KYRGYZSTAN: ALA-TOO MOUNTAIN DRIVE (TIAN SHAN MOUNTAIN RANGE)

Like several of the countries on this trip, if you had asked me what I knew about Kyrgyzstan six months ago, I would have said, "Kyrgyz . . . what?" (Or in writing, "Keerguz . . . huh?" One great accomplishment of this trip was learning to spell K-y-r-g-y-z-s-t-a-n.)

Here it is, nestled between China on the east, Kazakhstan on the north, Tajikistan on the south, and Uzbekistan on the west:

Map from here

Yeah, the one of those countries I could have placed before this trip is China.

Interesting facts about Kyrgyzstan:

• With 77,202 square miles, it is about the same size as Nebraska but has three times the population (6 million), which isn't saying much since Nebraska is mostly corn fields. Kyrgyzstan has a population density comparable to Minnesota.

• There are 20 million cattle, sheep, and goats in the country.

• Russian forces took over the area that is now Kyrgyzstan in 1876. 

• In 1991, Kyrgyzstan declared independence from the Soviet Union and adopted its current name.

• The capital is Bishkek, which is the largest city by far in Kyrgyzstan and is 139 years old. (Covered in a future post.)

• Most of the people are Muslim, and while they are generally not very observant, there are still 2,000 mosques in the country.

• The economy has tripled in the last three years, but the average salary is about $200/month and the average pension is about $100/month.

• We saw cars with steering wheels on the left, like American cars, and cars with steering wheels on the right, like British cars. They drive on the right like we do in the United States.

(Note: Some of these facts were given to us by our guide Valentina, whose mother is a doctor and father is a retired military officer.)

BORDER CROSSING NIGHTMARE:

At 4:10 AM the Kazakh border control entered the train and went from cabin to cabin checking our passports and (horror of horrors), sitting on the end of our beds to take our pictures. We were in pajamas and had been asleep (more or less--it was our first night on the clackety, careening train). The stop at the Kazakhstan exit point took about 1.5 hours, and then we had the Kyrgyzstan entrance. They also boarded the train and, not to be outdone by their neighbors in Kazakhstan, came through every cabin twice. The first person checked our passports, comparing them first to our face and then to a list, and then asked to see our suitcases. I think they wanted to make sure we were actually long-term travelers. A second person came through about 30 minutes later, stamped our passports, and took our pictures.

When all the border guys finally got off the train, the night was over and it was time for breakfast in the dining car. We arrived in Bishkek, the capital, almost two hours behind schedule thanks to the double delay at the border. It was pretty darn annoying.

The train station felt like a walk back in time to the mid-20th century. It was quite lovely--so much nicer and more elegant than today's transportation hubs, and so much more welcoming than the border guards.

As time was short, we hopped on our waiting buses and began a 1.5-hour drive into the Ala-Too Mountains, part of the northern Tian Shan range. I was very tired from our truncated sleep and even less tolerant of winding roads than usual. I finally just went to sleep to avoid feeling so green.

I woke up to some beautiful, wintry scenery:

One of the peaks in this range is 15,928 feet, which is taller than any mountain in the continental United States:

The buses stopped in a parking lot and let us off. Although there was snow on the ground and in the trees, the temperature wasn't bad--just right for a walk, in fact. We passed the security guard . . .

. . . and a yurt . . . 

. . . and made our way to the trail head. We didn't have a lot of time (thanks again, border guys), so we opted for the shorter Ala-Archa River Trail:

Time to step off the pavement and onto the snow-covered trail:

One of the first things Bob noticed was this beautiful squirrel with a feather-duster tail:

Bob tells me it is a Eurasian red squirrel. He looks like he belongs in a Beatrix Potter story:

The scenery was somethin' else:

There turned out to be parts of the trail that were paved and free of snow:

. . . but other sections were very snowy:

In places the clouds were snuggling up to the mountains:

The icy-cold, steel blue Ala-Archa River carved its way down the canyon:

It LOOKS colder than it really was:

Then again, I wouldn't want to wade across. The bridge worked just fine, thank you:

No one had been sitting on these benches lately:

Well, time to turn around:

Our octogenarian travel companions also walked the trail, holding hands:

Just before the parking lot we stopped to pay homage to the venerable snow leopard, an animal we had already seen on a statue in Almaty and which we would see represented in other places in the Stans. It seems appropriate that he is frosted with snow:

We also crossed paths with one of the snow leopard's close relatives:

Our last stop before boarding the bus and beginning the twisty-turny journey back down the mountain was the restroom. All toilets in this area are squat toilets (aka "Eastern" style). At least this one had a sink and a bar of soap:

But the communal towel hanging above the sink was not too enticing, nor was the fly paper seen taped to the stall (see above) and also found outside the entrance (see below):

However, I did like this nice decorative touch, a print of an engraving of mountain climbers.