KGB Mountains & Old Audis Never Die They Just go to Kyrgystan

After 3 weeks of holiday I’m now in the middle of Krgyzstan, one of the Central Asian states that broke off when the USSR or Soviet Republic imploded in the mid 90’s, if you’re a Google nut the location is Kazarman or Aral.

If Tanzania felt like an adventure well this is totally off the planet! Yesterday I spent the day in a car, on a single width track usually looking 6-800m down into a valley heading for the snow at 3,500m – no room for error, a slow and painful death would be certain. My driver is an ex-KGB Colonel – a really, really nice guy and a great driver. You are surrounded by mountains wherever you go in this country but driving is torturous. In a straight line we are probably only 180km from the capital Bishkek but it’s nearly a 10 hour drive as you have to go around some major mountain ranges.

I think I’m in shock but in a good way, as this place is so totally and completely different. The country is quite arid and being land locked the climate is quite extreme and temperatures vary between 40 degrees in summer to minus, YES minus, 25 degrees in winter; this later end I am quite worried about! Before I left Bishkek I was taken out to buy thermals, down jackets etc.

As much as it’s a democratic country, there is widespread corruption but it seems to be nowhere near as bad as Tanzania. In size the country is about that of the UK but the population is only 5.5million (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrgyzstan) many of them living a peasant existence. The country seems to have struggled to maintain the infrastructure built and left by the Soviets, this seems to comprise mainly grey concrete buildings and broken bitumen, I don’t think I have seen any building of architectural merit old or new.  And I think I have travelled on the worst bitumen road ever, it was appalling like riding a bucking cow! In contrast to all this it has the most amazing landscapes with a country that has had massive recent geological activity (mountain building) and which has been wonderfully sculpted by what must have been equally massive glacial activity.

I’m with a totally new Australian company called Celsius Coal, the project is to prove up a coking coal deposit, previously identified by the old USSR/Soviet regime somewhere between 1940 and 1970, it is used in steel making. The small problem is that the coal is located in the mountains but having its neighbour being China is a huge plus and of course the project has the potential to bring much needed $’s to the country should it get through the hands of the Government to the people. 

Our host is Big Momma. She runs an ex-Soviet guest house on top of a rise overlooking Kazarman, we almost have exclusive use of it. From the front door you have a 270 degree view of mountains and the valley below. It’s functional and almost comfortable, there is a pool and sauna, neither of which work. I have finally got my own room which is OK. Big Momma does all the cooking but she seems a little arbitrary as to whether she wants to do it or not, some day’s the meal will be lavish and others something simple. Food comprises mutton, mutton, more mutton and potatoes but being summer tomatoes, a sort of hybrid cucumber/zucchini, water melon and apples are abundant. Much of the farming comprises sheep grazing so that means flies, flies, flies.  It just doesn’t pay to look in the kitchen!!

Milk doesn’t seem to exist but there are some really nice breads, the local beer is good. So I’m eating well, I got the guys to tell her I don’t eat much meat and since then have had a good variety of vegetable alternatives. There are chickens wandering the yard so you have to be careful where you place your feet, chicken was requested the other day for dinner and no sooner was the request made than there were 2 less chickens in the flock… (or is that for sheep?)

 The staff is great, as I mentioned my driver is an ex-KGB agent, a huge bloke who walks around a lot of the time without his shirt speaking broken English with a heavy Russian accent (the native tongue). Communicating is hard as you need a translator for everything but I seem to be getting by, I have picked up names now I have to try to get a few words. All staff seem to be very hard working and thoughtful but the administration is far from helpful and inflexible, if one thing sends me home screaming this will.

There doesn’t seem to be much public transport which is a bit of a blessing as it keeps the buses off the mountain roads.  But in the country 9 out of 10 cars are old audi’s, they are everywhere, hundreds of them. This is where Europe and even the US sends it’s old cars. The city seems to be a bit different a lot of old Merc’s, BMW’s and Toyota’s. I’ve been told I can have my own car so jokingly suggested it should be a BMW X5 and they said fine!

Don’t know if this has been interesting or not, over the next few days I’m heading to our farthest exploration site. Our closest one is about 45km away and takes 3 hrs to get to, the next one is about 10km away but on the other side of the mountain range so it is basically a 3 day round trip to get round to the other side of the mountain and up, sounds crazy but true!

Enjoy the photos.. Oh yes the company is buying me a mountain bike so I can explore the local region even further, I must admit I’m tempted to try to ride the hill up to our highest tenement, possible I could beat the 4WD??