From Samarkand, Uzbekistan to the Fergana Valley, Kyrgyzstan
To describe the entire day as long, would be a gross understatement. Endless, forever, continuous, never ending would be better. The day started at 3:00 am for the five-hour drive back to the Tashkent Airport from Samarkand. The drive was followed by the short flight to Fergana where Rob was informed by the tour operator that four people had been kidnapped and there was a possibility of war between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. This was not good... What to do! The group sat around for hours until a decision was made to go on with the trek.
Loaded everything on a decent bus for a ride past fields, villages and grazing lands en route to the Turkestan Range. Then a change to another bus for the ride into the high country of Kyrgyzstan and off the paved roads onto dirt roads that took us past orchards and the foothill villages of Katran and Uzgurush.
We entered Aksu park and proceeded up the Djatikupruck Valley along the Lyailyak River. The road was washed out in one portion and the bus got stuck crossing a small creek. This was not good...
Two hours later, a tractor arrived to pull the bus out of the creek. We should have arrived at the first campsite in an orchard at 5,850' before dark where the Kyrgyz trail drivers and packhorses would greet us. A hearty dinner was also supposed to be waiting for us. Instead, it was very dark and late before the bus arrived at the end of a road where Rob thought the first campsite was going to be. No campsite. Rob and Jacques broke out powerful flashlights and the group started a half hour walk uphill, tripping over roots, stubbing toes and trying to avoid serious bodily damage.
It was 11:00 P.M. before we fell into tents and did our best to unpack in the dark. What an inauspicious beginning to a trek...
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Comments
War between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, what a rubbish, don't believe everything they tell you :)
Posted by: Temur | November 24, 2009 02:29 AM