Nomading Through the Silk Road

Have you ever dreamed about travelling through total wilderness? Maciek and his friends did just that. Here is the story of their adventure in Kyrgystan and Uzbekistan enriched by photos of absolutely stunning places.
Guest article by Maciek…

1. Silk Road history

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Last years we can observe emerging importance of Chinese economy and political dominance in eurasian continent. In 2013 President Xi Jinping announced building the New Silk Road that connects China and Europe for the transportation of Chinese goods. The name and path will reflect ancient road that was used for ages for transport of luxury Chinese silk to European kingdoms.

The Silk Road map, wall painting in Trip.Le Hostel in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

​2. Geography
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After USSR breakup in 1991 out of the sudden world has gained 15 new independent countries: (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan). This created necessity for self governing of nations that for years were governerned from Moscow. It was quite sudden change and new countries were not ready for that. What was previously a border roughly drawn by Stalin that seperated friendly internal state, suddenly became official national border. Borders that didn’t reflect that well nations and geography. What was even harder to overcome was mentality of the people. Suddenly they had to self determine their future and present, while being used to just follow orders from outside. This lead to emerged loca quasi dictatorships in almost all post Soviet countries with rulers governing for 30 or so years straight with or without use of democracy.

Borders drawn by the ruler

3. Getting there
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We have found cheap tickets of LOT Polish Airlines from Warsaw, Poland to Astana, Kazakshstan. We decided to buy it and then think later what to do with it. When people ask me if it is hard to travel far away, I always answer that the hardest is the decision itself. After clicking “purchase” button, rest comes quite naturally with the flow.
Astana is good hub for connection for Central Asia. We took Air Astana flight to go to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and then come back with Uzbekistan Airways from Tashkent, Uzbekistan to Astana. There are also plenty of domestic flights around Uzbekistan, so when you finally manage to get to Central Asia, traveling around should be quite easy (but with relish of adventure that you always get in non Western countries)

Kyrgyzstan & Uzbekistan

​4. Idea of the trip

As Kyrgyzstan is mostly mountains, we wanted to do trekking there and taste what Kyrgyz people are most famous of: horseback riding. Going constantly West we moved to Uzbekistan to dive more into historical centers of ancient cities. Nature from wild Kyrgyz mountains was changing into desert close to remains of Aral lake.

Tienshan mountains in Kyrgyzstan

Deserts of Khiva

5. Trekking in TienShan
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We have started our trip in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan. City was rather non interesting and we decided to head directly to Karakol, on the South-East bank of Issyk Kul lake, where we should start our first adventure - 3 days trek around Ala Kul lake. Weather is completely unpredictable. 4 different weather forecast channels shown completely different forecasts for the same region, and each of it has changed completely during an hour. We could expect sun, rain, snow, wind, storms.. Getting prepared for this trip was definitely not easy.

From Karakol we took taxi until road literally ended. From there, it was only us, our backpacks and endless horizon of TienShan mountains that each gaze leaves you speechless. First day was a relatively easy walk, around 5-6 hours, until the base. Our trek was at the middle of September. It was really end of the season, so at the trail and base there were not many other tourists. At nights it become really cold and dark, so going to sleep in a tent is the best idea you can possible make. In the morning we were woken up by cows. Hundreds of cows were moving couple of meters from our tent, through the river. That is one of the reasons you should not drink water directly from the streams, before purificating it first.

Starting from our base.

Masterchef edition - Lyophilisation

Morning guests

The second day, even though on the map it’s the shortest part, is by far the most challenging one. With ach single step you die a little. And then you die hard. You pray that after next turn, it will be the final point, but no, emerges whole new mountain just in front of you. And then you reach it. The Ala Kul Lake. Covered on all sides with high mountains, calm emerald waters, it looks mesmerizing. Weather constantly changes there. When I finally crawled to the point, I asked other folks how far is to the lake. They look at me confused. “It’s already here”. Everything was covered with clouds, so visibility was lower than 20 meters. Then strong winds pushed all the clouds and for the couple of minutes we had beautiful sunny view on the whole lake. Then again wind pushed the clouds that covered almost every part.

Ala Kul Lake covered with clouds

But that was just half of the story. Even though extremely tired, we could not stay there. First of all it was freezing cold  (they told us that at nights it might be -15C) at the second. What’s even more important was the altitude. The Lake itself is at 3400 meters above sea level. That was already high. Some of us starting to have symptoms of the altitude sickness. It is said that you should drink a lot of water, we had some pills, but the only working cure for that is just going down. Everything below 3000 m should be fine.
We could either go back the same way, or go further to make the whole loop. But either way we should go fast, not to get caught by either storm or night.
We decided to go further. But to go further we have to climb higher.

Walk to the 3900m pass

Technically the path to the pass was easy. What made it difficult was the altitude. Each step was a fight. You make 2 steps, you stop to take 10 breaths. When we finally got there, the view was amazing! But that was just a beginning of adventure.

View from the pass on the lake

Two sides of the pass, on the left, sunny lakeside, on the right, dark, snowy, stormy - our destiny :)

That was a tricky part. Map showed that we should go straight. Straight means super steep slope, covered by 30cm layer of fresh snow, with snow-storm coming on us. We did not have too much time to think, as altitude, time and weather were not playing in our team. We put all the clothes we had, duct taped our boots and trousers, and tried to go down with visibility no more thank couple of meters. Some of us went super slow in reverse climbing way, some of us involuntary slide on their back reaching supersonic speed. That was definitely not a safest option to choose. After getting to the bottom of the hill we moved forward with remains of our energy, to find some spot to build the tent. Everything was wet, steep or covered with cow poo. Not the easiest task.

Martian view was a rapid change for us, mentioning that an hour ago we were sunbathing close to the lake that was behind the mountain

Looking for a place to set a tent

Waking up covered with snow is always a fun :)

Even though everything was wet, cold, uncomforbale, and it was tight in the tent, we went to sleep like with a touch of a magic wand. Just every 3 hours we had to turn on command to the other side. We fell asleep with heavy rain. And we were afraid if our borrowed tent will manage that. As the clerk from the shop where we had borrowed the tent said: “little rain - no problem, big rain - big problem”.
Waking up in the morning we were surprised that everything is dry. When we lift the lid of the tent we understood why. Everything was covered with snow. Surprisingly it was quite warm inside the tent. The only challenge was to get water from the stream into the purifying straw - the hands were instantly freezing.
Going down to the village was the easy and relaxing part. The backpacks were light, the path was easy, views outstanding. That were one of the best moments and views of Kyrgyzstan I kept in mind.

Looking back from where we came

Endless TienShan mountains

Wild horses everywhere we pass

Simply amazing views

Going down was easy-peasy compared to what we did before

Several times we had to pass mountain streams

First warm, non-instant meal, and fresh vegetables from the shelter were a real heaven in mouth.

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6. Horses
The Kirghiz Dismounts (a horse) by Ryszard Kapuścinski, Polish journalist and traveller, was written just after the WW II. It presented love and passion of Kyrgyz people to horses, that are tightly coupled with their history, tradition and daily life. We could not think that we knew Kyrgyzstan without trying horseback riding there.

First mount on our horses.

From our base in Kochkor, we were transported to a small village where our adventure would begin. We had really nice traditional lunch at a family home. And then we met our horses. First difference from the Western countries in terms of horses, was their names. When we asked what are the names of our horses, the owner look confused but, client is our lord, so he responded quickly “this is Black, this is Brown, and this is eeee eeee Brown 2”. Horses in Kyrgyzstan are means of transport, really important and useful, but still a thing, not a sweet personalized pet like we are used to think of them.

First ride, trying to focuson not falling, trying to communicate with the horse, and trying not to be astonished by the surroundings views.

Horses having rest, we are trying to stay cool pretending we know what we are doing

Steel saddle is not the most comfortable thing on earth. Especially for men.

Another difference comes in horseback riding style. Back in Europe we were taught lessons about correct posture and behaviour during different moments of ridding. Like for example lifting a bit while going up the hill, to make it easier for the horse. Our guide looked at us for a while, and then asked “what the heck are you doing”. We explained the theory, and our guide looked confused and responded “this is Kyrgyzstan. You sit still in the saddle and try not to fall down”.

First day was 5 hours walk in beautiful surroundings that look like neverending Windows XP wallpaper. We finished the walk in the valley, with couple of yurts and cuttle around.

Valley full of yaks. Just an ugly version of cow.

21st century getting to the Nomadic lifestyle. Small solar panel to power one lightbulb inside the yurt.

Nomadic tribes establish camps in spring, building yurts (from couple to couple hundreds), where they spend whole summer with sheep, yaks, cows and horses, until the end of September, when they are disassembling the whole camp, and move to valleys and villages with all the stuff and cattle, to wait harsh winter in more pleasant places.

End of season gave us the opportunity to see how yurts are constructed

While during the day it might be a nice 20 degrees, just after sun hiding behind the mountain, temperature drops drastically, up to -5 or even -10 degrees (in September). Inside yurt there is small heater that creates nice and warm sauna inside. The question arises immediately what they burn inside, if we haven’t seen a single tree for 3 days.. Answer is a poo. Cow or horse poo is collected, dried in the Sun, and then it is really good source of burning energy. When you sit inside warm yurt, you don’t ask too many questions. You just enjoy the warmth of the heater :)

If you dig inside enough layers of blankets, it will be quite cosy and warm.

Inside the yurt might be festival of colors and decoration

Yurt Vegas

Local breakfast, bread, jam, sweets.

That’s a pretty high mountain. Good that it’s not me that have to climb it.

Don’t fall, don’t fall..

Relax on top

Horseriding is one of the most important part of Kyrgyz culture. Experiencing it there, was one of the best moments of the whole trip.

Beautiful traditions of nomadic tribes are gathered and cultivated during World Nomad Games, Olympic version of sports and tradition of local communities.
http://worldnomadgames.com/en/
Saying this, you can watch Kok boru, national game of Kyrgyz, mix of rugby and polo, where you play with dead goat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpKQEVdcI0g







7. Language


The official language of Kyrgyzstan is Kyrgyz, that sounds similar to Turkish. The official language in Uzbekistan is Uzbek that for me, is somehow more connected with arabic.
We learned just 2 words in Kyrgyz/Uzbek:

• Salam aleykum - good morning/peace with you - a standard muslim greeting
• Rahmat - thank you

Lingua franca for all the central Asia is Russian. Everything is written in cyrillic. Everybody can communicate at least basics in Russian.
English is almost not existing.
Being from Poland helped a lot. After first confusion, we started talking in slow, mispronounced, old fashioned Polish, just changing the words that we already knew in Russian (around 20 essentials like:

• Skolko - how much
• Corok - 40 - misleading in Polish, as all the number are similar to Polish, except of this one sneaky bastard
• Wsyo - everything
• Kusno - tasty
• Zavtra - tomorrow
• Zavtrak - breakfast
• Chiut-chiut - a little bit, saying  “I speak chiut-chiut russian” makes all the people laugh a lot

Local community celebrating National Day of Kyrgyz Language https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzbfRBjjLEE

8. Food
Meat. Mostly meat. A lot of meat. Beef, mutton and horse.
After 3 weeks we prayed for a tomato. But Central Asia is not a country for vegetarians. We even asked our guides what they do if they have vegetarian tourists. Their answer was something between “what is a vegetarian” and “we bury them in the lake”.
The most famous Uzbek dish is plov. Rice with meat. Sometimes with onion, saffron, yellow carrot (that tastes like pumpkin). But mostly rice and meat. Simply and tasty.
Langman is somehow variation of pasta bolognese. Pasta with tomato sauce and meat.
Manty are dumplings similar to Georgian chinkali, with beef and onions as stuffing.
Samsy are fried version of manty, also with veggies.
Shashliks are pure meat on a looong skewer.
Fruits variety is not too big, but the one that exists are amazingly tasty.
Melons, watermelons and pomegranate are most common ones, usually really big, colorful and really sweet.

Local family dinner table to celebrate Friday

Plov

Meat. Meat is nice

Langman

Horse meat. You ride it, you eat it.

Chai is good for everything

Local market

Biggest market in Uzbekistan

The story of white chai. Eating in Uzbekistan in one of the cantines, around 1pm, we saw an interesting thing. Group of 5 men, came to the waiter, gave him a bottle of vodka, and asked for “white chai”. Waiter went to the kitchen, poured vodka into a tea pot, and served it like that. Theoretically alcohol is not well seen as it is a muslim country, but 50 years of Soviet ruling made its changes.

Nothing tastes like vodka served for lunch in 30 degrees.

9. Cities
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• a) Tashkent

I usually avoid capital cities at all costs. I use them as a transit hubs. You fly there and take the first possible flight/marshrutka/camel out of capital to immerse yourself in the real life.
Tashkent, for me, was the biggest surprise of all the trip. It is extremely clean, peaceful, well organized and seems easy to live in. Sure, after 2 days spent there, you can not say a lot, but it was first time in my life when I was not overwhelmed by speed of the capital, but rather gently treated by a nicely organized city.

Metro stations in Tashkent are one of the most beautiful stations i have ever seen.

Station of Kosmonauts

Hotel Uzbekistan. Most of the buildings in Tashkent are in Soc-Realistic style, but all really well kept and by its geometrical perfection mixed with muslim influence make it a really nice vibe for visitors.

• b) Samarkand

Most important place to visit in Samarkand, 3000 years old city, is Registan. It’s a set of medrasas (muslim schools) and a true pearl of architecture. Outstanding during the day, hypnotizing during the night. Probably the most turistic place in Central Asia, but still worth its price.

Registan during the day

Registan at night

• c) Bukhara

Bukhar, other than Samarkand is not a particular point of interest, but rather a set of different places that all together creates a vibe of ancient Central Asia city.

• d) Khiva

Khiva was a dead end of the Silk Road. Pretty literally. It was a prison, located in the middle of a dessert. You could feel the change of climate compared to all the previous cities. During the day, even though it was already a fall, it was killingly hot. This was the most remote place, where least tourists arrive, and which can give you more authentic experience of how is the life on dessert.

10. Architecture
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After a couple of months, watching pictures from the trip I can not recognize which building was located in which place. But it does not matter at all. For those who love symetry and geometry, mosques and medrasas give amazing pleasure for eyes. Especially the ceilings. Always visit while looking up!

11. People
To phrase it most simply, people are simply amazing. In Kyrgyzstan they are more wild, adjusted to their nomadic genes. In Uzbekistan they are more open hearted, with thousands years of great history. People are extremely happy seeing tourists. They wave at us.  They say hello. They invite for chai. Western countries can learn a lot about hospitality from Central Asia.

12.  Clothes
We were especially interesting object for locals, looking like this

• Eastern European potatoe face can be taken as more or less local
• Tiubitieyka - is definetly a local hat, worn by noble older man, specially on bigger occasions (hint: it covers pretty good a monk baldness and doesn’t weigh anything
• Alladin pants - we heard every single time “this is pants for women”, people were truly concerned that some bastard bazaar seller sold us women pants instead of proper gentelmen’s trousers. At the beginning we have tried explaining that this pants are amazing for hot climate and easy to walk in. But it did not work. So then, we started explaining that this is Polish National Hero Pants. If somebody ask you there about it, well it’s our fault.

All together it makes people laugh hysterically. We were asked to take pictures with locals like a thousand times. Make a little fool of yourself, and you will get a lot of friends :)

Being famous is not an easy thing. All those pictures with fans..

Central Asia is a great place for people that like silk, funny hats and ridiculous kimonos.