Another brilliant sunny morning. The air is fresh but the sun warm. This morning we have swifts and swallows flying around!
I had to get up in the middle of the night and there were even birds singing in the dark!
It is a long way to Bishkek, about 350km. The main road is under construction and in places is quite rough and bumpy! We are told that different companies have been awarded contracts for different sections and there is little cohesion between them. Despite it being a Saturday, and as a secular country their weekend is Saturday and Sunday, we did see workers, many of them Indian.
On the way we stopped to look at a site that was partially constructed but then abandoned because of lack of finance. This was to be a centre where festivals could be held for story tellers. This is a big part of Kyrgyz culture and stories have been related down through generations. The epic poem of Manas being the main one. It cannot be proven that he lived but whether he did or not this poem unites the people of Kyrgyzstan and is part of their national identity.
Our next stop was in a village where they made yurts. After the fall of the Soviet Union when the economy had crashed and there was little help from the government some of the villagers decided to make yurts and they now have a thriving business, for their domestic market and exporting to Europe and some to the USA. The smallest yurt was about 8feet across and a larger one would sell for $5000. The shed that contained all the wood was very reminiscent of an old wood shed I once knew!
The wooden structure is willow, held together in the main by cow hide which when dry is very hard, and sheeps wool to make the outer covering. With the whole family working together these can go up very quickly.
Photos of the process are in the gallery.
As we drove west the scenery was changing. Although the snow capped mountains were still there they were further away and in places we were driving through very arid, desert like areas. Every so often there were pockets of agriculture and we assume there must be some form of irrigation. We have seen drainage channels separating some of the strips so this may be a part of it.
Lunch was taken at a restaurant on the western edge of Lake Issyk Kul, in Balykchy. Like so many towns in Kyrgyzstan that were highly industrial during Soviet times, they struggled after independence. There are signs of renewal but although Kyrgyzstan is a democracy it has had some revolutions since independence and any sign of instability puts off international investors.
After this the roads were consistently good which was a bit of a relief after 3 hours of mainly unmade roads! The skies were much heavier to the south obscuring some of the mountains. To the north the mountains were much lower. No more snow caps! We drove through some narrow gorge like areas that were completely barren, some green valleys and everything in between.
We stopped en route near Tokmok at the Burano tower. This was located on the old Silk Road and is thought to have been a look out tower. We were able to climb to the top and you could see why. The view over the plain and also the slopes of the nearest mountains would have given good advance warning of any visitor, welcome or otherwise.
With the collapse of trade along the Silk Road the tower and town it was part of fell into decay. In Soviet times they were able to renovate most of the tower, although the very top is missing. Many artefacts have been found in the fields around but again the Kyrgyz government do not have the money to fund any kind of archeological survey. As people walk all over it and children play in what ruins there are it is likely that what is there is being degraded.
We finally arrived at our hotel in Bishkek at around 6pm and had to do a quick turnaround to be out for dinner by 6.45. I think it is fair to say we are pretty worn out today!
Over the last 10 days as we have driven along we have been given lots of information and seen many things. One of these has been strip agriculture. Apparently after the collapse of the Soviet Union the collective farms were broken up and in the villages each family was allocated a piece of land according to how many they had to feed. The whole system had collapsed so food was in short supply and the economy was in crisis. We have seen onions growing but have been unable to recognise other things, and some strips are ready for sowing. Larger areas of land are used for cereal crops.
Climate change is an issue. Our guide says that back in the 90’s there were 600 glaciers and now 50 of them have disappeared. They are reliant on coal so there is a recognition that they are contributing to global warming but moving to renewables is expensive and the country’s economy is fragile.
However there is hope for the future here, particularly with tourism, hiking trails and a growing skiing industry. The population is young and optimistic that they can forge a future as a democratic country. There is a feeling that they have many ethnicities living here and it is possible to all live peacefully side by side.
For some people the communist regime brought stability and safety as well as education and health care. This came at the cost of freedom and the people were repressed. There are those who would still prefer that.
The Kyrgyz flag 🇰🇬 Red for the blood shed over many years, the yellow sunflower like shape for the sun with 40 rays for the 40 main tribes in the nation and the centre is the tun duk which is the shape of the top of the yurt. Recently the government have decided unilaterally to straighten out the rays of the sun which some of the general population are unhappy with.
Commenti