It all started 2 years ago. While sitting ard, sipping Teh 'O' kurang manis ( tea w/o milk less sugar ), we came up with this idea of going for this trip.
Believe it or not we only started planning where to go around 2 months back.First, it was around southeast asia but in the end after talking to a few kind folks from www.sgtravelcafe.com we finally decided to go to Central Asia instead.
Here is the story of our journey.....
Subr time came and Ramli decided that he would go alone and I will wait and open the gate for him as they locked it in the wee hours. He headed there about 0530hrs and return at 0600hrs with me struggling to open the gate for him.
He got there and could not see anyone or any lists at the guard house, but when he turned he saw a old couple standing behind some bushes and he decided that he go over and ask them if they had the lists or knew the where abouts… The old man whispered something and took out the folded lists from his pocket and Ramli wrote our name at no. 6 & 7… Eventhough it was the 1st but we are contented…
Again we checked out and had our free breakfast of the same thing and headed to the embassy at about 1000hrs… Arrived there and saw that the lists was only filled up till no.25 seems the long holidays had many people waiting yesterday…
Waited for them to open and today there is a man to keep things in order, he took the lists and walked around asking everyone their name and telling each other whom they will be after… When they opened everyone queued in line accordingly eventhough with some “special” people being let in we still got in by 1115hrs and successfully submitted the application and was told to return in 10 workings days.. Finally!!!
We took the train to check the bus to Samarkand and only found out that the bus system have no time but will move when the mini bus is full so we headed back to get our backpack and headed to the station again.. Before we knew we were on the bus at 1500hrs to Samarkand… We paid 8000cym/each = SGD6.80 for the 4 hr bus ride of 290kms or so…
The ride was smooth passing the different small towns that resembles those in Malaysia… Pass thru cotton farms where farmers already picking the cotton which was in season… We arrived at Samarkand at about 1830hrs which was about 3.5hrs ride only…
We tried to flag down a taxi to get to Hotel Davr which was recommended by the lady at Ali B&B and was told by a passer by, a young man who spoke English that we could walked there it is just max. 10mins away.. So with our heavy backpacks we walked towards his directed direction but didn’t arrive even after about 30mins.. But we walked pass a stall and saw the Czech couple we met when we were in Kashgar border… We chatted for a while and he recommended that we go to AidarkulLake and stay at the Yurt which they felt was really beautiful… We parted ways and continued walking towards somewhere in the non lighted streets…
Still after another 20mins we couldn’t find it… And we went in to ask directions at a mini supermarket.. The stall owners didn’t know but luckily a young boy came up and offered to bring us there.. We walked thru the dark alleys and finally came to the Hotel Davr after about 1hr of walking… Ramli gave the little boy 1000cym for reward and we were greeted by a young man in the hotel.. He showed us the room available and we took the room which costs USD25/night including breakfast.. It was small but was really clean with extremely clean toilet… We asked for dinner and he told us he could have it prepared in 1.5hrs so we waited since it was dark and we didn’t know where to get dinner outside…
Dinner was chicken with potatoes with local bread, cheese and sausage salad, fried slice eggplant with tomato salsa, tea, grapes and watermelon.. We enjoyed the dinner very much but was thinking that the dinner would have costs us a bomb… Chatted with the young man and found out his dad opened the hotel in spring time which we think might be about April…That is why the rooms looks so new …. Paid for our dinner which costs USD5/pax which we thought was a little expensive but since we had eaten we had no choice but to pay.. Wahahah but nevertheless we enjoyed it…
Went back to the room and took a hot shower and rested for the night…
We had the instant noodle soup that we bought in China for sahur.. Went out to the Turk embassy at about 0930hrs and arrived about 1015hrs and was told by the security guard that the embassy isn’t open today… And will only open again on the 22nd!! As we figure out it is due to the Eidil Fitr holidays round the corner. Big Sigh again !! Haiz this time we are really lost for words and didn’t know where to go…
Musuem
Limousine
We walked around and decided to go do some “sight seeing” in Tashkent. We took the train to Amir Timur Sq which costs us only 400cym/each = SGD0.30. Got there and saw a wedding couple was having their picture taken near a museum with a long limousine parking alongside…Whoah so grand …. After we asked our way to the Post office to get stamps to post our travel update envelopes to our dearest friend in Singapore… After walked to the Amir Timur Sq itself around where the statue of Tamerlane was and sat down for a while to look at the men that were playing chess there and trying to enjoy the “boring” park.. But they had very beautiful roses and flowers planted around the square. When I was trying to get a picture of Ramli at the statue a couple approached us and asked where we came from. They spoke to us in Uzbek and Russian which we don’t understand a single thing. After much giggling we knew they are Ilhom and Saryora whom are also fellow muslims but not doing the fast. They tried to invite us for Iftar thru the phone with their 5 yr old son who can speak a little English. We declined as we thought that it will be really difficult to communicate with them.. Bidded farewell after exchanging emails.
Amir Timur Sq
Mr Amir Timur
Wasn’t much to see so we walked towards somewhere hoping to find the pizza bakery stated on the map on the Trail blazer guide.. We walked about 1hr and didn’t see any pizza bakery but only saw a fast food place called The Big way which is also selling pizza and headed towards te restaurant to have our Iftar.. We ordered a assorted meat pizza, roast chicken pieces with rice and a salad. The food was good but a little costly, total for the dinner was 19000 cym = SGD14.40…. Since the dinner was so expensive we had to stinge and walked our way back to the hotel while stopping for 3 times at different supermarket to get some supplies for Sahur the next day.. Bread, chicken sausage, butter and tomatoes and some drinks … Walked about 1hr before we reached our hotel to rest our tired feet and rest for the night again after watching some music channels on tv…
Next morning we only went out about 1630hrs to the Chorsu bazaar hoping to get some cheaper food for Iftar.. Took the train as usual and figured out that to any stations it costs 400cym.. As the metro only serves the city thus we figured it might be the reason why the price is the same to anywhere on the track. Alighted at Chorsu station and walked up to the bazaar and ventured around the place. There was specific areas selling specific foods or things.. Spices, vegetables, cookies/sweets, fruits and groceries… We walked around and got ourselves, grapes, oranges (5500cym for 2 = SGD4.16), peaches, tomatoes and egg. 2 more days it will be the end of Ramadhan and time for celebration so we got some chocolate cookies to celebrate on our own… they resemble the cookies we have back home during Raya so we thought we might not get so home sick with these substitutes… Kekkekek
Iftar time, headed to the food area. Bought some pastries, a roast chicken tigh and headed to the kebab stall to await for Iftar. Orderd beef and chicken doner kebab which tasted quite good.. of course Ramli didn’t stop there, he continued to have hot dog bun and a shashlik (beef kebab)… Than we headed back to the hotel and snooze thru the night…
We had a good sahur today, boil egg and sausage sandwich with cheese and tomato…Stayed in the room till about late afternoon before we headed out to the internet to try upload some pictures and update our blog. The connection wasn’t that good and I only manage to update another 5 days on the blog which is still happening in India while Ramli only manage to upload 1 pic on FB.. WAHHAHAHAHHA
After headed to Chorsu bazaar by train to have our Iftar. There wasn’t much selection so we ate the same.. But today I had a beef burger which tasted like mutton… But still manage to swallow all down with the help of lots of tea… Ramli had the Beef doner kebab and shashlik.. Nothing much happen after… Same routine back to the hotel… Only difference is that today is the last day of fasting… And both of us are thinking so much of home and trying our bests not to drool over the food we are imagining … Wahahhaha
Ramli's Lamb Doner Kebab
My Chicken Doner Kebab
Shashlik
Hot dox?
Our Raya Cookies :(
It feels so different after a month of fasting and you don’t have to fast today… Today is Hari Raya in a foreign land… As we expect that mosts shops wont be opened so we just lazed in the room watching non stop music mtv and cooked local Uzbek instant dry noodle with fried egg and fresh sliced tomatoes for lunch.. only got out of our rooms after mahgrib to look for dinner. The hotel didn’t have dinner but the hotel owners son offered us local uzbek noodle soup and bread with really fresh cucumbers… It tasted great and since we are already full we just went to the provision shop to get some snacks and drinks… But today Ramli miraculously found out that there is many more channels on cable and we watched Shawshank redemption on Sudan TV in ENGLISH!! Nothing much happened at rested for the night… Nothing compared to a Raya back home…
We were waiting for this day to come as finally as the guard said the embassy will be open today… We got up and prepared to check out hoping that we could successfully get our transit visa application submitted so we could get out of Tashkent to Samarkand to do some real sightseeing. We had our free breakfast of fried egg, toast and blueberry tea and headed to the Turk embassy about 0930hrs.. Arrived at about 1015hrs and was told by the guard to have our name written on the lists. We were no.40 and 41…Hmmm we we skeptical if we would be able to get in as the embassy only work from 1100hrs till 1300hrs …. We waited and waited and waited for them to open.. While waiting we met a American guy who already submitted his transit visa application 2 weeks ago and was here to collect his visa. He was no.6 on the name lists and when we asked what time did he come to write down his name.. He came at 0530hrs!! My goodness.. Later came a Italian guy who submitted his application last Thurs and came at 0730hrs to have his name at no.26… He told us the last time he came they only serve up to no.25 as it was 1300hrs they just close and the rest have to come back the next day..
So I guess both of us wont have hope to get in… Sigh.. The doors opened finally at about 1115hrs and people were ushered in by 2s or 3s but not according to the name lists!! The situation was chaotic and with us not speaking any Uzbek or Russian it made things much more difficult for us.. The American and Italian was looking at each other and shaking their heads and giggling… Even the guard couldn’t keep order … But finally someone came up and got the lists and told the guard sternly that he should follow the lists…So one by one people went in in order at times… The American and Italian got in and came out shaking their heads.. The Americans visa seems to be rejected but was told by the consular to come back next Monday… He looked really devastated as he had already waited for 2 weeks… The Italian guy was told to come back on Thurs the same week as he requested for a express service which means additional money to be paid..
Seeing them make us feel really worried… Cause if we don’t get it we might have to fly into Iran… which is the last option we want to take… Anyways we stayed on and see if we had hope of getting in.. Seems many of the people who already had their name written gave up and left and so we got in at about 1245hrs… We were so happy but it was only short lived. We went in and requested for the transit visa form.. While we were filling up the lights suddenly came off from inside.. it was about 1255hrs and the consular was preparing to go home… Ermmm I quickly took up my form and went to the counter, he saw me but waived his hand and flick the last switch and left. His assistance told us that it is close and we have to come back tomorrow…
We were like what???#($&%$&%)%*#94 but no choice we had to leave and try our luck tomorrow ….
We went back to the Big Way to have lunch and later headed back to the hotel to check in again for then night. The room we were staying in previously had been taken so they gave us another bigger rooms with one double bed and a single bed for the same price of USD35/night at a special discount..
We decided that we will head to the Turk Embassy the next morning after Subr prayers to have our name written earlier so we have a better chance to get it done….
We walked pass the reception area at about 0335hrs to get to the cafeteria at the basement. Saw the manager on duty at the counter and when he saw us he let out a hmm? We continued walking and was welcomed by a very nicely decorated café and one of the Russian looking boy was setting up the breakfast “feast” with his unbuttoned shirt with a singlet. He rush in and out of the kitchen putting plates of things on the small buffet table while we looked and waited for him to tell us to start eating..
After about 5mins the food was ready for us. They serve toasts and breads with sausages, ham and cheese. There are also corn flakes or muesli with yoghurt and not forgetting fruit juices and water or tea. We were helping ourselves when we heard someone greeting Salam from behind, we looked over to see a Iranian looking man heading towards as and we greeted back and headed to our table to have our food. After a while the small café was almost filled up with local guests but all of them men.. I was telling Ramli don’t women need to eat? Hehehhe We finished our food and went back to the room to wait for time to solat and went back to sleep again.
Awoke at about 0900hrs got ready and pack up our things to check out and head to look for the Turkmenistan embassy. We got some directions from the hotel manager and went out leaving our bags at the hotel. We started walking about 1000hrs up and down the same area asking directions from a few guys whom gave us a different direction each time. We even went into a travel agents office and they lady told us thereisn’t any Turkmenistan embassy in Tashkent… We were puzzled but was sure there is one but just we didn’t know where and it was at a new building.
We carried on walking for about 1.5hrs and finally gave up and headed to the internet café to check our the address and same time to update our where about since we have not updated ourselves to our families for at least 10days or more. Internet connection was quite slow but we endured thru it and manage to update our FB and get the address to the new Turkmenistan embassy. We got some direction from the internet guy and thought we would find it. But after another 45mins or so we are still walking round and round the place without avail.. It was getting hotter under the midday sun and both of us is loosing hope and tired… While walking I asked Allah for directions and this time Allah really did help us immediately.. We were walking down the street when I saw a lady with someone who seems to be her dad walking pass us and I was thinking if they are really Koreans I could ask them where is the Korean embassy as we know that the Turk embassy is beside the Korean Embassy. I was listening to them while they walk pass if they were speaking Korean and was really happy to “hear” that they are Koreans and I approached the lady to asked if she knew where the Korean embassy was.. And YES!!! They knew where it was and they are heading that way and she told me she saw another embassy beside it but not sure which embassy was it..
I was so happy and delighted!!! Finally we are heading there with the help of Allah the almighty.. We walked along with them and arrived at the Turkmenistan embassy just 10mins away from the area we were walking round and round before… Thanked the Korean lady and headed to the security room to ask how we could apply for the visa. When we got there and were told that the embassy is open from 1100hrs to 1300hrs and to come back at 1700hrs when it will open again. Sigh …It was only 1300hrs so we decided to head back to Rovshan Hotel to get our bags and go look for Ali’s B&B and come back later.
We asked the help of the hotel to get us a cab to Ali B&B which still have rooms available at USD35/dbl rm and the taxi costs 3000cym = SGD2.70. We got there check in to the room which looks really homey… The room is equipped with TV and small fridge with 2 single beds a cupboard, dining table at the corner and a arm chair.. the floor was all carpeted and cozy… Ramli registered us to the hotel and asked the hotel owner’s son about the embassy. He told us we don’t need to go back today and should go only tomorrow. So we just rested in the hotel and waited for mahgrib to go for dinner.
Just about 10mins away from the hotel there is a small restaurant Lilli Akbar. We went there to be served by a Russian lady. I ordered Roast chicken with chips and Ramli had beef steak and also 2 salads. The restaurant was very simple with no decorations and cemented floor. The food was alright … We finished and headed back to the hotel and watch some music channels on TV and rested for the night…
We left the hotel about 1000hrs and got in a taxi with the help of the hotel owner to the border. We knew the border is very near to Osh but didn’t know it is just 10 mins away..
Walked to the immigration counter got our passport chopped and was 100m away from Uzbekistan. That is easy and near.. But when we arrived at the Uz immigration we could see a queue forming. We got help from some old tourists to get our immigration form in English and was filling it up in duplicate indicating how much cash we have with us..
at the border between Kyrgyzstan and Ubekistan
After queuing for about 20mins finally it was our turn and successfully cross the border w/o any hassle or customs check on our bags.. Hmmmm walked out and was approached by the taxi drivers. Luckily they had a guy who could speak English who translated for us that a ride of 6hrs to Tashkent the capital of Uz costs USD20/pax in a shared taxi. Since there isn’t any bus available we had no choice and waited for another 2 passengers to Tashkent so we could be on our way.
It didn’t take us long, about 15mins later 2 guys from Turkmenistan joined us on the ride and we were on our way. Or so we thought. Suddenly the translator guy told us that the car that was going to take us to our destination is after a check point about 5km ahead but there would be a car that will bring us there. First thought was, here we go again, getting conned again but the guy told us it’s free. Phew… For a while there I thought we were gonna have to pay. Anyway we loaded our bags into the car and off we went to go to the other car.
10 minutes later we reached the other car and the old man said that his son is going to be the one driving us there and furthermore he said that his son is also fasting. Well at least we’ll know when to break fast and at least we’ll be sure that the place we gonna be eating at will be halal.
The roads were very good and proper actually. I was thinking that it’s gonna be another bumpy, graveled road ride but it was tarmac all the way. Along the way, after about 3 hours later, the driver stopped for a toilet break at what seems to be like a common rest area with shops selling food and lots of the local bread. Oh yeah while we were there, a lady accidently went into the man’s toilet without realizing it until she came out, done doing her business. She was blushing and her friends were laughing at her when she came out.
The many non stalls
See how big the nons are
I was looking over at the stalls across the roads, the way the ladies who is selling the local bread is rather interesting. They would hold up their bread and wave to the passer bys and gesturing them to come over to buy their bread. There is at least 20 diff stalls there selling the same bread most of them is doing the same thing. The way they display their bread is as if the bread is some accessories or clothing. But I think the way they are doing their sales works as the customers would just walk over and buy from those that are enthusiastic about selling their bread. The bread comes in all sizes and the biggest we saw is like a extra large pizza..
After all the bread selling we were on the way to Tashkent. The land along the way is quite flat and we couldn’t see any nomads or yurts. This place seems to be quite “modern” compared to Kyrgyzstan but the air isn’t as good. The sky seems really hazy and grey. We notice that there is many police stops and check points along this highway to Tashkent. Wasn’t sure of the reason but just knew we had to stop quite a few times to register and fortunately one of the Turkmen guy help us to do it, we just have to wait in the car.
Finally it is about mahgrib time, we broke our fast in the car with the sparking water given by the 2 Turkmen guy. Very soon we were in Tashkent area and had to part our ways with the Turkmen guys as they seems to be heading another way and hoped on to the drivers friends car.
The driver gestured to us if we wanted to eat first or pointed ahead to eat. We gestured back saying anything but he just drove off about 15mins later he stopped at a restaurant called Tamagoh somewhere… We went in and saw that one of the waitress is a Russian lady, she could speak a little English and asked what we wanted. We asked for chicken but no chicken was available so she said they had beef and pointed to the picture on the menu and said Beef steak, beef stroganoff and beef noodle.. Ramli chose beef steak and I had beef stroganoff. Another waitress came along with a tray of salads, we chose a egg and crab meat mayo salad and a mix ham salads.. Wow is so tasty!! Just like back home…
When our food was served we were more impressed!! The beef stroganoff was served in thin slices and with chips, it reminded me of rendang, Ramli’s beef steak is a beef patty with egg, rice and salad.. Both of them is really tasty.. We enjoyed this dinner!!
Right after we headed to a Hotel Rovshan that the one of the taxi driver was telling us is real good and very cheap at the border. When we arrived and saw the lobby we knew it wasn’t as cheap as he said it to be. We paid the driver and he left, Ramli went in to ask the price of the hotel and came out in shock. USD50/night!! My goodness this is really expensive and the taxi driver say is cheap… We stood outside not knowing what to do as it is already about 2030hrs and the road seems really quiet and we thought if we were to go in search of another cheaper option as per our book we might get lost and have no place to stay since it is already late. We were discussing when 2 man came out from the hotel and asked us what price we were looking at cause they said that this hotel is the cheapest around the area. We told them our budget of USD25-USD30 and they told us it isn’t possible as Tashkent is the capital of Uz thus the prices are higher and if we go to Samarkand or Bukhara we might get cheaper but not here..
We hesitated for a while and one of the guy said that they could give us USD45/room here.. Seems we didn’t have much choice so we agreed and registered to check in. The price was including of breakfast and when we told them we were fasting they said to come to the café after 0330hrs they will have breakfast… Ohhh that is nice we thought. The hotel room is clean and nice, with tv, hair dryer and all accessories..
We settled down and rest for the night looking forward to the sahur break fast tomorrow..
Time to leave, we had our sahur and went down to meet the driver at 0500hrs (Xinjiang Local Time). Checked out of the hotel and got our deposit of Cny100 and was in the taxi and on our way to the border. The taxi ride went thru the mountain ranges and 2 police stops and after about 4hrs we arrived at the border at 0845hrs (Xinjiang Local Time). We took our bags and wanted to enter the immigration building but were stopped by the young army guards saying it is not opened yet we have to wait another 15mins.
We went and look for a toilet while waiting for the immigration to open. About 0905hrs we were ushered in to have the officers manually check our bags. And as per normal one of them asked about Singapore and if they were to visit will they be able to get around easily speaking Chinese.. They checked my bag very fast but Ramli’s took a while cause they wanted to check the photos that we have taken during our stay in China on our lap top and we were there about 30mins before we could get thru the x-ray scan and finally the immigration to have our passport chopped.
The nice officer told me that we could wait outside for any truck that is going to the border which is 4km away and hitch a ride with them. So we sat there waiting with a few Kyrgyz also waiting for a ride. While waiting we saw a few cyclists coming from the Kyrgyz border and was surprised to see a couple cycling on a double mountain bike.. Seems cool even the Chinese officers are fascinated.
We waited and waited but no truck in sight and only saw a big crane waiting for clearance so I approached the Chinese driver and asked if we could hitch a ride. He told me it is too dangerous and we are tourists if anything happen to us he can’t be able to answer, I tried persuading him but to no avail so we continued to wait. Then we saw a few more back packers coming towards us. An American couple Eric and Eliza and 2 Dutch guys and later 4 Czech Republic Biologists. By the time they all got there waiting for the truck it was already about 1100hrs (Beijing Time 0100hrs) and the officer told me that they are already closing for lunch and will only open again at 1630hrs.. I was like WOW this is such a long lunch break. So the officer said he can arranged their own mini bus to shuttle us all over to the border but we need to pay Cny10 per pax. Since we have no choice and no other trucks in sight we all agreed and were on the mini bus across to the border.
Arrived at the end of the Chinese border and still had to walk down hill about another 2km before we reach the Kyrgyz side. First impression of the Kyrgyz border is that this place seems so run down and the buildings are so old and dilapidated.. We had to stop at a custom check and later were ushered to walk towards to the immigration office. It is a zinc roofed run down building with a small immigration window. We waited for our turn to have our passports chopped and we headed towards to no mans land and were told by the American couple that we should wait for the trucks to hitch a ride to Osh (about 6hrs ride) for about USD10/pax cause the Taxi would costs us about USD45 to Sarytosh a village just 2 hrs from the border which is very expensive.
The caravan village at Kygyrzstan
So all of us waited at the small “village” made up of run down caravans with nothing much to offer around. Since the Chinese side is close for lunch we had to wait for another 3hrs or so before the trucks could pass thru to Kyrgyz side. We all sat around and we chatted with the American couple when the Czech’s decided that they will try their luck walking downwards and later the Dutch decided the same. We continued waiting while trying to chat with the non speaking local whom keep persuading us to change our Cny with him.
About 2.5hrs later finally our ride was here with the help of the “money changer”.. The driver is Adili a Muslim Uyghur from Kashgar whom is able to speak a little Chinese. I asked him if he could bring us to Osh and he said no problem and we will only arrive the next day morning. I asked him his charge but he kept asking us to quote him a rate. We didn’t know how much to pay him at that time so decided to take the ride first and discuss again later. As Adili could only take 2 pax on his truck the Americans couldn’t join us, we felt bad and parted our ways.
We hoped in the big truck which seems still new with the plastic covers on the bed behind the driver seat. There is 2 berth sleeping beds which is really spacious, I sat behind while Ramli sat in the passenger seat and we were on our way. Our ride pass thru the valleys and when you can see rivers there are yurts around and herds of sheep wondering around. The ride was smooth but a little too slow… He was driving 30km/hr and at times 40km/hr max…. I guess the rocky road condition did not allow him to drive any faster due to the load he has in the container…
Finally it was time for Buka and Adili was also fasting. He stopped the truck about mahgrib time and offered us a bottle of mineral water. Luckily we had some tidbit supplies with us so we had some food for buka. He had the local Uyghur hard bread with water and after he went down the truck to speak with his friend on the truck behind us. We sat in the truck all the time as the temperature outside is way tooo cold for us.. We are almost at the same level with the snow capped mountains peak.. About 5mins later a Kyrgyz guy from the other truck came into the truck and asked us to pay him 1000som = SGD33 for our ride. He couldn’t speak any English but he wrote on the paper and gestured to us to pay him cause he is the boss of Adili. We were curious and told him we wanted to wait for Adili to check with him. But of course he couldn’t understand any English so me and Ramli just looked at each other not knowing whether we should pay him.
He kept demanding that we pay him and after about 10mins Ramli gave in and decided to pay him and check with Adili later. When Adili came back later I asked him and he told that that guy isn’t his boss and we shouldn’t have paid him cause he wont give Adili the money. We were furious and Ramli got down and walk to the truck and demanded that he return the money to us. He walked over and spoke Uyghur with him and Adili said everything is fine..We weren’t convince but since he said is alright we were on our way..
At about 1000hrs we stopped at a small food stall to have dinner. The place is really homey looking with platform dining area with long colorful cushions lining the sides. We sat down and ordered beef dish according to the other driver. The food came serve with tea and the local bread. The soup smells really muttony, I tried a little and could not swallow at all. Ramli asked me to close one eye and just eat but I just couldn’t cause the smell is too strong for me to accept.. I offered the meat to the other driver and Adili but they didn’t want but later gave it to the “boss”.. When we finished our dinner that other driver said to us that we should sleep here at we will leave tomorrow at 0500hrs. Hmmm we thought they didn’t make any stops but since they are the drivers we just agreed.
We took our sleeping bags and when we were about to get to sleep we saw 1 of the Czech couples. They had just arrived in another truck and wasn’t sure where their friends are… We chatted with them a bit and tried to go to sleep in the smoke and voice filled room at about 0100hrs..
We didn’t really get any sleep as the temp dipped in the night and our sleeping bags aren’t sufficient. Finally it was 0430hrs we awoke and saw Adili walking in ordering tea for us. We had the local bread with tea and boiled egg for sahur and manage to wuduk in the cold cold place and did out solat before we continue on our long and slooooow journey..
We continued driving thru the mountains and rocky roads for about another 10hrs before we arrived in Osh at about 1600hrs.. We knew that the “boss” or Mafia didn’t pay Adili any money so Ramli decided to pay him Cny200 = SGD40 for the ride as we felt bad not paying this nice guy.. Adili didn’t want to take the money but we insisted so he took it and told us that he had to pay the Mafia 500som also….Sigh so I guess he is a mafia trying to collect some protection money or something… Furious as we were but there isn’t anything we could do… Just our bad luck I guess.. We parted our ways and took a taxi into Osh town to find Osh Guesthouse to stay for the night.
The taxi driver didn’t speak any English so we showed him the map we had on our book and told him our destination. He seems to know but seems not to know drove on and stopped a few times to asked the police and some locals. He drove to and fro from town about 3 times and finally stopped us somewhere near the guesthouse when I told him it is near Taj Mahal hotel. We got down and he demanded 500som = SGD17 for a 15mins ride!! Ramli was very reluctant to pay him but still gave him the money and cursed…
We walked around but couldn’t locate the Osh guesthouse and decided to put up at the Taj Mahal hotel as we aren’t in the mood anymore to stay in this country of cheats!! The dorm room costs 600som = SGD20 for 2 pax with communal toilet. The room was clean and the non speaking hotel owner was quite nice. We settled in and finally got our long awaited shower after 2 days and left to look for internet and dinner for buka..
Walked around and couldn’t find any internet available and it was really difficult when the locals couldn’t speak any English. We gave up after awhile and decided to go look for dinner. We saw a pizza place so we went and asked if their food is Halal, too bad it isn’t so we walked to another stall selling local food. They had menu but in Russian with no pictures so we had to use our sign language and picture dictionary that Felix left behind when we were in Karimabad. We told the waitress that we wanted chicken and she pointed to the Laghman (la mein/noodle) and said it is chicken. We ordered one of that and also another dish which looks like lasagna. The food was served but it wasn’t time yet so we couldn’t eat and the waitress was very curious and asked us to eat, we told her we were fasting “Roza” and she understood. When mahgrib came she came over to tell us so we could start eating. We dig in and only to find out that the Laghman is with mutton… Wahahaha how come their chicken taste like mutton.. Ramli tried his bests and finished it. Mine was tasty, a vegetable lasagna with no cheese.. Simple but nice.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel to watch “Heroes” and rested for the night looking forward to leave this place the next day to the border to get to Uzbekistan.
Today we overslept and didn’t wakeup on time for Sahur, by the time I woke up it is already 0559hrs and the sun is out. Went back to sleep and got up about 0830hrs to get ready for the long awaited Sunday market.
Went downstairs to check with the travel agent if he had any enquiry from other tourists about crossing the border to Kyrgystan but answer is negative. So we decided to check our chances on the International bus later.
Slowly walked to the Sunday bazaar wishing to see something interesting, but when we got there after walking about 45mins we were greeted by the same things and shops but with more local and tourists than the other day we went. There wasn’t anything interesting but still we walked around the bazaar hoping to see something new. Walking thru the crowds we see there are more hawkers and loads of shoes on sale. There were also baggers pushing their sick family member around begging for money. We donated what we could and continued walking about 1.5hours and only bought a pocket knife for Cny10 = SGD2 and left the bazaar as it was getting more and more crowded with the locals.
Walked back to the city with our tired feet and rested for 45mins before we continued to the supermarket to get shampoo. And right after we headed back to the hotel to confirm our transport with the travel agent to the border tomorrow morning. Got back to our room and watch Heroes on our laptop.
Finally time for buka and Ramli wanted to have the beef noodle for the last time before we leave Kashgar. Luckily the shop was still opened when we got there, we ordered the noodles both adding 2x beef…Waahahhahaha Finished the delicious beef noodle left While walking back to the hotel we bought 2 figs at the road side stall to try as we haven’t eaten fresh figs before. It tasted refreshing and nice…
Nothing much to do we continued watching Heroes and rested for the night…
Kashgar didn’t have much to offer so we didn’t do much these 2 days. We are only staying here cause we are waiting for the Sunday market. We have heard many nice things about this market so decided we had to go and not miss it.
Both days we just stayed in the hotel room and only went out in the evening to look for food. Nothing much was done and we couldn’t go any internet café as there isn’t service available as the Chinese government has banned it after the situation in Urumqi that happened in July.. Hmmm even international calls aren’t allowed..
Only significant thing which happen was when we tried to send our laundry to a local launderette near the hotel and was rejected after they checked a few pieces of our clothes.. We weighed our clothes and wanted to pay them Cny18 for 3.6kgs but was just plainly rejected… Don’t wash and both of them just look away from us… Both of us was really puzzled and left the place and didn’t had other choice but to send to the hotel launderette which we thought would be very expensive as they charge by per piece. But after collecting it back today it only costs us Cny50 = SGD10 which is considered cheap I guess..
Hmmm and today we had dinner at a local fast food restaurant called Dico’s which served fried chicken and chicken burgers and also chicken cutlets with rice..Even thought it was quite costly I felt it was worth it as I have been longing for some French fries since Delhi… WahahahahahahhaOh and not forgetting we had beef noodle for the 2nd time the day before… kekekkeke
We got up when we got up today and went downstairs to check with the travel agent how we could arrange the transport to Kyrgystan on Monday. We chose to cross using the Irkesham pass which was a cheaper option as the Torugart pass would require permit and would costs about USD300 abv for 2 pax. The helpful guys told us we could take a international bus from Kashgar to Taskurgan to Osh which costs Cny470/pax = SGD94/pax for a 15-16hrs ride which is only available on Mondays and Thursdays. And most probably would get cancelled as most of the time they couldn’t get enough passengers to fill up the bus. Another option is to take a private car from Kashgar to the border for Cny540/car = SGD108/car and after crossing the border we could take a taxi that costs Cny300/taxi = SGD60/taxi to Osh. So now we know our options and told them we will go look for some other tourists outside to share the private car if we could and update them.
I think is Buckle Up
No Drink Driving???
How about do not drive when tired
Id Kah Mosque
So many hat shops
Which one would you like?
Today we plan to go to the Id Kah Mosque and the old city for some sight seeing. We walked about 20mins and arrived at the Id Kah Mosque area. This place looks like a Muslim town with the buildings mostly built with domes which look like mosques. This is a tourist area with many local souvenir stalls around and also camel and horse rides are available on the concrete floors.
Traditional dressing of the Uyghur man
Super Lamby stew with Rice
2 Little girls in the old city
Old city Mosque
Again we finished our tour within 1 hour after arrival and sat around people watching again. Most of the local men wore the traditional Uyghur hats and ladies wore tudongs just like the muslim ladies in Singapore.
Muslim men outside Id Kah Mosque
Waiting for someone ?
Old City Streets
Posting a letter to Mr Izar and Mdm Irma
There isn’t much for us to do, we sat around till evening and headed back to the city and look for dinner and went back to the hotel.
Checked out about 0900hrs and headed to the bus station to wait for our bus ride for 5 hours to Kashgar (Kashi in Mandarin) The bus came and left the station at about 1000hrs and we were on our way. The bus was very clean and nice and we were the only tourists on the bus. We were expecting that the bus would stopped for breakfast or lunch but we were wrong it didn’t stop for breakfast or lunch and we only have left over peanuts and water with us.
About 2 hours later the bus stopped at a custom check point which we had to get down to get registered. Only manage to buy 2 local pratas and some biscuits to eat. But was good enough. The bus pass Kara Kul Lake which we actually planned to stay for a night in the local yurts but after seeing it didn’t appeal to us to stay and furthermore we hear that people has had trouble flagging down any transport to Kashgar the next day.
We arrived outside KashgarCity about 4 hours later with the bus stopping due to a puncture tyre. Didn’t know what happen but luckily they had a reserve bus to come pick us up about 15mins later and dropped us at the bus station. We tried to figure out how to get to the Seman Hotel for a while but gave up and took the taxi for Cny5 = SGD1 to Seman Hotel. It was about 10 mins away from the bus station, we checked in to a double room with communal toilet for Cny50/night = SGD10/night and went out to look for lunch.
Must try beef noodle!!
The tasty beef noodle!!
Walked around this very city looking place and saw that many of the restaurants serve Muslim Food and was really excited. We walked along and saw a beef noodle shop with the Muslim Food signage and quickly went in without much thinking. We entered the shop and went to the counter and ordered the clear soup beef noodle. It only costs Cny4 = SGD0.80 per bowl and for additional beef it costs Cny7 = SGD1.40. It is really tasty with the special concocted chilli.
Ice Kachang Kashgar Style
Chairman Mao Square
Mr Chairman Mao
Continued venturing thru the town after our late lunch. There are so many shops along the road. Many are selling clothes and shoes and they have big supermarkets around. There is also many construction going on the area. We walked on to look for the old city and ventured to a huge bazaar selling textiles, spices, local handi crafts andmany many other things. I bought a local made shirt with rose embroidery and Ramli bought a traditional Uyghur hat to add to his new collection.
Local Salads
Busy road
The Uyghur man with the tradition Muslim Hat
Uyghur Man selling Figs
The Old Town
The old city is an eye opener, there are so many street hawkers selling food and their wares and when they want to approach you to buy their things they would just shout “Oi!! Or Hoi!! And point to what they are selling.. The most interesting is the naan like bread they are selling, they made some which look like bagels and had some so big and flat it looks like trays. They also have local cold noodles or mix salad on carts..
Peaches
More Non
Tree growing out of the house?
We walked around absorbing the local atmosphere and slowly headed back to the hotel to rest as it was getting dark. We will continue tomorrow..
Tashkurgan is about 3000m above sea level so all 4 season is cold cold and colder. Yesterday night was so cold we had to squeeze into one single bed and have the 2 thick comforters covering us to keep us warm. We are just not made for cold weather.
Ramli trying to take a photo of the lady in yellow We went out about 1000hrs in search for breakfast and also to look for the Tashkurgan fort. We walked along the clean and tree covered streets, mountains surround this small town. Quiet and peaceful with shops aligned along the roads. It is a beautiful day to walk around but the only sad thing is that the people here either the Tajiks or Chinese aren’t as friendly as Pakistanis… They would look at you and would not give a small even if you did. It is really weird, not sure if it was the bad situation in Urumqi about the syringe attack that put them on guard when they see strangers. We didn’t feel welcome here..
Beef Stew Local Laghman and Beef stew and bun
We walked along and saw a local shop with a Muslim Food signboard hang outside and decided to walk in and get something for breakfast. Only one of the Tajik waiter could speak mandarin but also not so well. Asked him what they had and ordered la mien for me and Ramli had braised beef with bun. My la mien came with mutton which we guessed was the staple meat for the Tajiks. They cook it very well so it didn’t bother me much and Ramli’s braised beef taste good.. They offer complimentary tea served with a teapot on the table with bowls as cups. Interesting.. The waiter asked where we came from and said “Zhong Gua Hao!!” He meant to say that China is better since he know we came from Pakistan. But I think the other is best.
Snow capped mountains surrounding the town Lets do some "excercise"
We paid Cny32 = SGD6.40 for the food and left and went along to look for the Fort. Walked about 20mins and came to the old town with mud houses and in the open field there are yurts with sheeps , mules and cows grazing in the field with the snow capped mountains as the back drop. Walked along and saw the fort from a far and look really sad as stated on Lonely Planet that the fort is slowly crumbling and it isn’t lying. We walked closer and found a way into the fort. Walked around to the front and after about 15mins we saw a man walking towards us with a binoculars.. We guessed he saw us from a far and wanted to come and collect “entry fee” from us and true enough he asked for Cny8/pax = SGD1.60/pax. We saw that Lonely Planet stated Cny5/pax and so Ramli only took out Cny10 to test him and he took it and say okay okay but told us that we shouldn’t have came in from the back.. We just told him we didn’t know and acted blur about it.
View of the fort The crumbling fort
He gestured to us that we could walk around the area but we had already seen what we wanted to see so followed from behind towards the entrance and walk back to the town. We have finished the “tour” in Tashkurgan and didn’t know what to do next.. Hmm so we went and walked around the small town bought the local bread and some local hats for Ramli’s collection and sat around taking pictures and watching the locals. We notice that the Tajik men would hold each others hand and kiss it twice or four times as a greeting.. The Tajik women would either kiss on the cheek or the lips. Both Ladies and Men have their own traditional headwear. Ladies wear a colorful round hat and covered with a scarf just like the stewardess from Emirates and they would wear jacket and knee length skirt with tights and stockings to keep them warm from the cold. Older Men would wear bowler hats with suits which make them look really smart and tidy.
Ramli moustache, jangut and his new hat
Me with his new hat
The non (bread) shop with so much variety The local Tajik ladies
More Tajik Ladies We people watched till about evening time and headed back to the hotel and hide from the cold. We didn’t want to go out again for dinner so we cooked porridge with the instant soup powder we bought before.
Traffic Hotel.. My new hat.. On TV there was a documentary about a Chinese female reporter who went to Afghanistan, we felt really sad when we see the situations and life that the locals are leading after the war. There is a family who agreed to be film as the man of the family wanted to show to the world that even though due to the war he still could make a honest leaving by painting or polishing shoes to support his family of 5. What made it really sad is to know that his eldest daughter became a victim of the bombings, she use to be a happy and normal lady but after witnessing a suicide bombing she became a little out or sorts and has not recovered ever since. When his dad was telling them about the story, tears just ran down his face…Is really heart wrenching…
