UK and Kyrgyzstan

[Desert Boy]

My riding buddies were all from Switzerland, bar one and myself. After more than 30 years in Namibia, I can make myself understood in German on a conversational level, but Swiss German - it's a mystery! Those guys speak a totally different language which is seriously difficult to follow. However, with them speaking "Hoch Deutsch" with weird accents, together with my "less than perfect" German and one of the group who could speak Dutch to match my Afrikaans, we managed to get by quite well. The tour guide was fluent in English though, so that helped enormously.

There were 8 riders in the group including the guide, 3 over 60 years old and 3 in their thirties. Age wise, I was in the middle at a sprightly 58.

We set off from Osh in a clockwise direction with a view to visiting the higher, mountainous areas in the west of the country. The planned route over a week, was to cover about 1600 km taking in quite a number of mountain passes over 3 000 metres in altitude.

The first day on the road introduced us to Asian traffic circles and how to navigate them, Asian squat toilets and to delicious food.

A back up vehicle travelled with the group driven by an ethnic Russian guy who was also the maintenance, mechanical guy. All our luggage was carried by the back up vehicle so we carried nothing with us on the bikes.

 

[Desert Boy]

Guide and back up car driver

A good lesson that we learnt on the first day was "how to keep the group together". We managed to lose one guy in the first big town that we went through. It took a few hours and many kilometres to find him. After that, we kept strictly to the rule that the second rider in the group would stop at a turn or change in direction until all riders had past that point. It works.

Kyrgyzstan is a high, dry (low rainfall) country but due to the high, snow covered peaks that dominate many parts of the country, it has many flowing rivers. Water is fast flowing, freezing but very clear and fresh. Often the infrastructure around the rivers is rather shabby.

 

[silvrav]

:ricky:

 

[Desert Boy]

The package included all meals and accommodation. There was two types of accommodation - hotels and home stays. The hotels were somewhat disappointing as they were essentially relics of the old Soviet system; not much focus on quality. The photo below shows the hotel's façade that faces a wonderful fresh water lake. I'm sure the designers could have done a lot better than that.

A far better, and more comfortable option was "home stays". The Kyrgyzstan government is encouraging private families to invest in the tourism industry and has established a "Community Based Tourism" system. Families that establish facilities that they run themselves are assisted with training and sometimes with finances to provide services to the tourist. One finds 2 types of CBT home stays - family houses and Yurt Camps. We stayed in both.

As the facilities are run by families with a direct interest in the facility's success, they tend to be well run by extremely friendly people. The families provide dinner, bed and breakfast.

Home stay at a family home with the host and at dinner time.

Another home stay with friendly (English speaking) hostess

Perhaps the most exciting type of home stay was the Yurt Camp. A Yurt Camp is a temporary settlement that the family establishes high in the mountains during the summer months to take advantage of good grazing. Once snow starts falling and the cold sets in, the camp is dismantled and carried down to the valleys for the long winter. Up to this point, the government has discouraged the construction of any permanent structures in the mountains to maintain the traditional cultural feel.

A Yurt Camp near the Chinese border.

My personal Yurt. Who says I wasn't able to attract a few chicks?

Once again, the toilet facilities were not something that we were used to.

No handles and a small target; not ideal for those with bad knees

Luckily the view did compensate

The host family was super friendly and could also speak English

 

[woody1]

Wow.  Ek ry sommer nou.... Looks awsome. :ricky:

 

[Desert Boy]

Our daily routine would start soon after breakfast and we would get on the road at around 8h30. Fuel is readily available as neighbouring Kazakhstan is a big oil producer. Fuel was also included in the tour cost.

There were plenty of things to see along the way. The old "Centrally controlled" economy is a thing of the past and people are learning fast to fend for themselves.

Honey producers

There was a scheduled coffee stop at mid morning - normally in a stunning spot

Lunch stops were equally casual but just as pleasant

There were many passes to scale

The general mountain scenery was amazing

Kyrgyzstan is 80% Muslim so tea (Chai) is the drink of choice. Traditional method of brewing.

Unfortunately, despite it being a nation of tea drinkers, there were many "Dronkgatte" and discarded Vodka bottles were ever present

 

[Desert Boy]

Outside every town or village the burial area was a significant spot

Horses form an important part of the mountain way of life.

Horses are milked, the milk left to ferment and the product is enjoyed at leisure

At one point, close to the Chinese border we came across an old trading post that started operating in the 12th century. It has recently been done up so it looks a lot newer than it actually is. Historically, this area is at the crossroads of many trade routes so there have been people moving through for ages.

Even though it was only early September, due to the altitude, temperatures dropped below zero. We saw typical mountain livestock (yaks).

We had our fair share of "getting off the beaten track" and heading into the hills

For someone from Southern Africa it was truly enjoyable and spectacular.

 

[Splash]

Amazing pictures - looks fantastic.

 

[Clockwork Orange]

I am living about 3 miles from Guildford in Woking. I would love to see your brothers work if at all possible. Would be good to meet a fellow WD this side.

My brother's business is called "2 Wheels Miklos". Its contact details and address are accessible through the website (link above). They are next to the A3 just South West of Guildford. I'm sure they would be very pleased to see bikers from Southern Africa even though their focus is mainly classic bikes and not adventure riding. My brother did have a KTM 990 Adv though that he kept with me in Windhoek. We used to go on a Namibian "outing" once a year until he sold the bike a few years ago. Unfortunately he "bought a farm" between Uis and Henties Bay and left Namibia with a few broken ribs and a bruised ego.

I'll be there between the 3rd and 6th September and we'll be doing rides from the business over a few days.

Damn, did not see your response before now. Sorry that I missed you. Looking forward to your RR and will definitely make a turn at your brothers place. :thumleft:

 

[LukasB9]

Your brother's restoration work looks great from the pictures 

The Kyrgy trip's awesome! Awating some more RR-ing  :thumleft: