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!
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| The Dancing Party |
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| View from the Pass |
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| The Statue on the Pass |
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| High School Graduation Party over the Pass |
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| Hospitality |
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| Tasted Aweful |
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