The Silk Route & SEA 2012 The Johnsons

Jeti Oguz

What is Jeti Oguz? I thought to myself when I first heard it being banded about as a destination. Well I can tell you now some of the most amazing and beautiful places I have seen so far inKyrgyzstan. Our drive took us approx 20km outside Karakol [Karakol-travel-guide-1019301] before veering off to the right and entering a much rougher road than we had previously experienced in this region. As we drove through the very wide valley we saw the high mountains in the distance both sides. Stunning! We noticed as we came into the narrower part of the valley the extreme red sandstone colour of the hills around us. Much like the Red sandstone found in ranges in theUS. Our carrier stopped just around an area called the broken heart formation, for obvious reasons the two large chunks of red rock looked like a broken heart, in two pieces (pics). Behind us looked like some very nice hills, in front of them by the roadside were a collection of mobile beehives and vendors selling natural honey harvested in the summer season only. Next to these were a couple of Bird of Prey “Hawkers”. These were not your real traditional Hawkers, but ones that were “hawking” on the tourists. Takai warned us that if we started taking pictures they would start asking for money. I chose along with the rest of the group to ignore them and walk after our guide who informed us that we had a quick twenty minutes to walk to a lovely vantage point where we could photograph the “broken heart” rocks and view the vista around us. He was right, the view was great and we got some lovely shots of the rocks.

Onwards we went, about another 150mtrs to our main walk in this area, the Dragon back Gorge. We were altogether in this walk and I was wowed by the sheer redness of the crumbling sandstone. A small stream worked its way through with us and we passed Kyrgyz folk with their Yurt and horses. Using the natural shape of the cliff breaks to create sheep pens. Newly fallen giant boulders reminded us that we should be careful of the fragile rock walls around us. Along this bit of the valley I did see and picture some flora and fauna, but the main event was the gorge.

When we reached nearly the end of the bit we could do, our group split into two, our guide, Talai took the other group and they started to climb what looked like a very steep ascent to the hill in front of us, whilst Angela and I walked back round with Talai’s dad, who coincidently started all the tours Takai does now. We got back to the vehicle after about 30mins and crossed the road to take a closer look at the raging river that banked the other side of the road. A rest was welcome for my back at this point. About 30mins after that we spotted the second group coming over the hill approx quart of a mile ahead, so got back into the car to pick them up.

We continued along the road for a few kilometres when we stopped at The Valley of flowers (no flowers now as they flower during spring and early summer). Talai walked us up to a stunning view point which was quite steep in places, but as I looked back about half way up I could see the climb was worth it. As I reached the top I could see the huge rolling Jailoo below us with a huge linear forest of pine trees planted in between two large camps of Yurts.Dragon Back CAnyon with our group for scale, stunning rock formations here.This was planted for Gagarin by the Russians as he used to visit this valley to help him acclimatise after his visits in space. How nice (depends on your point of view) these trees are all in rows back dropping some beautiful mountains. To the left is a huge Jailoo pasture which had several Yurt camps and plenty of horses to match and on the right of the trees is another Yurt camp with a break before the mountain where you can walk to a waterfall. We all stopped for half an hour to catch our breath and then made our way back down to the vehicle. Picnic time! Except Talai had forgotten the tomatoes and cucumber, so our salad was a bit sparse. Takai took the group off to the waterfall; I stayed behind with his dad as A. my back had had enough and B. I could see the very large black rain cloud, I think Takai could too. I spent some time taking pictures walking through the Pine forest. Sure enough I was right, after about half an hour Angela returned with the rain on her back, and it poured.

We returned through the valley to the homestay and everyone agreed that they had had a lovely day.

Karakol

We arrived in Karakol [Karakol-travel-guide-1019301] from Tamchy on Saturday lunchtime (well about2.00pmto be precise). We got the driver from our taxi to drop us off outside the CBT office which I cannily spotted on the way into the town. Well outside door open but inside door shut! Across the road we crossed to the Tourist Information office which also has great English speaking staff, success! We were asked how close to town? How much did we want to pay? Toilet inside or outside? Etc. We got directed to Teskeys (under hotel reviews). We also asked about getting about the town and we were offered a great town map which at the time of writing was 100com, which really was great value and invaluable for buses and sights, names of streets (rare here).Dungan Mosque, it's hard to believe that this was built using NO nails!Our other enquires were aimed at trips out to Jeti Oguz [Jeti-Oguz-travel-guide-1354514] and Altyn Arashan, the first one for the scenery and the valley of the flowers and Altyn for the natural hot springs that we had heard about. The young woman (all of the tourist info office is manned by volunteer University students) at the TIO told us all the ways we could get there by buses, or shared taxis, or private taxi, oooor taxi with guide. All with their appropriate prices. No hard sell, great. We decided that we would discuss and get back to her if needed. We walked to our homestay/guesthouse it was hot, and the side streets are not so good for pulling trolley holdalls! We found it and Takai was kind enough to come out and help us in with our bags and show us to a lovely cool room.

Our first night’s meal we went to a restaurant called Kench, just a couple of streets away and mentioned in LP. Takai also gave it his endorsement so off we went. Angela had a lovely fish dish and I had a Chicken and sweet pepper dish common here inKyrgyzstan. Real “ice tea” made from cold tea and lemon wedges…so much more refreshing than tins or plastic bottled variety you commonly get everywhere in CA.

We had already decided that we wanted to go to Jeti Oguz & Altyn Arashan; we spoke with Takai as we noticed he had lots of info about tours that he arranged himself for Jeti Oguz and the surrounding area. We were clear that we were not fit enough for tough hiking; Takai said “no worries”. We spent the next day doing a town tour by ourselves. We visited the mosque made with “no nails” no not a squishy caulk used for fixing skirting boards, but no nails were used in it’s construction, Dungan in style it is still a working mosque so headscarves were donned. My first taste of Chinese architecture this side ofChina!

I was particularly on the hunt for local Architecture so our next stop round town was the Russian Orthodox Church (always an interest to me as my mother is Greek Orthodox,and although I am not religious,I am aware that the two churches share many similarities). This one had originally been made of stone but destroyed by earthquake and replace with a totally timber offering. Looking at it I could see how much loving work had gone into it’s the carving and decoration (on the outside).Look No Nails!Inside the Dungan Mosque, which really does not look like a mosque as we know it.I spent quite a lot of time walking round the outside and taking pics of different angles. Inside was beautiful too, with the typical saints on display and candle turns for prayers and worship. The dome had some very clear and almost new looking paintings with various saints and of course Jesus. No pics were allowed indoors as is usual with very much working orthodox churches in this region.

We left the grounds of the Orthodox Church to be greeted outside the front gate by an old colonial building, now a pedagogical society building. Very grand and with quite a nice large front garden area which seemed to be a good dropping off point for the mini buses that were stopping to let the Russian tourists get off. Further along the road behind the church, we found further examples of colonial buildings, windows ornate and many of them on the sides of these huge buildings. One in particular, a wealthy merchant’s house was a very good example of Soviet style Architectural colonialism. Now a Youth Volunteer organisations training centre, you could see its former glory even in it’s so very poor and sad state. Alongside it on both sides of the street were more single storey buildings of the same era, no doubt lesser minions lived in these. We made our way back into the town centre to eat a well earned lunch with the thought of taking it easy after lunch and meandering back to the guest house, picking up money from the numerous ATMs in Karakol and some meds from the also many, Aptekas, or pharmacy.

Next day started at eight with breakfast with a set off at nine. We were being joined by four other tourists, a French couple and a Belgian couple, both in not so dissimilar age’s group to ourselves. Good company as we had all got chatting nicely the evening before. Takai’s dad was also coming with us for us slow coaches! A Mitsubishi people carrier met our eyes on the front drive; we all piled in on our first trip Jeti Oguz.

Bishkek to Tamchy [Tamchy-travel-guide-1019393] – Lake Issak Kul

So we now have our Chinese visa and decided as much as we had enjoyed Bishkek [Bishkek-travel-guide-1019239] it was time to move on. We had already looked at staying aroundLake Issak kul, we had so many other travellers all recommending their favourite spots, it wasn’t difficult to sort through them and choose our own!

We thought that we would start at Tamchy on our way to Karakol [Karakol-travel-guide-1019301] to renew our now fast running out Kyrgyz. Visa. So we took a taxi to the West Bus stand in Bishkek to try and either negotiate a shared taxi to our destination or take a shared minibus instead.I didn't believe there was a beach at the Lake either.Oh the joy of Central Asian Taxi drivers, in fact Taxi drivers the world over, right? The bidding starts at 500com each, now LP (five years old, but have downloaded update) suggests that it should be 500 for two(hahahahahahahahahaha) So Off Angela walks to the actual bus station just a few yards away whilst she leaves me to continue with the barrage I am dealing with. Then the Taxi fixer (just about everywhere has one it seems) offers me 400com each, “OK” I think, “lets keep going”, Angela returns and tells me that the minibuses are 250com each person, but most were either full or had gone! Grrrrr, I suggest 350com each to the fixer who takes the deal and then sets about sorting us out which poor smuck of a driver was going to take us. Two cars later and we are in a car with a lady and her two children, ok, this looks good, naaah! To good to be true? It certainly is, about twenty minutes later we arrive at an old soviet apartment block and pick up two more (one very large adult) and a young boy around 8 or 9 yrs old.Vendor selling smoked fish @ Issyk kul Lake, we bought fish for lunch and it was delicious along with our own bread. Banana sellers and ice cream sellers too!After a bit of musical seats I am sat in the front passenger seat, Angela is sat behind me squashed against the door by the larger couple and their son and the mum and two in the back tailgate seats! Now please don’t get me wrong, we are not exactly small ourselves, but this passenger was much larger. I also had Angela’s backpack jammed in between me and the driver. This was going to be fun for the next 3.5hrs.

It was one of my more interesting journeys in so much as I normally sit in the passenger seat and enjoy the view(not my choice, drivers always seem to put me there) not so this journey. He drove like a maniac, overtaking when there was clearly no road left to overtake in, undertaking on inside on a gravel track, playing “chicken” with oncoming cars. To say I saw my life flash before me is not an understatement (several times in fact).Through the trees and a two minute walk to the Beach, what more could you want?I was mighty pleased when he announced “welcome toLakeIssakul” after handing over a toll at the end of the road. This was all after a cheeky standoff at the Benzene station after picking up the extra passengers. He demanded we pay him there and then so he could pay for the fuel (you normally pay when you get to your destination) which was ok, but he decided to bump the price back up to 500com each, errr Nyet! As they say in Russian, the fixer had obviously not bothered to let him know the agreed price. We stood our ground, as far as I was concerned the deal had been done back at the West Bus station, I handed him the 700com for the two of us and just looked away, I was so angry. He took it and fuelled up, so I guess he worked out that when I was telling him (he did actually speak and understand English) the fixer had agreed the price, I was not going to budge.

We had another 30mins before we got to Tamchy, he kindly asked the couple with the young boy where they were staying so he could drop them off, but didn’t ask us. Thankfully he had stopped just past the CBT office in Tamchy to ask directions for the other family; we decided this was our moment to escape, so we did.

We crossed the road to the CBT office and were met by two lovely people there. We explained in our broken Russian/English and gesticulating/drawing pictures and using the very useful picture of a town map (drawn on paper). Two options one available in the street behind the CBT office and one down by the beach, yes I said BEACH! Ummm now let me think? Which one do you think we went for? Beach, your right, literally a minutes walk outside the gates of the homestay.Banana Boats at Lake Issyk Kul, you might have thought you were in Benidorm!Heaven! We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the not so cold water(warmer than Brighton) and lying on lovely soft sand. The clouds were a little hazy, but that only helped us to not get burnt. We spent our time at the quieter end of the beach, but to be fair, even at the “happening end” it wasn’t so crowded. This was definitely a good choice. The sunset on the mountains behind us was to die for, creating stunning colours not only on the mountains, but casting a crystal clear blue reflection on the lake We need to check if we need to go to Karakol to extend our visa, that’s a phone call tomorrow, if we do then it’s off on Weds, if not I can see us spending a few more days here.

Lake five was smaller than all the other lakes and it's interesting feature was the sink hole at one end. This is used to feed water to the small village that exists at the edge of it. I tried taking a picture of the sink hole, I am not sure if it shows that well. This one was a very populated lake side with quite a few youngsters swimming(very quickl) in the icy cold water, it is also one of the shallowest lakes so maybe not as cold as the rest. I didn't want to try it out, as we had plenty of walking still left to do!

Lake 1 of the Seven Lakes of Shing [Shing-travel-guide-1193585], or Margoza Lakes, this was our first view of the first of these stunning Lakes, as you can see this one is a deep deep blue! You will not fail to be impressed by this lake and along with lake 5 is my favourite lake, primarily as it wasmy first view and second because of the stunning colour, which you can only really get by being there.

Whilst were staying at Khiva [Khiva-travel-guide-1309125] we decided that after going to Nukus [Nukus-travel-guide-1200956] to see the Art museum and the desert (moynaq) which was once the edge of the Aral sea, we asked Jaladdin at Meros B&B (see review) to help us with train bokings to Tashkent [Tashkent-travel-guide-1201252] for our visa run.

We went with Jaladdins brother who showed us to the Train booking office which is about a ten minute walk from Meros . We had to leave our passports as the main computer system was down. We were offered 92,000soumme tickets which are four berth air con compartments. 61,000 soumme tickets were also available. We went for the 91,000 each ticket per person, as this was also part of our overnight accommadation budget. These were kindly collected by Jaladdin for us at 10.00a.m. the next day(this seems usual practice so allow time).

The train was due to leave on Tuesday evening from Nukus at 7.10 and arrive at Tashkent around 5pm on Weds. It's about a 22hr journey(No Sharq train speed here). Bed linen packs included two sheets, pillow case, and worth a mention, towel! The beds were seat conversions, but unlike others we have been on, they were wide, and comfy and easy to assemble. Shame about the air con we had heard so much about on other travel web sites! When we got on the train it was nothing short of a sauna! OK, we thought, we will wait till the train gets going, nope, it took many people complaining to the conduuctor before the air con was switched on. Once on, it worked well, not overly chilly, just cool, but enough to make sitting in the compartments a little more comfortable.

NOTE: There is NO buffet car, and there are no food vendors on the train. Most of the stations it stops at don't even have any station stalls. So take provisions with you enough for evening meal, breakfast and lunch the next day. We ate before boarding and thought some of the stations would be better equiped for this train. We managed to get a loaf of bread and ice cold large coke at one station only the next day. We were ok, just pleased we had eaten the night before. There is however a hot water urn at the end of each carriage with free hot water for tea and coffee, assuming you have your own cups!

Last note; The toilets were truly "VILE" and we have travelled on all sorts of trains in lots of dire places! These take the award for the worst ever! So take wet wipes and plenty of your own toilet paper and sani-gel, as there is little or no running water, and guess who can't hit the toilet bowl?

We arranged through the hotel a car driver to take us to Moynaq, the town that used to be a huge fishing port on the Aral Sea. It took us about 2.5-3 hours to drive from Nukus [Nukus-travel-guide-1200956] to Moynaq, this cost $90 for the driver for the day. He was very experienced driver and did not rush us at anytime, the trip also included a side trip to the Mizdakhan, an ancient city of Mauseliums and mosques, but we didn’t feel like we could manage it as Angela was still recovering from her back injury and had already done a great deal of walking in Moynaq. It is quite hilly too and would be better done in the morning.

When we arrived in Moynaq we went to the Museum, which is a must do and great place to get a real idea of how much impact the shrinking of the Aral Sea has had on the people of the town and the surrounding geography of the land. We had a young woman show us round and there is no official entrance fee for the museum, but we paid 5000 for each of us as she was very informative and answered questions about the history of the area. It was a very poignant moment. Especially for me to realise that such a huge catastrophe has happened within my life time and the massive impact it has had on the people.

Our driver then took us down to the edge of the desert which was the edge of theAral Sea; you really need to see the pictures and photos of before the shrinking to understand how much it has gone! We saw two largish ships from the road, but there is a proper memorial point where there are steps down to a collection of about 9-10 boats. We eagerly made our way down to them, mindful of the fact it was midday-ish and was going to get hotter and hotter. I have to say the excitement of seeing these boats stranded in so much sand overcame my sense of heat and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring all of the boats and taking many photos (a photographer’s dream location). Equally I was mindful of where I was and how sad I also felt at the same time. Actually gutted was closer. Dust/sand tornadoes danced around areas of the now desert and from the view point back at the top of the steps we could see other boats in the distance, looking like toys in a sandy sea.

After this sobering visit we then were taken to the old cannery complex/factory. Like the old factories from oop north in the twenties, this old gated complex is also worth the visit. The huge rusting sliding gate is left slightly ajar and you can still walk round the huge complex, all of which is locked but I managed to get some great pics of inside the factory and all its abandoned machinery through some of the broken windows. It is a very eerie place, and again very sad when you realise 10,000 people lost their jobs when this factory was closed down 1984. It did have a huge impact on the local economy and although there have been efforts to create another lake nearby this is still a dying town, but I loved it.

If you can find the few extra dollars to go there do, you will not regret it; my only regret is that we did not take extra time to drive to the edge of theAral Seaas is now, and camp. That would have made it complete and I would have felt that I was giving something back to a struggling local economy.

Well we have been on the road now for two months and covered quite a lot of shooting ground. Mosques and mauseliums in Iran, Desert and bright white buildings in Turkmenistan! and now here in Uzbekistan (just started at Khiva). The 1100d has proved itself so far a tough customer. It has it\\\'s scratches underneath now from where I have set it down during extreme heat for a rest in some pretty extreme temps. Or even when doing self timer shots at the Kaluts in Southern Iran. (one of my favourite scratches).

As far as Heat goes it doesn\\\'t seem to drain the battery(like extreme cold), and as far as running and taking pictures go, it\\\'s not had any problems whatsoever. Yes it has felt very warm at times, but I have made sure that when that has been noticed I try and keep the camera under shade when not in use, just to reduce any adverse would be side effects.

Pictures have been the same solid faithful reproduction as in normal conditions. I will be posting some soon of Davarza Gas craters, daytime and night time shots, which I was very pleased with. The night time video was a real bonus at Darvarza. I really didn\\\'t think it was going to work very well at all.

I have adjusted user settings too take into account the bright light(sunshine) glaring down on various buildings etc. There have been some \\\"on the hoof\\\" adjustments that have needed to be made as I have gone along, but on the whole the camera has performed as I wanted it too. Colours and contrast are still holding out well, and I have been extremely impressed by the no flash auto, which has been used a lot inside buildings and museums, again the all important exposures have ben pretty spot on, making some pictures look better than they would have by naked eye.

I have as always taken care to clean my camera at the end of everydays shoot, paying particular attention to the lens filter and removing it and brushing out gently tiny specs of dust which no matter how hard you try, still manage to worm their way through to the lens! I have brought with me a small spray bottle of lens clens soloution which I use sparingly and spray directly onto the cloth after brushing.

The Tamron 70-300mm zoom has come out a few times, but not as many as I thought I would! It has handled well too, and pictures from it without any IS have come out very well even though it does feel a bit heavy once on. good hand positioning does stabilise it, but I do wonder wether i should have bought the 18-200mm lens sometimes.

The neoprene case cover has been a life saver, both weight wise and protecting the camera, it has been a godsend for jeep dashboards, and backseats of cars, and of course the daypack. It is also brill at keeping excess sand and dust off the camera.

I know all of this may sound boring to some of you, but I think I would have liked to know how my camera was going to hold up whilst on heavy travelling. One tip I did get from Angela, if in the desert and you are very worried about getting sand in your camera, cover it in cling film and this should reduce the amount of sand/dust that could possibly enter the camera body, along with protecting it from sand blasting during storms!

Khiva;
Beautiful restored living citadel town which is so refreshing after seeing so many abandoned ones in Turkmenistan. First thing that struck me about the Uzbeks here is how relaxed and laid back they are. Meros (see review) was a good place to start, even the border guards at the Uzbek border knew about Meros!

In Khiva, it was the first time we had seen bus loads of tourists sinceTurkey! You can by a two day ticket for all the sites within the citadel, pay in soumme as it works out cheaper than paying in dollars, as the official rate is less than the black-market rate. We found the official rate was just under 1900 to the dollar and the unofficial was 2800(exceptSamarkandwhere we got 2700). So you see it pays to pay in Soumme. There were two sites within Khiva which were not included on the ticket, the Kuha Ark; you have to pay extra to go up onto the bastion where you get magnificent views of Khiva. The Pahlavon Mahmud Mausoleum and all minarets have additional charges (albeit small ones). Another particular site within the citadel we really enjoyed was the Juma mosque which was cool and peaceful and beautiful when we went there.

The eateries were more expensive inside the citadel, but the one café we frequented for two or three nights also had a wifi spot, which was very reliable, right next to the unfinished minaret. Food was cheaper outside the citadel walls and we even found more than one great supermarket right opposite The Isfandiyar Palace which is also well worth a visit. The prices at the supermarkets were a fraction of those in the cafes etc.

Water pressure is not great in the Old town, not sure but can’t imagine that its any better outside as Khiva does suffer with this. We managed to get a bumblebee sim card through our hosts at Meros, and is well worth getting for calls and texts around Uzbekistan. ATM can be found at the Outside south Gate, Hotel Asia, which only takes MasterCard and Maestro, no visa