Episode 14

In Naryn we meet up with most of the bikers. I was introduced to Iain whom I hadn't met, he seemed quite interested to meet me, but then I am a very interesting stuffed toy to meet so that is only to be expected.

Umm um, I’m not sure I can go on. I got to give Lorraine a peak on the cheek when she let me sit on her bike, oh dear, I get palpitations just thinking about it. Think I will just daydream about her for a bit and carry on later.

Much later: Yes, I think I’m up to going on now. Apart from my little flirt with Lorraine I can’t recall that anything of significance happened at Naryn. The car did give some trouble starting on the chilly morning and D decided that he would look for some 'easy start’ but despite his best endeavours he never did find any.

It was a nearly full contingent for the China trip that left Naryn one very hot Monday afternoon. We all headed for Tas Rabat where there is a ruin of a Caravanserai. When we arrived there a good while later we found the old stone building quite intact and being very well cared for. It was up a narrow valley at about 3000m Robin and Keely were here too much to everyone’s relief. They had managed to get their China and Mongolian visas and were set to come with us. It was here that I was introduced to Keely, I think I’m about to fall in love again. Another beautiful woman, can a stuffed toy be in love with two woman at the same time? I have to be careful here as Keely’s husband Robin is considerably larger than I am. Then there’s L too, I have to be nice to her after all she created me and I’m sort of fond of her, but in all honesty she’s a bit past her sell by date.

From here most headed for the border with the idea of staying near there. It took quite a long time to get there because the last 50k’s was over a very rough road. Along the way D spotted a large group of motor homes so we went and spoke to them, well I just listened really. They had just come out of China after a 6 week trip.. They were all from Western Europe.

Another couple of k’s further on and we came to a group of tin huts, bit like old tin railway carriages. They offered accommodation to those who might want it and a hot meal. The bikers that were here were sleeping in one but D and L opted to sleep in the car with me, more cosy and certainly cleaner. They did join the others for a meal of lamb and potato soup that was quite good, so they say.

This camp was at 3700m, and it was 3C in the morning and despite D’s best efforts the car absolutely refused to start. It took 3 hours to get it going on a morning when we all wanted to be waiting for the border crossing to open at 9am. It was after 10am when we arrived. We were here a good while then set off to the last of the Kyrgys check points. We really don’t know why there should be another check point, it’s not as if we could crash through the barrier in a mad effort to exit Kyrgystan. It was a few k’s to the first Chinese gate; the bikes were in front and Richard pulled up because one of his luggage straps broke, the others went on, we came along, took a couple of his bags (we still have them) and drove on arriving at the gate just 5 mins after the others. The gate had been closed for lunch by then, so we had to wait an hour before it re-opened. We shouldn’t complain according to L as it often closes and doesn’t re-open until the next day.

Then we came to the Military checkpoint where we met our Chinese guide Benny: Hey! That’s my name, how can he have the same name as me?

We were here for about 1.5hours, then we had 110K’s to customs and immigration and that took almost 3 hours by the time we’d had a couple of stops for various reasons. Another 1.5hours here, no hassles just waiting, then the last 60k’s in Kashgar took another hour. So it was about 9pm when we finally arrived in the city. That is Beijing time, 7pm Kyrgys time . The traffic was at its most frantic. We’d all had a stressful day so it was a hot shower, food and bed.

The next day was spent in organizing repairs and maintenance for some of the bikes and looking for some ‘glo’ plugs for our car. The bikes all got done but there was no chance of finding our bits so D may have to get them sent over from the UK.

Our guide Benny, tells us that the population officially, of Kashgar is 1,000,000 but when the census is taken they don’t count people who live at their work place. So really only about half the population gets counted.

Spent a second full day here too: D and L went for a walk around so they tell me but they left me in the car to keep guard, I mean to say, what could I do if someone wanted to steal something, get real! It was about 9am when they set out and the underpass at the road junction was still closed so they had to risk life and limb to cross the road. The cleaners were busy sweeping and washing the steps and even washing down the wall tiles of all the underpasses. When they went down one later in the day they found a large shopping arcade there. Apparently there really wasn’t much to see, a statue probably of Mao in a large square and they saw one of the mosques but didn’t go inside.

Finally we left Kashgar before sunrise the next day. We had all hoped to get away even earlier but Nacho isn’t an early riser and held us up somewhat. It was pleasantly cool and much less traffic at that time of the morning. It was 8am Beijing time. All China works on one time zone officially. Unofficially every one works on their own time zone, here its Kyrgiys time.

It was a 470k trip to Aksu and initially it was interesting with the stark, barren deeply eroded mountains to the west of us, a railway line then the road, then an oil pipeline of the other side all heading the same direction across the broad flat plain. Very little vegetation:

From just the occasional bit of dust we drove into a full blown dust storm with visibility down to just 500m, less at times. The highway was quite good though, even though we did have to pay several tolls, about $10AU altogether that day, so not cheap. Everyone except me was quite tired when we reached Aksu but all agreed that it would not have been much fun to have camped out there in the desert in the dust storm as we had considered doing. L says I’m beginning to blend in with the scenery from all that dust.

Aksu didn’t seem to have much to offer, no real attractions to look at. It does have wide leafy streets in the city centre. At breakfast, Benny the guide told us that it is the centre of a cotton growing region. In spring the rivers are full of water from the melting snow in the mountains and it is used for irrigation. There is also a local dairy industry, L found this out when she asked where the milk came from that was served at breakfast.

This next leg was even longer at 570k’s and there were some of the group that were not happy at having to travel that far in one hit. D for one doesn’t like doing those long trips, Robin and Keely thinks its too far too. They have only 400cc bikes (whatever that means) and find it quite tiring, especially after the long ride yesterday. It was very much the same expect that they didn’t get quite as early a start. It also got a bit nerve racking when it was discovered that the highway was brand new and there were no service stations for a long way, we had planned to fill up before leaving the city but didn’t pass a service station before reaching the highway. The first two that we passed had no electricity so couldn’t serve fuel. The next ones weren’t yet open for business, just been built. When we did finally get to one that was open Robin and Keely were down to the last dregs, Neil had only enough for another 5 miles and Lorraine was almost out too. D had only enough diesel to get to the next one 167k’s further on. This one that saved our bacon, so to speak ,had only opened 3 days ago. It was quite entertaining to watch them fill the bikes using a kettle. They won’t let the bikes fill up from the pump in case they catch fire.

The dust storm persisted the whole way so we didn’t see much, we paid almost as much in tolls and the road was long, straight and boring. I even laid back and stared at the car ceiling, it was just as interesting. The road was good and there wasn’t a great deal of traffic. It was a great relief for all when we arrived in Kuerle about 4pm. D did a bit of work on the car that took him much longer than he would have liked. I could have got in there and helped I’m sure if I’d been allowed. If I’d got covered in black grease I don’t think L would be very happy with me.

© Lynette Regan September 1st 2012