Jalal-Abad to Naryn, (2/X); 21st July
21st July
An eventful day. After leaving the village of Jon Kungoy, we started the slow climb up to Kolda Pass. We were anticipating a hard few days, climbing up to 3000m from around 1500.
After an hour or so, a flat bed lorry pulled alongside us and asked if we wanted a lift. It was a group of guys and they seemed in high spirits, so it would probably have been fun to get a ride with them. However, I was enjoying the cycling, so declined, but when we were having lunch we discussed what we’d do if we were asked again, and agreed it would probably be quite fun to get a lift.
About 45 minutes after lunch, another flatbed lorry pulled alongside and asked if we wanted a lift. There wasn’t much discussion, we both agreed to get on the lorry.
It was two young brothers standing up at the back, a husband and wife and the guy’s younger brother in the cabin.
The ride up was glorious. The views of the valley were brilliant, passing herd of goats, bee houses and horses. At one point the radiator overheated so we had to collect water from the stream and pour it over to cool it down. There was so much steam rising up I said it was like being in a banya, which they found amusing.
At Kolda Pass, the family invited us to join them for a small picnic of watermelon, bread, salami and pastry. We made some Turkish coffee given to us by Chris in SaryTosh as a contribution.
After food they walked over to a goat, picked one up, and put it in the back of the flatbed lorry. So their trip had been from Jalal Abad, to select a goat for a BBQ, and they had made a Sunday out of it!
After saying goodbye we got on the bike and went down the other side of the pass. At around 6pm, a group of young kids were excited to see us, a pair of tourists, and suggested we camp not too far from their yurt.
We pitched the tent and they came over to see us while we cooked. They had a go on the tandem too.
When we took them back to their yurt, a couple of boys appeared riding donkeys. And they asked us if we wanted to try, which we were more than happy to!
The donkey ride took us from their yurt about 50metres back to the tent.
The kids had come up to the yurt for the duration of the summer holiday. They usually live in Kazerman, where their school is. There were about 8-9 kids and we asked if they were all one family, to which they said no, and shuffled themselves into two groups, with the older ones instructed the younger ones (about 4 years old) which group they should stand in. It was very funny and quite touching.
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