Osh, the second largest city in Kyrgyzstan with approximately 350,000 people living in and around the city, sits in the fertile Fergana Valley in the southern part of the country (more on this later). Osh is also our jumping off point for transitioning to Uzbekistan for the second half of our trip and our next destination leaving the Tash Rabat yurt camp. In a country that is 90% mountainous with few direct routes, we were in for two long days of driving especially since the trip itinerary was designed to provide us with an intimate experience of Kyrgyzstan.  That meat we were traveling via scenic routes rather than doubling back to Bishkek to minimize the mountains and maximize road quality.

Our first day’s goal was to reach Kazarman, a small village half-way to Osh, that, as Olga put it, “really is in the middle of nowhere”.  The village of 18,000 exists because it sits in a valley surrounded mountains where gold mining (and coal) was initiated in Soviet times and still continues today.  The village is difficult to reach, requiring traversing 2800m pass on a very rough road before descending into the valley— a challenge at any time and nearly impossible feat in the winter.  The railroad that China is building into and through Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan will go through Kazarmn and the village is apparently very excited to have some additional connectivity to the rest of the country.

You can see the type of road we were driving on and simultaneously the amazing scenery that was a helpful distraction from the bumps and dust.

Because of the distance we had to traverse and the spacing of the towns and villages, Udim and Olga planned a picnic lunch and after being supplied with packed lunches lunches by the Tash Rabat yurt camp we departed. The first portion of our journey was easy as we exited the valley and joined the paved highway, heading north from the Chinese border. The route to Kazarman required us to retrace part of our previous route from Son-Kol to Tash Rabat which meant shortly we were back on the undeveloped gravel road with the familiar bouncing and jostling (and dust). After four hours on the road, we pulled over at what looked like the Kyrgyzstan equivalent of a rest stop and broke out the lunch boxes.  Nature provided a toilet for those requiring one.

Kyrgyzstan rest stop where we had our picnic lunch.

As we neared the foothills of the Tian Shan mountains, instead of continuing north, which would have taken us back to Lake Son-Kol, we turned west and headed to the pass to Kazarman. Unfortunately, the road remained rough gravel and dirt but now was also mixed with large and small rocks.  Thus, it came as no surprise when, eventually, Vasily pulled the van over and we all got out to look at the flat tire.  Apparently, flat tires are common events because he carried two spare tires in the van.  While he changed the tire we took the opportunity to stretch our legs and started off hiking down the road knowing that he would catch up with us when he was finished. It was nice to be out of the car for a while!  Vasily made short work of the tire, picked us up and we shortly started the winding climb up to the pass, stopping to take the obligatory picture with the sign marking the top.

OOPS! Flat tire.

After an equally winding descent and four more hours of driving, we arrived in Kazarman and our home stay, the evening’s accommodation. Our hostess, Gulsaira, showed us to our rooms and we queued up for the shower—something we were all looking forward to!  Dinner was served with the elegance and abundance I described in an earlier post and as we were all exhausted from a long day in the van, everyone went straight to bed.  The next day, we were departing an hour earlier and faced a similar itinerary because we had to climb up and over the southern side of the valley to reach Osh; another pass was in our future and more time on the bumpy, dusty road.

After breakfast we headed out and eventually started our climb to the pass that would lead us to Osh.  Along the way we passed by a large complex of buildings and machinery that the Chinese constructed in preparation for the digging a tunnel through the mountain for the railroad they are building. The area was a beehive of activity and Olga mentioned that it only took them two months to install the buildings, one of which was a dorm for the workers, and bring in all the equipment.

It was another long, arduous climb to the pass, but eventually we made it to the top. At the top of the pass we discovered a family living in a yurt, having brought their livestock up to the high pasture for grazing for the summer.  Olga approached them and asked if they had any kymyz- fermented horse milk- available. Kymyz, a traditional Kyrgyzstan drink, is made from milking a mare, letting the milk ferment in the sun for about three days, then adding one part fermented milk to three parts fresh mare’s milk, mixing and placing in a wooden barrel that had been smoked enough to turn the inside of the barrel black (this kills bacteria) and let sit.  It is a specialty that we were all interested in trying but it is not always available.  Usually the group tries some at the Tash Rabat yurt camp, but they did not have any prepared while we were there. We were in luck this time, however, as the family had some available.  We gave them some cookies and granola bars we had with us, along with a little money, and received a soda bottle filled with kymyz.  I tried it and the smokey flavor really stood out— the fermented part added a tart flavor, but the overall flavor was “smokey”.  It was not bad, although I only took a small sip.

Fermented mare’s milk. Was not that bad, actually.

After our culinary adventure at the top of the pass, we started descending and things started getting interesting. It was not too long before we got another flat tire.  So, once again we piled out of the van and repeated our previous day’s plan but there was an additional complication. Vasily had been having problems with the engine and decided to change the fuel filter, which he did (I found out later) when he changed the tire.  But the new fuel filter did not fix the problem and the van stalled.  He fiddled with the new fuel filter, cleaned it out and we started again but the van stalled again. This became a pattern as Vasily nursed the van all the way down the mountain with the van getting harder and harder to start each time it stalled. The speculation was that when he filled up the van with diesel fuel in Kazarman, he got bad gas. Eventually, after much stopping and stating, we managed to limp into an auto mechanic shop in a small village once we got down the mountain.  Olga and Udim had called ahead and arranged for a local van to pick us up to delivery to our lunch stop in a nearby town and we abandon the van at the auto mechanic shop. In the meantime, a tourist van was enroute from Osh to pick us up after lunch and drive us to our overnight home stay. We were about two hours late for lunch and did the equivalent of “eat and run” not having time to talk to our hostess at all.  Poor Vasily never got to eat, almost immediately starting on the scavenger hunt for parts to fix the van.  We did not see him for the rest of the day.

Cows on the hill although how they are balancing is beyond me.

Osh was another two or so hours from the lunch stop but the roads improved markedly as we were now on a paved highway. Traffic was bad, however, as the southern part of Kyrgyzstan, in the Fergana valley, has the highest population density so we were not moving very fast.  As we emerged from the mountains, the temperature increased dramatically to nearly 100F, challenging the air conditioning of the new vehicle.  When we finally made it to our home stay around 5:30 we were all ready for showers and some time to simply relax!

Overall the day was quite the adventure but not an unlikely occurrence given the state of the roads and the remoteness of our location.

Despite the hardship with the van (poor Vasily!), the long drives, the bumpy, dusty dirt and gravel roads, and the constant hairpin turns I am really glad we took the route that we did.  The scenery was spectacular and ever-changing along the whole route.  It was if every mountain environment on the planet was represented in the areas we we drove through. At times I could picture myself in the American southwest with craggy rocks and sparse desert-like vegetation. Other moments the landscape resembled the tree-dotted slopes of Colorado or the Appalachians.  The rolling meadows that hosted the grazing livestock strongly resembled parts of the Swiss and Austrian alps. I had my eyes glued to the window the whole two days.

Udim and Vasily sorting out the car problem.

When we finally reached the Fergana valley the landscape changed again.  The hills were brown and clearly already dry for the summer but nestled here and there were irrigated green oasis’.  The valley is a major agricultural area generating multiple harvests each season. But because of the population density, the presence of civilization, buildings, cars, homes, people was ever present; gone was the quiet, untouched nature prevalent in the north of the country.

Other random photos from the day:

More great scenery

A view of the road to the pass.