much has

wanders the streets of Kaxgar, but not only ca. We went to walk the animals on Sunday. Here are the sales and purchases of sheep, cows, bulls, goats, donkeys. There were also some who were too hot yaks and camels. This is an area very well on men. Women do not sell and do not buy animals, but are presented. We then went to the Grand Bazaar. I was wondering if I would find some flavors or a few images of old, the days of caravans. But no, not really. Here we find women buying fabrics to make their dresses or buying the equipment to school for the return to school approaching. There was very little food, little restaurants walking or products for sale. I do not know if it all the time like that or is it because it was during Ramadan.

Question Ramadan religion issue. I found this city more Muslim than the rest seen in Xinjiang. I saw women dressed in long black robe that covers their colorful clothes underneath. And they were never seen elsewhere, a brown scarf they posed directly on their heads to hide their faces - like a child playing with a towel and hiding underneath. That they sometimes lift. These women are generally rather old. Since it was Ramadan, the restaurants in the neighborhood were beginning to activate only starting from 19h. Whenever we came to nibble on the street, people could be as nonchalant as we look with malice. We tried then to do a little more attention. Maybe this city is becoming less religious over time and the increased presence of the Han. It was recommended a few years ago to have the arms and legs covered. This is the case now.

We could not prevent us to see what looked like a the Karakorum Highway and road leading from Kaxgar to travel to Islamabad in Pakistan. It passes through the Pamir mountain range and shows the peaks of 6000-7000m. We did not have enough time to climb by bike, we went by car. We went to Lake Kara-Kul 3600m for an overnight stay. He found there a village "autonomous" nomadic Kyrgyz. We bring everything to eat and sleep, but the Kyrgyz also offered hospitality in their yurts. We spent the early evening or Oceanne was delighted to play with a baby. The walk around the lake was of course magnificent. Check out the pictures! The next day we went up Tashkorgan, last town before Pakistan. It a city "autonomous" Tajik. We already felt the mix of people here. Our driver, and not Chinese Uighur, it was repeated several times, and also a Muslim, was arrested several times for prayer. As we did not break lunch was a picnic in the car. I felt uncomfortable, especially when a Tashkorgan, we stopped buying nans (breads round and almost flat) all hot and fresh that they were eating in front of him. Difficult to always be careful ... The Karakoram Highway, Chinese side is really very beautiful, especially when one goes to Pakistan. When one goes down, we find the landscape a lot more desert. It is very well maintained, paved, although there regularly landslides. The road passes in the valley sometimes very wide, but sometimes a cliff. The Chinese do not have cement walls and so there are landslides. The road is often blocked, but very quickly cleared. It was a very pleasant trip!

Kaxgar Back in, back to the hostel and we ended up to 15 cyclists. From never lived for most of us. Kaxgar has remained for us what it was once for merchant caravans, a large crossroads and meeting point. Some arrived from Pakistan via the Karakoram Highway, some came from Tajikistan via the Pamir Highway, some from Kyrgyzstan and a Japanese and we were the only ones to arrive from the east China. Most wanted to visit Tibet, and had followed our original itinerary. They all abandoned the idea of Tibet when he heard about greater restrictions. Until 2008, cyclists were able to slip through the cracks of checkpoints at the entrance of Tibet and then apply for a permit arrived in Lhasa. The cyclists will communicate the location of checkpoints to prevent or to go straight. Since the checkpoints are more severe, move, and even inside Tibet, the controls prevent movement. The only way to go by bike is to be accompanied by a guide at any time following you on the road and forces you to sleep at some places. This is the case for all of China for all motor vehicles. Those without a Chinese driver's license are not allowed to travel alone. We escape the rule ... Renouncing the idea of going to Tibet, the cyclists were in reflection for the rest of their journey. We were surprised not to encounter cyclists on the road north of the desert in Xinjiang (only 3 in the opposite direction and a Chinese from Lanzhou to Urumqi). When there is a choice of routes, it is understandable, but when there are just two, no. But then we realized why has Kaxgar. Finding the distance too great and little interest in the desert, the cyclists were all ready to "jump" by plane, train or bus this region. What a pity! They would know the Uighurs by Kaxgar. To each his own! Many of them had passed through Iran and gave us the idea in mind to go. We're trying a third time the visa application, this time with the help of an agency. Only 75% of persons holding passports from Commonwealth countries have a visa. To us the chance? ...

after all that, it was time for us to leave for Kyrgyzstan, among other reasons because our 3rd Chinese expansion was nearing its end, and also because it was more than a week we were at Kaxgar. There are many benefits. It was based in the desert as we wanted. Oceanne was still in contact with people other than us and it was positive for all three! From the east or west, for each of cyclists, it was long we had not taken such a long break. We included all. We all needed to stop pedaling, but after one week, everyone was talking about to leave! Friendly atmosphere. Hostelling International in the Uighur area. I highly recommend it!

We had to go to Bishkek, capital of Kirghyzistan to get our visa to Uzbekistan, that we did not have the patience to do in Beijing. So, we could not just going through the south. There are only 2 places to go from China to Kirghyzistan by the neck of Irkeshtam south and north Torugart Pass. For reasons such as "is the Chinese government," it is forbidden to circulate freely for non Kirghyzes and not for the Chinese crossing the border and not by Torugart Irkhestam. It is the same for Kunjerab, the neck is China-Pakistan border. The non-Chinese and non-Pakistanis are forced to board a bus to the border with Tashkorgan Pakistan. For Torugart is from a checkpoint Chinese, long before the actual border with Kirghyzistan, we can not circulate. But there is no bus, you must have a case for a transportation agency denies. Because we did not have time to go through Irkhestam (4 days of cycling since Kaxgar) and we had to quickly go to Bishkek for visas (we had decided to spend several days Kaxgar), we chooses Torugart. We're also told that Kaxgar Nour would go from Bishkek to Osh by bicycle to go to Uzbekistan and then so that we would not Irkhestam-Osh-Bishkek first in the other direction. China wanted to make sure we do not rest the neck at the border, it also requires us to ride in a vehicle on the Kyrgyz checkpoint until much further - in this sense China-Kirghyzistan. In the sense Kirghyzistan-China can move freely from the Kyrgyz side, but we must have a vehicle then the other side of the boundary of the chinese side. All this "no man's land" does not seem particularly to the point of banning freedom of movement for foreigners. But it is the Chinese government! Perhaps it is also better than that was before. China opens its borders! So we took a jeep from Kaxgar to the border. Denied the right to go further, another jeep waiting for us to go up in Naryn Kirghyzistan. We had to load our things 3 times on the roof of the jeep, once a Kaxgar, once at the first checkpoint because the Chinese wanted to see the contents of our bags, once in the neck at the border, but nothing kirghyze checkpoint when we brought things on their territory. Perhaps the Chinese do they work up to Laura? In total, we showed our passports 9 times, 6 times the chinese side including 3 at the same time the first post of duty, "the truth", and 3 times the odds kirghyze. The road is in very bad condition, mostly unpaved, even the chinese side, the "pros" of roads. Parties early in the morning Kaxgar, we arrived in very late after-noon to Naryn. Long day! The Chinese driver was not Muslim. We have made no arrest, no meals, no prayer, only the judgments of the checkpoints. The road itself is absolutely beautiful. This is not the channel that we crossed the Pamirs, but that of the Tian Shan. The side kirghyze, landscapes, mountains are all green. A big visual change very appreciable. North of the Tian Shan is green, the south is dry. North of the Pamir is dry, south (I have not been there), it's green. In short, China is dry and we have long seen! Even if it seemed strange to leave China after almost 4 months (I'm never stayed as long as a tourist in a country), we had become accustomed to surprises in store for us every day this country, was very happy arriving at Kirghyzistan. We felt it was good right away. Central Asia as it speaks to us geopolitically opened even if we had begun to discover in Xinjiang, and especially Kaxgar.

You can go see the photos directly on the picasa site:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/dorotheeetrupert

to see you soon Kirghyzistan more about that is about to leave!

Dorothee