Day 106: Here a ‘Stan, there a ‘Stan, everywhere a ‘Stan ‘Stan

I left Mashhad mid-afternoon yesterday and watched the terrain change as we flet north-east towards Kyrgyzstan.  We first flew over the flat desert expanses of Turkmenistan, which reminded me of central Australia.  Next came the Fan Mountains of Uzbekistan and the Pamirs of Tajikistan, all easily identifiable as the jagged peaks rose up thousands of metres (some of peaks  in the Pamirs and Tien Shan are over 7000m) and were all covered with the first snows of the impending winter.

I arrived at Bishkek around 9pm and cleared immigration and customs easily.  After much haggling I got the 30km taxi fare into the city down to a respectable $10 (from $25 – they know they've got you cornered as the buses don't run that late).  I found my "hotel" for the night, essentially a dorm room at the "International Business and Management School" but don't get too excited as it was a dump!

I woke up this morning and have done everything I needed to do in Bishkek.  It's a pleasant enough place, there just isn't much to see or do here.  It's a tiny capital city, more like a large town than anything else, and is built on a Soviet-era grid pattern with wide tree-lined streets and lots of parks and space.  Down the streets you do catch tantalising glimpses of the 4000m+ mountain range south of the city, hopefully a sign of more of Kyrgyzstan's delights to come!

   
(L) Biz school accomodation – Kyrgyz style.  (R) Some things are a little bit back-to-front here… 

   
(L) Soviet-era government buildings.   (R) …and Soviet-era hats!

It's been a bit of a culture shock coming from Iran – everything from seeing women's hair (ooooh!) and observing over-the-top publid displays of affection (urgh get a room please…) to listening to the European techno blaring out from every shop and restaurant, and of course drinking my first beer in a few weeks.  The people are definitely from different stock as well, with features ranging from "Russian" (blond hair and blue eyes) to "Mongol" (round face with strong Asian features), and everything in-between.  But they're definitely not Persian or Arab!  I do hear that Bishkek is a lot more "Russified" than most of the rest of he country, so I'm keen to get out of the city.

Anyhoo, today I also worked out what I'm going to do.  I found out that the 3800m Torugart Pass into China closes for two weeks on 30 September so I need to get over it before that.  It's a two or three-day trip from here to Kashgar on the other side.  And snowfalls can close it at any time.  It's a bit of a gamble but I'm going to go for it (it's pretty much my only option apart from flying to Urumqi anyway…).  That gives me about a week to enjoy the mountains of Kyrgyzstan so I'm off tomorrow on an eight hour bus past the giant lake of Issy-Kul to the town of Karakol.  From there I'm going to disappear into the Tien Shan mountains trekking for a few days, staying in mountain huts (complete with hot springs…) along the way.  I'll the backtrack into central Kyrgyzstan and make my way to the beautiful alpine lake of Song-Kol, where I hope to stay with shepherds in their yurts n ride horses n stuff.

Season-wise, I'm starting to think I might have left my run through Central Asia and Tibet a little late.  It's a lot colder here than I thought, really crisp at night, and I've heard from some travelers that it's been snowing up in the mountains.  Anyway, we shall see…

'Til next time!