We waved goodbye to the Great Wall and headed off into the West to a part of China that was steadily looking less and less like, well, China. Our first stop was Dunhuang, a city nestled on the edge of the sand dunes and home to the famous Mogao Grottoes, similar to Yungang and Bingling Si they are impressive caves full of beautiful Buddhist artwork and statues.
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| Having a drink in Dunhuang with the sand dunes in the distance as the sun sets |
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| Giant Yungang Buddha |
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| Apsala painting - a Buddhist angel |
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| Helen in the sand |
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| Sunset in Dunhuang |
It is also home to the weird and wonderful Dunhuang Acrobatic Show. Think Cirque de Soleil meets Disney meets Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat all telling an ancient local legend about ‘Deer Girl’ and her adventures through the deserts and mountains, add in some live camels and you’ve got a recipe for a brilliant night.
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| Apsallas |
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| Rabbits |
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| Wait... is that a live camel? |
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| Yes, yes it is! |
After the excitement of the show we headed to the fabulous Dunhuang night market for some tasty and sometimes strange food...
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| Who could resist a sign like that? |
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| Pork bubbling away to make famous Dunhuang hamburgers - allegedly the predecessor of and inspiration for the American hamburger |
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| Burger mix - eat your heart out McDonalds |
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| Funny stall names |
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| Risky! |
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| Dunhuang night market |
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| No that is not a mistranslation - donkeys are fair game too |
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| Tasty dried fruits |
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| I am the melon man - I come from far away |
We left Dunhuang and entered the Taklamakan Desert which stretches right across Western China to its borders with Central Asia. It roughly translates as ‘go in and don’t come out’ which at times it was easy to believe with some big drives, long days and high temperatures while vast swathes of nothing stretched out in every direction.
In the middle of this desert we stopped for a few days in Turpan, one of the lowest points on Earth, which makes it a rather warm place, temperatures of 40C in the shade are very normal here. But with grape vines over the streets to create shade, water channels running down the sides of the roads producing a cool breeze and the grape harvest going on in the surrounding area giving the city a smell of sweet grapes drying in the sun it was a very pleasant place to stay.
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| Meat in Turpan |
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| Simon, Wendy, Barry, Sarah, Helen and Peter at the local food market |
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| Pauline & Keith |
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| Tasty snails |
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| Everything is bigger and better in China - the world's only 4-er peanut! |
Whilst in Turpan we enlisted the help of Omar, a Uighur guide, the local ethnic group, to take us to see the karez channels that run water in to the city from the mountains to the North, the only reason anyone can live here at all.
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| Omar, our guide for the day |
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| Statue showing the ancient building techniques - yes that is a real stuffed cow |
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| Brightly coloured local clothes |
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| Keith & Elizabeth take refuge by the aircon! |
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| With many a winding turn... |
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| Simon photographs the Karez channel |
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| Learning about the Karez system |
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| Ken in a local hat |
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| Tasty fresh grape juice - sweeter and yummier than you can imagine! |
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| Keith attempts an arm wrestle - the look on his face is actual pain as the bronze statue was about 400 degrees! |
He also took us to the Jiahoe ruins, an ancient city dug out of the rock by nomadic tribes who finally decided to settle down and not being bound by traditions of bricks and mortar they decided to dig down, rather than build up. The city was abandoned after the Mongolians arrived and left to slowly disintegrate but unlike most Chinese ancient sites it has been left as it is, not refurbished to its former glory, which was a relief for most of us who prefer our old things to look old! The blistering sun reminded us that of the harsh life the people here must have had and the remaining underground basement rooms looked very cool and inviting!
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| Jaiohe city |
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| The team braves the heat |
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| Ancient dug out street |
Turpan is most famous for its grapes and as well as some very nice local wine the dry intense heat and karez irrigation systems mean that they produce some of the best raisins in the world.
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| Grape drying buildings |
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| Grape festival |
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| Slinky skills |
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| Tasty snacks |
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| Beautiful beads |
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| Good enough to eat |
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| Helen looks for a new dress |
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| Turpan by night |
With a brief stop in the town of Kuche, two more long drives across the hot dry desert brought us to our final stop in China, Kashgar. By this time it was hard to believe that we were in China anymore, the people are mostly Uighur Muslims, the rapidly shrinking old town is made of mud buildings and narrow streets and the streets are lined with kebab stalls and bread ovens. We had a chance to explore the fabulous bazaar with its silk, spices and furs, the silk road was alive and kicking around us, and old town of Kashgar and get a little taste of what we will see later in Uzbekistan.
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| The halls of our hotel - it used to be the Russian consulate during the 'Great Game' |
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| Does what it says on the door |
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| Kashgar Mosque |
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| Kashgar old town |
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| Spices |
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| Helen thinks outside the box for souvenirs |
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| Dried fruits and nuts at the market |
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| Giant cup of tea anyone? |
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| Silk road |
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| Handicrafts are alive and well here |
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| Emma debates buying a dumpling steamer - dumplings are soon to be a thing of the past once we leave China |
Now it was time for probably the biggest change on any border on any Odyssey trip in the world, the crossing from China to Kyrgyzstan. Why a big change? Well imagine going from a world of high rises to felt yurts, tall fences to vast open plains, hotels to camps, restaurants to campfires and you’ll begin to imagine how we felt. The border was a straight forward but drawn out process with no less than 6 check-points, a lot of waiting around for various lunch-hours to end and beautiful scenery that proved rather frustrating as no photos are allowed for about 100km around the border!
We crossed the Torugart Pass over the Tian Shan mountains at around 4000m above sea level and finally the last box had been ticked and passport stamped and we were waving goodbye to Jason, our local Chinese guide and greeting Said, our Kyrgyz guide and into Kyrgyzstan!
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| Penelope playing the waiting game at one of the checkpoints - Flagrant disregard of the 'no photos' rule! |
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| Changing scenery |
Our first stop was just up the road from the border in a small place called Tash Rabat, home to an ancient stone structure thought to be a Caravansarai (an Inn on the ancient Silk Road) though Said introduced us to lots of different theories about its origin.
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| Welcome to Kyrgyzstan! |
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| Penelope and the Caravansarai |
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| Said, our local guide, tells us about the building |
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| Luxury bedroom! |
Our home was a yurt camp, yurts being the traditional nomadic homes for herders during the summer months and also a fantastic place for us to spend a couple of nights to adjust to the cold after a long time in the deserts of Western China in our warm little yurts being looked after by Yuri the crazy Russian with his homemade sauna and experiencing Kyrgyz hospitality and jam - undoubtedly the best jam in the world. We also had a new addition to the group here in the form of Roger!
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| Home sweet home |
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| To the place I belong |
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| Richard, Peter and our newbie - Roger |
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| Yurt sweet yurt |
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| Kyrgyz dinner |
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| Standard Kyrgyz table spread |
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| Happy crew to be in Kyrgyzstan - Simon & Emma |
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| Elizabeth enjoys her yurt |
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| Hikers disappear in to the hills (they're the tiny dots in the middle left - if you're on a small screen phone you'll have to imagine them!) |
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| Hikers bird watch |
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| Simon & Helen |
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| Said, our local guide, in his element |
It was a great chance for everyone to spread their wings and explore, something it is very difficult to do in China, everyone was falling for Kyrgyzstan very quickly.
From Tash Rabat we headed for a night at a homestay in Naryn to shower, shop and shave before heading up to Lake Song Kul, a stunning open plain high in the mountains where herders bring their animals for the summer to roam free and feast on the lush grass while the humans set up home in cosy yurts and feast on the tasty animals!
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| Road to Song Kul |
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| Cameras soaking up the view |
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| Keith, Richard & Roger |
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| Simon cooks the famous Odyssey lasagne |
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| Blessed with stunning sunshine the whole time |
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| Yurt vs tent vs chicken |
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| Diane, Ken & Elizabeth |
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| Pile of cow pats for burning |
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| Lake Song Kul itself |
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| Cosy yurts |
While we were up there we we able to arrange a game of Goat Polo in conjunction with another overland group we ran in to. Goat Polo has to be in the top 10 strangest sports in the world, ever heard of how football started back in medieval times when locals would slaughter a pig and kick its bladder around the town? Well this is much the same, except instead of a pig you slaughter a sheep or goat, and instead of its bladder you chop off its legs and head and use the torso as a ball. Oh and rather than running around the young men show off their prowess on their horses by riding around and attempting to wrestle the sheep from each other. It’s hardly RSPCA endorsed but tells you a lot about the reality of life for the nomadic peoples of the high Kyrgyzstan plains. We watched the mayhem of the game as the horses careered around the area with added dogs, children, puppies, chickens and a rather annoyed donkey, not to mentioned a slightly bruised spectator when a stampede came our way, it’s up to the crowd to get out the way when necessary - health and safety has not made it to Kyrgyzstan!
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| The crowd gathers for the game |
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| Penelope and our tents are in the firing line |
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| The game begins |
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| Wrestling the sheep |
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| It's a tough, tiring game |
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| The sheep's head and legs go off for dinner |
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| Young goat polo fan gets a prime view |
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| The crowd can be as interesting as the game itself |
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| Young fan meets his heroes |
Down from the hills to the little town of Kochkor and another Kyrgyz homestay, the big hotels of China were far behind us as Kyrgyzstan is keen to promote local tourism and has a fantastic network called CBT (community based tourism) where cosy, friendly family run B&Bs are the main accommodation on offer, aside from the yurts! Kochkor is home to a lovely women’s co-operative felt workshop, felt is an important material here as it is used to build the yurts, as well as make the local hats. We all trooped along to the the felt workshop and were bossed around until we helped to create our own rather messy felt creation!
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| Old Russian cars in Kochkor |
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| Local man in a traditional felt hat |
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| Lenin - not in China anymore! |
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| Tery - sheep pelts |
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| Pauline at the felt shop |
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| Barry beats the wool |
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| Kittens and children at the felt workshop |
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| Roger sorts through the felt |
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| Richard and the felt lady |
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| Our wonderful creation! |
Another day, another stunning destination, we made our way across a desert and past a reservoir (looking rather empty as Kyrgyzstan has sold all the water to dry, dusty Uzbekistan) and around the southern shore of huge Lake Issuk Kul before creeping our way in to the mountains on a stunning road complete with some rather rickety wooden bridges (everyone off the truck for those!) to the Diety Orgus Valley, another area used for herds of animals during the summer, and we set up camp next to some yurts which many people chose to upgrade to, having become rather attached to the yurt lifestyle! The valley allowed us to go on walks, explore and generally enjoy the relaxed nomadic pace of life. Emma, our tour leader, also got to spend her birthday in one of her favourite countries in the world, so she was rather happy - a celebration with cake and the mandatory (and very cheap) Kyrgyz vodka was required!
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| Driving around Lake Issyk Kul |
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| The 'Seven Bulls' that watch over the valley and give it its name |
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| Helen & the glacial river |
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| Out walking |
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| Locals and their pet eagle |
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| Pauline is not sure about horse riding |
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| Evening campfire |
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| Dinner round the fire |
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| Emma enjoying her birthday in this beautiful spot |
Coming back down to the flat land around the lake we restocked with food and left Penelope, our trusty steed, down in the town of Karakol before loading up on to some Russian military trucks called ‘Gaz-es’ and headed up a road we couldn’t hope to take Penelope on to a high mountain refuge called Altyn Arashan. It is a rickety old wooden building with a warm fire, a caretaker who had had a little too much vodka, a local group of youngsters from Bishkek who were gutting a sheep and washing its entrails in a bucket and, best of all, some natural hot springs to soak in and stunning scenery to explore. It was quintessentially Kyrgyz!
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| Our trusty steed 'the Gaz' |
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| That's not a road... |
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| Making our way up the valley |
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| Beautiful views at the top |
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| It's a long way from Beijing |
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| A remote spot in a stunning location |
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| Natural hot springs |
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| Russian lady and her samovar |
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| Scenic toilets |
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| A "project" car - complete with horse's head |
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| Helen, Keith & Pauline enjoy a walk |
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| Helen |
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| Said and Richard play ping pong to pass the evenings |
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| Our way down in our Russian Trucks is slowed down a bit by the morning rush hour! |
We are now firmly settled in Kyrgyzstan, a country blessed with stunning scenery, amazing hospitality, smiling, open, friendly people, and the best jam in the world. It is hard not to smile after such a change from China where progress and development is everywhere, and such a sense of freedom and no surprise that it rates as most people’s favourite for Odyssey trips in this area. But without our month in China we would perhaps not appreciate Kyrgyzstan in the same way, China raised much debate and often frustrated us, but on the other hand it probably provided us with more funny ‘travel stories’ than any other country we will visit, and has, hands down, some of the best food in the world (jam aside - that’s definitely Kyrgyzstan’s crown!) As we follow the silk road today we are faced with as many contrasts and changes as the merchants in the old days, the sights we see may have changed but the feeling of passing through worlds very different to our own remain, China is part of that journey and our adventure and we will be reflecting on it for many weeks to come. Kyrgyzstan - well I could wax lyrical about that for another few thousands words, but I’ll save that for the next blog!
Until then, we’ll be yak-spotting, bumping along Kyrgyzstan’s roads, climbing hills, picking walnuts, staring at snow-covered mountains, getting lungful after lungful of fresh air and eating our own body weight in jam, happily overlanding our way in this nomadic overland paradise... I hope you’re all jealous, you should be!
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