Farewell Kyrgyzstan, hello China

Our last few days in Kyrgyzstan beckoned and they were to begin with a bit of a workout in Kochkor as everyone got a lesson in felt-making, a very important part of Kyrgyz culture as felt features heavily in not only their clothing but also their traditional yurt homes. Everyone got a try at treading on the pattern they’d designed until they were puffed out and the piece was ready before heading to the wonderful shop next door to buy some beautiful local textiles.

Felt - ready for stamping

Showing how it's done

A masterpiece!

A real masterpiece

Then it was time to wave goodbye to civilisation for a couple of days as we all jumped in to Penelope and wound our way up in to the mountains to arguably the most beautiful spot in Kyrgyzstan (and that’s saying something) Song Kul. We turned off the tarmac and bumped our way along the road negotiating yaks, sheep, snow and stopping frequently for photos.

Yaks

Road to Song Kul

Things move at a sheep's pace here

Beautiful views en route

Esky snow stop - for keeping the beer cold!

Tom doing it wrong

Before reaching our camp next to a family’s summer home. The pastures are used in the warmer months and local nomadic people bring their herds up to the grasslands where they live in animal paradise with green grass, no fences and miles and miles of space to roam in. Which also happens to be Overlanding paradise too!

We were blessed with the weather our first evening, Song Kul seemed determined to show itself at its best and we got down to all the best things about bushcamping, a good fire, beautiful sunset and putting the world to rights over a tasty meal and maybe a beer.

Beautiful Song Kul camp

Anita and ROss warming themselves up

Penelope pretending to be a yurt

Campfire with a view

The next morning we were greeted with glorious sunshine again and it was all the encouragement most of the group needed to hop on to a horse and head off exploring with Farhard, our local guide.

Morning milk delivery

Chicken in the cook tent

Iain meets the horses

Dave

Maggie

Sue

That afternoon we were lucky enough to see a game of goat polo, an important local sport designed to let young men burn off steam and show their impressive horsemanship. The game involves a dead goat being used as a ball of sorts and the mounted men would try and wrestle it off each other before scoring points by putting the goat on a felt rug. Part of the ritual involved the players being present for the slaughter of the goat and saying a prayer as it was killed in the traditional Muslim way. This is a normal part of life for these herdsmen but it was a difficult thing for those of us not used to seeing death first hand, but an important local custom that we had to respect, all a part of visiting cultures very different from our own.

Then, as the clouds gathered and grew darker around us the game was off, and it was very impressive to watch against the dramatic weather brewing in the hills.

Clouds gathering

Slaughtering the goat

The games begin

Sometimes the game ends up in the spectator area

The weather eventually cleared and we were treated to another glorious sunset, we left the next day very happy campers!

Happy campers!

Our next stop was Tash Rabat, our last stop in Kyrgyzstan just near the border with China. It’s a lovely valley dotted with more yurts where we were to spend the night.

Another day, another yurt

Home sweet home

It is famous for its Caravanserai (an Inn/stopping point on the old silk road) and we visited the ancient structure while Farhard told us stories of the ancient silk road, of bandits and secret tunnels, of Genghis Khan and Marco Polo.

The Caravanserai

Ancient corridors

Farhad our guide explains the history of the site

Tom is climbing the walls with excitement

Our night was spent at the yurt camp with our lovely Russian-Kyrgyz hosts who bullied some of us in to drinking vodka and having Saunas in their home-made caravan-sauna, though not many people took up the opportunity to go in the icy river afterwards!

Beautiful Tash Rabat

Home for the night

Everyone had loved Kyrgyzstan for its beauty and sense of freedom, our excellent guide, Farhard had brought it to life, the nomadic culture made for some excellent bushcamps and the hospitality of the local people matches any seen on the trip so far. Most people have never heard of Kyrgyzstan, and those who have struggle to spell it, but it’s a little gem!

We waved goodbye to Tash Rabat and headed off for the final border crossing of the trip in to the vast expanses of one of the most powerful countries in the world: China. We all knew it was going to be different from anywhere we’d been so far and we got our first taste of that at the border, or should I saw borders as we were made to get on and off the truck at different checkpoints and scan and rescan our bags with everyone under strict instructions to make no comments or jokes, no matter how pointless it all seemed. But aside from being a bit drawn out we had no problems and entered China successfully! We left the mountains and green pastures behind, crossed the Torugart Pass through some spectacular scenery (sadly no photos allowed at the border) and headed in to the desert.

Change of scenery

Chinese roads are very impressive

A new country, language and alphabet

Our first stop was the city of Kashgar, famous in the West for its part in The Great Game when the Great Powers of Russia and Britain were fighting over Central Asia, we were staying at what used to be the Russian Embassy, now a hotel. Locally however Kashgar is more famous for being home to the largest population of Uigur people, who are mostly Muslim and more Central Asian than Chinese in appearance, we also found that many of them spoke no Mandarin at all and it was hard to believe we’d arrived in China!

Our group spent their time exploring the rapidly shrinking old town (slowly being modernised and causing alot of tension between Uigars and Han Chinese) and the fantastic market as well as the modern Communist areas.

Kashgar market

Turner

Still on the Silk Road

Kashgar Old City

Modern Kashgar

Sue enjoys Chinese tea

Local transport

David

Anita

Emma and Simon spent most of a day getting themselves local driving licenses and getting the truck to pass its Chinese MOT (paperwork and bureaucracy are a part of life travelling in China) and once all the various forms had been stamped we were ready to head off in to the huge landmass ahead of us with Beijing waiting at the far side.

Our time in China so far as been spent crossing the enormous and arid Taklakaman Desert, which translates roughly as ‘Go in and don’t come out’ which we had no intention of doing!

Taklamakan Desert

After a brief stop in the town of Kuche we headed onwards and downwards toward Turpan, the 2nd lowest spot on Earth and the lower we got the hotter the temperature!

Creating a spectacle enroute

It's getting hot in here

Si cooling off his back

Even hotter!

Turpan is a dry, hot place which is home to a vast part of China’s little-known wine makers, the counter the burning sun many of the streets are draped in grapevines and the local raisins are fantastic. It also has a great night market where we tried some of China’s weird and wonderful food, a world away from the Chinese restaurants we knew at home.

Turpan night market

Hot for the locals too

Dave, Jackie, Si and Sue

Extreme squatting

Grapes

Snake bean harvest

Vine covered streets

China is dripping in history, and Turpan is home to one of the many fascinating historical sites we are going to see on route, The Jaihoe Ruins. Originally it was a large city by a desert Oasis which had been hewn out of the sandstone ground over years and years before being abandoned when Ghengis Khan arrived.

We explored the ruins in the baking heat and marvelled at people’s ability to live here in the desert and the incredible amount of work it must have taken to dig the buildings out of the ground bit by bit. We also visited the Karez irrigation channel museum which showed the ancient techniques used by people in the area to control water, probably the most important commodity in this dry parched desert, what was most impressive was seeing the channels still in use today.