May 8, 2023 to May 14, 2023
The Road to Zaamin, Tashkent and Ugam-Chatkal National park
Wonderful hosts, stunning mountain ranges and the midnight shashlik men
After a sad goodbye to Ilaria, I sprinted for 40Km to try and catch up to Seb who had been invited to a "Toy". We were both under an impression that it was a wedding but later realised that it was in fact a circumcision party, celebrating for 3 whole days the poor boy sat on the stage. I arrived late and thought it was best if I didn't join, instead looked for a quiet place to camp. I found a man moving his cows and asked if I could camp in his field, he said of course not and made me come back with him. I loved his cheerful energy but was also tired and wanted some alone time. It was a very unexpected night meeting more and more family members as each of the 10 brother's walked in the room (all sons of the man with the fantastic eyebrows). I loved speaking with the grandson Elyor who told me much about life here in this region.
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Meeting again with Seb the next day, i could hear all about the party; he was given shot after shot of vodka all night and invited from table to table, still very confused with what was going on. It sounded intense... The road was tough, we took a steep route on gravel tracks but there was no one on the road apart from an occasional shepherd, the views more than made up for the hard work though. Both of us happy to be alone and cycling again we rode through the beautiful landscapes of Zaamin National park, we were told that this place was called the Uzbek Switzerland. Apart from the occasional camel and buckets of krut I would definitely agree.
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The night my bag was stolen
Camping here was a dream... Almost... The morning after one beautiful evening cooking sausages on a fire next to the river I noticed my pot was missing. After looking everywhere for 30 minutes I finally accepted that it was gone and can be replaced. I was less accepting after returning and finding a whole panier was missing, including my stove and the rest of the cooking equipment (and food). In the night Seb saw a large dog-like creature walking around the camp spot but thought nothing of it. Still absolutely shocked a dog could take a huge bag that far away (possibly across a river too). It was unfortunately never found but lesson learnt...
The day the hospitality was too much
On the ride to Tashkent we were both struck with some nasty food poisoning, sucking all the energy out of our legs and leaving us exhausted. All we wanted to do is find a quiet spot in a forest and be left alone and sleep. We tried to cycle through a small village unnoticed, which obviously is impossible being 2 white guys on loaded bicycles. Still people let us go and we continued to forest until just at the last minute we were stopped by a man in his car who forbade us to camp there, insisting that we are humans and should not sleep outdoors. After a lot of arguing we agreed to follow him, who, instead of taking us back to his home, led us to another villagers house and ordered him to host us for the night, we were confused in all the commotion but were given a private room to stay in and thankfully, left alone. In the middle of the night after no sleep I had to run out to throw up. The dog came out and barked constantly at me, the hosts wife came out and started shouting at me and her husband in Uzbek, blaming him for bringing in a sick person to the house. I felt exhausted and wanted to cry. The next morning we were kicked out at 6am after a terrible sleep, feeling totally drained, to continue the horrible ride into the capital city.
Tashkent
Slept the entire first day sleeping and recovered from the food poisoning at the Art hostel, a place with the best unlimited breakfast which was very much made use of after a day of not eating. We also negotiated to camp in the courtyard for a much cheaper price, probably less than the amount of food we ate for breakfast.
Met with another couple of cyclists, Finn and Oren to see the renowned magic city, and we can all confirm that it was indeed a spectacle. A huge consumerist Disneyland, sponsored by Pepsi with fake buildings and towers selling expensive products. Still it was great to meet more cyclists and make plans to hike together in the mountains in northern Uzbekistan.
I did love cycling to the city bazaar one day. A huge dome with an entire floor selling fresh nuts and dried fruits to stock up on for the coming hike. I had to also replace everything that I lost after my panier was taken by the dog a few days back, including a pot, knife and a cheap soviet gas stove which we would come to love.
Ugam-Chatkal National park
Arriving here hitchhiking on a work bus with giggling workers from the sewing factory we were turned away from our initial hike by the military. Luckily we bumped into a seemingly important man in this area who works as a tax inspector, after mentioning his name we didn't pay for anything including the permit or place to sleep in an outdoor restaurant.
The alternative hike was incredible following up the valley to the lake to camp. The panoramic views were breath-taking but, struggling and sliding up a snow covered pass, we unfortunately had to turn around after a sudden change in weather. Coming down was much easier sliding on the backpack and we found shelter in a cabin below the cloud level.
The next day we chatted to a ranger over tea who approached us on a huge horse. He was very happy to see us and gave recommendations of places to go and avoid the military.
After a lot of samsas each and back on the previously empty road, we were picked up immediately by a man and his family in a luxurious Toyota Landcruiser, taking us to the base of our next adventure. We walked through lush green pastures, thick with wild vegetation and picked fresh herbs for dinner along the way. It was just 8km to the intermediate late but a very steep climb with a few freezing river crossings. The lake was very impressive, surrounded by the mountains all around with a patch of relatively flat ground just large enough to pitch our tents. We polished off a huge bowl of pasta after dark, complete with the herbs collected but lacking the tin of peas that Seb obliterated with a rock after realising we dont have a tin opener.
After cleaning off the mud in puddles we decided we were adequate hitchhikees and tried our luck on the track with no cars. To our surprise, a man drove past in minutes, heading all the way to Tashkent. I think he was a little uncomfortable with 3 foreigners dripping wet in his car but seemed happy to take us home! Back to the bazaar to repair my shoes and find a tin opener...
The Fergana Valley
We decided to take the route into the Fergana valley to cross into Tajikistan, it was the first time on the trip we had seen a road sign for China which felt pretty strange to know how far we had come. We were given a military escort at the top of the pass as they wouldn’t allow us thought the tunnel on our bikes. The way down the pass was exhilarating and we reached the bottom in no time, covering 30Km in 30 minutes. That’s an average of 60km/h, on a bicycle!
Reaching the bottom and now in the Fergana valley, the landscape was totally different with mostly green agricultural land, being the most fertile region in Central Asia. We were very happy to find people selling apricots on the side of the road for 70p per kilo, obviously stocked up on 2kg and was then gifted 1kg of strawberries and continued to find a spot to cook tagine with our huge bag of fruit. Total this day was 120km and 1800m elevation so slept very well on the topchan we found nearby a field.
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The midnight shashlik men
Our time in Uzbekistan was topped off by a slightly strange experience. Cycling after dark we were searching for a place to camp and came across a farm down a track, we asked the large group of men if it was possible to camp and were invited instead to stay in a room with one of the workers. We accepted the invitation, a little wary that we might have to stay up late with the group as we were both suffering some minor food poisoning, but thankfully they soon left. We were subsequently force-fed a particularly oily plov whilst watching an old Uzbek drama on an ancient TV, then tried to get some sleep in the mosquito-laden room. I struggled to sleep with my stomach and the mosquitos until in the middle of the night when the rest of the men appeared on bicycles, totally drunk out of their minds and apologetic that they have been such terrible hosts by leaving straight away and not offering us any food. They tried to redeem themselves by offering to cook shashlik (barbequed meat) for us there and then, in the middle of the night whilst we were half asleep. I could not believe what was going on and remained confused during the subsequent arguments, trying to convince them that we did not want to start preparing coals to make a barbeque and did in fact, just want to sleep. After 30 minutes of arguing, we eventually reached an agreement that we would make shashlik the next morning before they start work at 8am. The next day we woke up 6 and left straight away to the border, still trying to comprehend last night's drama.
Today's ride: 720 km (447 miles)
Total: 4,170 km (2,590 miles)
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