Bushcamping Bonanza

We last left you on a cliff hanger in Bishkek with Nick and his police encounter. Turned out poor guy hadn't done anything wrong, had been on his way to the bank and then promptly frog marched back to the hotel. The light fingered coppers had somehow managed to Derren Brown £60 from his wallet. Bishkek does suffer from slightly dark undertones, particularly at night. No real harm done and a beer and game of pool volleyball in the lovely hotel pool helped to cool things down.

German beer hall in Bishkek

Pool volleyball in Bishkek

Which way?

We've arrived in China against all odds via the Torguart Pass, renowned for being Asia's most unpredictable border crossing, involving 6 check points over 150km of roads prone to landslides and flooding. The goal posts change every year seemingly at the official's whim. This year we were allowed to keep our peanut butter, it was the firewood they were after, and we had to pay for the pleasure of them taking it away. Perhaps someone was planning a BBQ that evening.

Bushcamp enroute to the China border

The road to China...

More on China in the next blog, but first, back to Kyrgyzstan, where we have spent the last 10 days out in the wilds having a splendid time, with very few showers and no wifi, hence the delay in news. Eagle hunting, lake swimming, horse and donkey riding, truck cleaning, felt buying, yurt staying, killing each other and playing in the mud with Calypso.

Our first stop was a night by Lake Issyk-Kol, the second largest alpine lake in the world, after Lake Titicaca in South America. Over 170km long and 70km across the lake is surprisingly warm, a combination of extreme depth, thermal activity and mild salinity. We headed around the south side and turning off the road onto a track we trundled towards the lake edge and found the perfect spot, a section of private beach and plenty of room to spread out and pitch tents. Some had a refreshing swim in the lake looking up at the snow capped mountains. There was ample firewood around so Jim and Mikkel, on fire duty, gathered wood from all around and built a bonfire worthy of Guy Fawkes. Mars bar vodka was cooked up as a fireside treat, it was also a good chance to finish off the Georgian cha cha, some struggling to stomach it so instead turning flame thrower and adding fuel to the fire. 

Lake Issyk Kul bushcamp

Not a bad view to wake up to!

Rowan & Pip take a swim in the lake

Jim & Mikkel making the fire

John gathering wood

Mikkel and the Mars Bar vodka

Making the vodka, Mikkel & Rogan

It also seemed about time in the trip when people feel like killing each other, so it was here that we started off a game of Murder on The Truck. A bit like Cluedo but with real truck life victims, weapons and locations. Murder was rife on the first night with plenty of people falling victim to weapons like mops and head torches.

Shelagh, a breakfast victim...  who was to blame?

On our way further round the lake we stopped off and met a local Kyrgyz man and his 9 year old golden eagle, trained from birth to be his hunting companion. Everyone had a chance to hold the majestic bird. Then the cute fluffy rabbit with big dewey eyes was brought out. The eagle owner placed the bunny on the dusty ground where he hopped around happily, he then climbed a hill and released the bird. The group looked on in horror on as the bird took off and soared above the bunny “Run bunny run!” they shouted. The bird took aim and swooped down, the bunny darted left and right narrowly escaping capture from the eagles sharp talons. That was a close shave. Asked if we wanted to see it have another go there was a resounding no! Bunny 1 Eagle 0.

The Eagle hunter and his eagle

Cindy's close shave!

Nick

Mikkel, and his biggest catch to date

The lucky bunny!

Rowan and the lucky bunny!

We then spent three nights up in Jeti-Oguz national park, the entrance guarded by red sandstone cliffs called the seven bulls after seven calves who grew big and strong in the fertile pastures. Accessed by some precarious log bridges we were greeted with tall fir trees, glacial melt rivers, sunshine, wild flowers and abundant hiking opportunities. The group hiked to a waterfall one day and made friends with some locals who'd arrived for the day, overloading family and friends into the back of a truck, Lada or two, and bringing a lamb with them. Then generously invited the whole group over to join them for afternoon tea and a taste of the mutton. With only a few words of Kyrgyz and Russian between us there was a considerable language barrier, it was sign language, smiles, games, music and dancing resulting in a cracking afternoon. Everything was dragged out, the unicycle, vodka, frisbee, football, cha cha, volleyball and even the Mars bar vodka.

The seven bulls

Calypso crossing the bridges

Braving the bridge

Walking the plank(s)

Picnic, Kyrgyz style

Picnic games

Shelagh & Pip hiking in the gorge

Jeti Oguz yurts

The next day some went horse riding, although a shortage of horses meant a young girl riding past was persuaded to dismount for a few hours and sit at camp whilst we enjoyed her horse, looking slightly agitated as the hours went past, they eventually returned and off she galloped with her pails of mares milk. Enough relaxing, it was time for one of those truck parties (aka truck clean) so everyone set about giving Calypso a spring clean, feverishly cleaning pots and pans, knives and forks, windows and tables. Di picked out the coveted role of DJ and bar, choosing the tunes and keeping everyone in good spirits, and set up a novel river bar, sinking a crate into the cool river keeping the drinks chilled. It must have been Di's day as later on as one of the last remaining murderers alive, she managed to claim the final victim and be victorious, murdering Nick with a piece of stale bread at the library, having carried it in her pocket for days.

Laura, Di and Betsy head off on horses

Di and her ingenious bar fridge

Chris on spoons duty

Ryan & G Rod on window cleaning duty

You missed a bit!

Heading back to civilisation for a night in Kochkor we split the group amongst four different houses for a night's homestay, giving us a chance to see how much felt the locals have in their own homes, it's impressive. The bathroom facilities varying, one house were lucky enough to have a sauna! The following morning we enjoyed a visit to a small women's co-operative making felt products. Requiring volunteers to dance on the rolled up damp felt to seal the design, G-Rod had the moves, and stepped up to the felt to gave it a good pounding. Obligatory shopping afterwards and a goodly amount of felt now fills the truck.

G Rod and Gill assisting in the felt-making process

Chris dancing on the felt

Rolling the felt

Kyrgyz art and felt

Traditional felt hat

We then drove to the spectacular Lake Song Kul, 3,030m up exciting, steep, narrow and cliff hugging roads, a road only attempted by the adventurous few. Once over the pass we headed across the expansive fertile plateau crossing rivers and bouncing along dirt tracks. The lake only being accessible for 3 months of the year due to the amount of snow but revealing fertile grazing land in the summer, the reason the nomadic Kyrgyz move their yurts and cattle up there for the warmer months. It still felt pretty chilly to us so a large contingent upgraded to some community yurts and were scarcely seen for two days. A delicious warming roast lamb was served up for Sunday lunch with all the trimmings, including mint sauce all the way from England.

Galloping horses alongside the road to Song Kul

Helping out

The road to Song Kul

Yurts, the lake and mountains at Song Kul

Lamb legs on the fire

Roast lamb - Jeff and Jim on carving duty

Mikkel causing mayhem on the donkey

Mikkel swapped a banana for a donkey ride!

Nick's tent...

The storm's coming - Jim and Mikkel hurry back with the water

The Kyrgyz men love a good game of polo and were delighted to get together and put on a game for us. Only they have an alternative playing piece of a goat carcass, freshly slaughtered for those with stomach enough to watch. An exhilarating game commenced with two younger men versus two elders. They galloped across and hung off the saddle to haul the carcass up, then attempted to get to the other end of the pitch without the beast being wrestled from them, the team-mate blocking and nudging the opponent out of the way. Eventually a point is scored when the carcass is thrown down on the goal, a square felt mat. It's a wonder the carcass wasn't totally torn apart on the pitch. Meanwhile the women are cooking up the head and awaiting the rest of the tenderised meat once the men have finished playing. The playing field being loosely marked out so at times the players careered towards the spectators who scattered shrieking, not knowing which way they would turn next. The end score was 3-1 to the younger men. A wonderful traditional game to watch and be a part of.

The goat's last moments

Goat polo

Kid looks delighted!

Checking the weight of the carcass

We attempted to leave Song Kul the next morning, but having rained heavily over night, the muddy hills were more difficult to get out of than they were to get in. The back wheels started spinning and the truck sliding meaning roll backs and tackling a different route, cutting up the grass on the hillside. Finally one section got the better of us and we weren't going anywhere. Sand mats are great things to have on the truck but are just that, sand mats. Not specifically designed for mud. Over a couple of hours we tried everything we could think of, digging, shovelling, collecting stones and gravel and throwing them in the ever deepening hole we were digging ourselves into. Eventually we got a rope off the roof and used man power to pull the truck out, tug of war style. Once we were out and moving Jeff had volunteered to run ahead with the tow rope so it didn't get tangled under the truck, hilariously looking as if he were taking a pet for a run, not accounting for the altitude we were at, it wasn't long before Jeff's lungs were burning and we had to stop in the mud again. Thankfully only for a few minutes this time, we collectively held our breath on the last few hills and river crossings before hitting the main track again to cheers. The clay like mud had taken its toll and worked its way into the brakes on one side so before descending the mountain pass we whipped off the wheel and drum and gave it a good clean. Everything being tickety-boo we drove on for a further 10 hours on some terrible roads, more mountain passes, through pouring rain, reversing to pick up a spare spring that had broken free from its mounting along the way, and at last reached a stunning bush camp for the night, hidden up in the hills, surrounded by snow-capped peaks, a fitting end to our time in Kyrgyzstan, just 20km shy of the first border checkpoint.

Oops, stuck!

Still stuck...

Run, Jeff, run!

Tug-o-war, overlanding style!

Nick and Rogan demonstrate a novel way of straightening sandmats!

Even if you can't take 6 months out and join us on this epic adventure, or 3 months to join Odyssey on an expedition from Kathmandu to Istanbul or Beijing to Istanbul, Kyrgyzstan is absolutely worth putting on the bucket list and using your annual leave for. The adventure continues through China over the next month. Wish you were here!

Fantastic torch graffiti