Sunday 19 October 2014

Cycling through Clouds in Central Asia: Climbing Again; Today: 90 km; Total: 1408 km



27 May, 2014

We woke up at 7 this morning, had breakfast, and by the time we took off, it was 10 am. It was pay-back time: we were coasting down the mountains along the Gulcha River. The road was perfect, and the weather had sporadic rain on us to make it even more pleasant to ride. We stopped at a cafe and had some quick lunch with lots of tea. When we started riding again, we were in for a lot of climbing. It was our last pass before Osh, not very high compared to other passes, but since we had lost a lot of altitude (at 1500 meters), climbing to 2300 meters in heat was a tough job.

At 5:30, I arrived at the top after everybody else. We sat down and enjoyed the scenery. Some young people came to us to take a photo.


On top of the pass, there was a monument and a statue of a historic figure, where many people would go to take a picture of the scenery and the monument. There were some high school graduates who had taken an excursion to the top to celebrate their graduation. There were some people dancing to the music played from the speakers in their cars. They actually invited me to join them when I was going to the monument. I joined them and only talked to them for fun.

On our way down the pass, we saw a British solo cyclist who was going to Pamir. We exchanged some tips and left. It was getting rather late for camping, so we picked a spot close to the river and pitched our tents.

We had a weird meal Raimon made: rice, with tomato source on top with two fried eggs. It tasted awful. Some was trashed although we were very hungry. The food was so bad that when a boy from village who had come to watch us, ate it, left us and the food--possibly doubting our sanity. He could only eat a few spoons. He left the rest of his share!  






The Dancing Party

View from the Pass

The Statue on the Pass

High School Graduation Party over the Pass




Hospitality


Tasted Aweful




No comments:

Post a Comment