Showing posts with label asia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label asia. Show all posts

Sunday, August 14, 2022

By The Numbers (Updated, August 2022)

Lipah, Bali

I haven't updated this in nearly 6 years, so it's time to bring this up to date.

Here's a list of the countries I've visited over the course of my life, arranged by the date of my first visit to the country.  I don't count my home country, Canada.   Of course, exactly what constitutes a country is a bit slippery.  My well-travelled friend Natalya Marquand holds (or rather used to hold) that the only objective list is the 193 permanent members of the UN.  Others maintain that these countries, plus the non-UN-member Vatican City, make up the 194 canonical countries of the world.  I think the reality is a bit slippier.  When I visited Nagorno-Karabakh and Abkhazia, despite the fact that these countries aren’t universally recognized, I had to get a visa to visit them and cross at a border post manned by people in uniform who stamped my passport.  Somaliland not only has its own consulates and border guards, it even has its own currency.  And, to take an extreme example, anyone who claims that Taiwan isn’t effectively an independent country isn’t really recognizing what’s been de facto the case since 1949. (People's Republic of China, I can't hear what you're saying!)

So my list of independent countries is a bit bigger than 194.  It’s about 204 countries; the number may fluctuate a bit, and it doesn’t include three countries (Western Sahara, Palestine and Tibet) with pretty legitimate cases but without their own border guards. One of the many lists of countries on Wikipedia lists 206 entries that either are recognized by at least one other state as being independent, or effectively control a permanently populated territory, but they include Western Sahara and Palestine which are at the moment illusory pipe dreams, to the distress of the people who inhabit them.  If I'm not counting Canada, that would make 203 possible destinations on my list (or else 193 on the UN+Vatican list).

Anyway, without further preamble, here’s my list of the countries I have visited, arranged according to the date I first visited them.  The non-UN/Vatican members of the list are coloured red; there are eight of them, so if you’re counting by the UN+Vatican list, it’s 125 (out of 193).  I would make it 133 out of 203.  Whichever way you count it, I’m now well over half-way to my goal of visiting them all, and my to-visit list is now down into double digits.   

1969
1. US

1977
2.  France
3.  Switzerland
4.  Liechtenstein
5.  Germany
6.  Netherlands

1981
7.  Tanzania

1982
8.  Norway
9.  Italy

1988
10.  UK
11. Vatican
12.  Greece
13.  Hungary
14.  Austria
15.  Czech Republic (Prague, then part of the now-defunct Czechoslovakia)

1990
16.  Belgium
17.  Monaco
18.  Poland

1991
19.  Australia
20.  New Zealand
21.   Fiji
22.  Cook Islands

1994
23.  Egypt
24.  Turkey

1995
25.  Spain
26.  Kenya
27.  Uganda
28.  Democratic Republic of Congo
29.  Japan
30.  Singapore
31.  Indonesia

1996
32.  Philippines
33.  Malaysia
34.  Thailand
35.  Cambodia
36.  Nepal

1997
37.  India
38.  Sri Lanka
39.  Pakistan
40.  Luxembourg
41.  San Marino
42.  Andorra

1998
43.  China
44.  Portugal
45.  Morocco
46.  Tunisia
47.  Jordan

1999
48.  Israel
49.  Syria
50.  Lebanon
51.  Chile
52.  Argentina
53.  Peru

2000
54.  Bolivia
55.  South Korea

2001
56.  Mexico
57.  Brunei
58.  Laos
59.  Taiwan

2004
60.  Kazakhstan
61.  Kyrgyzstan
62.  Tajikistan
63.  Uzbekistan
64.  Turkmenistan
65.  Iran
66.  Bahrain

2006
67.  Vietnam
68.  Burma

2007
69.  Mongolia
70.  Palau
71.  Bangladesh

2008
72.  Bhutan
73.  Cyprus
74.  Northern Cyprus

2009
75.  Kuwait
76.  Azerbaijan
77.  Georgia
78.  Armenia
79.  Nagorno-Karabakh
80.  Iraq
81.  Bulgaria
82.  Serbia
83.  Kosovo
84.  Macedonia
85.  Albania
86.  Montenegro
87.  Bosnia-Hercegovina
88.  Croatia
89.  Libya
90.  Malta

2010
91.  Ethiopia
92.  Somaliland
93.  Djibouti

2011
94.  Denmark
95.  Abkhazia
96.  Russia
97.  Ukraine
98.  Trans-Dniestria
99.  Moldova
100. Romania
101.  Slovakia
102.  Belarus
103.  Lithuania
104.  Latvia
105.  Estonia
106.  United Arab Emirates
107.  Oman
108.  Qatar

2012
109.  Slovenia
110.  Togo
111.  Benin

2013 
112.  Maldives
113,  Iceland
114.  Ireland

2014
115. East Timor
116. Solomon Islands
117. Papua New Guinea

2015
118. Finland
119. Sweden

2016
120. Paraguay
121. Brazil
122. Uruguay
123. Zambia
124. Botswana
125. South Africa
126. Mozambique
127.  Zimbabwe
128.  Malawi
129.  Madagascar
130.  Swaziland

2017
131.  Lesotho
132.  Namibia 

2019
133. Panama


Part of the reason that this list has not been updated since December 2016 on my blog is that the past 6 years have seen a real lull in new countries visited. Partly this is because of me spending 2 years living and working in Georgia, partly it's been that I've gone to revisit old favourites (like Kyrgyzstan and Armenia and Indonesia), and partly it's that covid-19 has put a massive dent into my travelling plans.

However, that is about to change. In three weeks' time I am getting on a flight to Cape Town to take Stanley, our beloved 4x4 camper, out of long-term storage so that we can take him for a drive around the entire continent of Africa. (At least that's the plan!) So over the next 12 months I hope to add Burundi, Rwanda, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and (perhaps) South Sudan and Eritrea to the list. In 2023 I hope to add Mauretania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo and Angola to the list, along with (perhaps) Algeria, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Equatorial Guinea. 

So by the time Stanley's Travels rolls back into South Africa, I might be in the mid-150s in terms of countries, leaving only about 50 or so to go. The majority of them will be in Central America, northern South America and the Caribbean, with a number of African countries left out of this trip because of security, visa or logistical reasons, and a mixed bag of Pacific islands along with Yemen, North Korea and Afghanistan. I still think I stand a reasonable chance of getting to visit all the countries in the world before I'm too old to enjoy the process. Stay tuned!!

Sunday, December 8, 2019

2019 in Review

Up at frozen Ala Kol lake near Karakol, Kyrgyzstan
Dear Readers:

Some wind-driven cardboard snow in Goderdzi

Once again our Earth has travelled another 921 million kilometres around the Sun, while our Sun with its whirling attendant planets has rotated another 7.25 billion kilometres around the distant centre of our Galaxy.  Another 365 days have passed by, and it's time to reflect on 2019 and what it brought.

Welcoming in 2019 in a homestay near Goderdzi
The year began with Terri and I driving around Georgia on a ski trip.  We welcomed in the New Year in a tiny village near the Goderdzi Pass, in a tiny guesthouse in which the family welcomed us warmly into their New Years festivities.  The skiing was decidedly disappointing, however and Terri was chilled to the bone by the lack of heat in the house, so we pulled the plug after two days and returned to Tbilisi via some birdwatching in Poti, on the Black Sea coast and some sightseeing around Georgia's second city, Kutaisi.  Our previous skiing, the week before in Svaneti, had been much better, and indeed proved to be the best skiing of our winter in Georgia.




Terri in Gudauri
The winter passed by in a blur of work and increasingly desperate attempts to find snow in the mountains north of Tbilisi.  It barely snowed in the Kazbegi area for most of January and February, and conditions were dire:  bare ground showing, with patches of hard-packed icy "snow" here and there.  Even ski touring was disappointing.
A view of the entire Georgian Caucasus from Bakuriani
Admiring our tracks at Gudauri

A rare snowy day of backcountry ski touring to Lomisa Monastery
Eventually my sister Saakje and her partner Henkka, who had planned to come visit me for some skiing in the Caucasus, cancelled their trip and I took off during our March break from classes to visit them in France instead. They had had a snow drought, but some excellent snow-hunting by Saakje saw us have an amazing week of powder descents in the high Alps, followed by bicycle riding and tennis in the sunny afternoon warmth in the valleys.  It was a relief to the soul after a distinctly poor winter.

Lovely backcountry snow near Guillestre, France in March


Cherry blossoms from our very own backyard trees.


Camping with Douglas the Delica

Terri had disappeared in February to visit her family in New Zealand, her OTLC school project in Zambia, and the beach in Bali, and finally returned in early May.  Spring was beautiful, with cherry blossoms galore on our backyard trees, and we got out a few weekends for some camping and hiking.  

Cherries from our very own tree!
Soon enough it was mid-June and school was over. We managed to harvest our cherries and completely filled our freezer with them. 

Upper Boz Uchuk Lake
We then packed our backpacks and flew to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan for an unforgettable summer of hiking and mountains.  We based ourselves at first in Karakol for a series of hikes on our own in the spectacular Terskey Ala Tau range of the Tien Shan, up to shimmering glacial tarns and wildflower-carpeted meadows full of horses and sheep and Kyrgyz cowboys.  It was good to get out on our own two feet, carrying our tent and stove, and explore this spectacular corner of the world.


Not a bad place to pitch a tent!





Relieved to have made it to Komsomolskiy Camp after a rough day
The second part of the summer's adventures involved hiking up the massive Inylchek Glacier through the heart of the Central Tien Shan to the foot of its two most iconic 7000-metre peaks:  hulking Pik Pobedy and elegant, perfectly sculpted Khan Tengri.  We walked from camp to camp, using the services of Ak Sai Travel, who run mountain climbing basecamps at the end of the Inylchek as well as a series of trekking camps for people like us.  It was challenging hiking, particularly in terms of  route-finding, and had its scary moments, but the sweeping views of the immense wild beauty of the mountains made it worthwhile (although Terri might still have some lingering doubts.....)
In my happy place

Dikiy Camp by night
Terri with the mighty peaks of the Central Tien Shan



Atop a 3900-metre pass with our trusty steeds
We finished our Central Asian swing with a crazy 5-day horse trek to remote Kel Suu lake deep in the wilds of Naryn Region, right up against the Chinese border in the little-known but stunning Kokshal Mountains.  It was tiring and tough on the body, but an unforgettable experience.
Tired but happy after a long day in the saddle


A steep downhill in the Kokshal Range
Terri and our horse team at Kel Suu Lake

The view down from Udziro
When we returned to Georgia at the beginning of August, there were still two and a half weeks left before the start of school, so we loaded up Douglas the Delica and drove to Racha, the one area of the Georgian Caucasus that we had not yet explored.  After a tough, frozen hike up to Udziro Lake, we drove on further to the rugged back road into Svaneti.  Terri took the wheel and drove us up over the challenging Zagar Pass to Ushguli, where we had been the previous autumn.  We then did another week of hiking the length of upper Svaneti, staying every night in guesthouses along the way, marvelling at how popular this trek has become with foreign tourists.  
A frosty August morning at Udziro Lake

Douglas conquering the Zagar Pass
Atop a pass looking across at the Adishi Glacier, Svaneti

Terri in the wildflowers
Mezuri chapel with Mt. Ushba behind


On the hike up to Abuli fortress
Finally, however, the school year started and we returned to Tbilisi.  It was a busy fall, with me teaching AP Calculus and AP Physics for the first time, and coaching cross-country running.  We wanted to escape the city every weekend for camping and hiking, but we were repeatedly foiled by rainy, cold weekends.  We did manage to make it to the barren high plateaus and mountains of southwestern Georgia's Javakheti region and its amazing ancient megalithic monuments. 


Admiring the megalithic fortifications of Abuli

Terri and the millennia-old fortress of Abuli
Lovely cliffs below Shushi, Nagorno-Karabakh
It was a relief when fall break arrived and we were able to load our camping gear into Douglas and head south into Armenia.  It was an intense road trip, covering lots of kilometres through stunning terrain.  I particularly enjoyed a return visit to Nagorno-Karabakh, a beautiful place with a tragic recent history of civil war and ethnic cleansing.  We got in some quality hiking and visited ancient petroglyphs high in the barren mountains of the south.  Both Terri and I agreed that Armenia will deserve a return visit next summer, this time for much more hiking along a section of the newly-built Trans Caucasian Trail.
Zontik Waterfall in Nagorno-Karabakh
Lovely Tatev Monastery
Terri amidst the ancient standing stones of Karahunj

A petroglyph of a man hunting an elephant, Ughtasar
Ughtasar petroglyphs
Morning light on Mt. Ararat from Khor Virap monastery
Since our return to Tbilisi, the weather has turned cold and we have huddled indoors.  I have been trying to play our piano on a regular basis, trying to emulate Glenn Gould by mastering Bach's Goldberg Variations, and both Terri and I have been taking cross-fit classes.  I have been doing some weightlifting for the first time in my life and while I can't say that I love it as a sport, it's not a bad idea as I get inexorably older to do some weight training.  The unstoppable rush of time is starting to show in grey hairs on my head and a definite downward trend in physical and mental energy, although I'm hoping that this will abate once I get back to travelling and away from the grind of teaching.

Speaking of travelling, there is only a week left of classes before Christmas holidays start on Dec. 13th.  This winter we are heading to the warmth of Panama, our first time to visit Central America.  We will meet up with my mother, Saakje and Henkka on the beaches of Bastimentos Island before my mom flies back to Canada and we head off into the highlands for some hiking and wildlife spotting.

Next year will see the end of our two years in Tbilisi.  School ends in June and after a few weeks of roadtripping through Armenia, Turkey and Iran, we will fly to Canada to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday in the Muskokas and then continue on to South Africa to pick up our beloved Stanley (currently in storage outside Cape Town) and resume Stanley's Travels.  We can't wait!  Another round of "pretirement" travels is just around the corner.

We can't wait to get back to this sort of life again in Africa!

I continue the dispiriting process of trying to get my book on the Silk Road published.  I am hoping to have some good news on that front before we head off again into the great unknown, but there's nothing happening yet.  Any leads/tips/introductions to publishers and literary agents would be gratefully accepted!

I hope that this holiday season finds you enjoying life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness wherever you may be in the world.  I hope that 2019 was a good year for you, and that 2020 will be even better.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you all!

Graydon

Majestic Khan Tengri





Sunday, November 10, 2019

A Whirlwind Horse Trek to Mystical Kel Suu (Retrospective from July 2019)

Heading closer to the Ak Sai River



Tbilisi, October 31st

Three months after our return from Kyrgyzstan and my return to work, I have finally summoned the time and energy to write a new blog post about the last adventure of our Kyrgyz summer:  a madcap dash on horseback through the wilds of Naryn Region to the surreal mountain lake Kel Suu.  It was a last-minute add-on to our summer of trekking, but it proved to be one of the most memorable parts of a superb summer of outdoor active travel.

We finally pulled ourselves away from Karakol on July 21st, two days after returning from our Inylchek Glacier trek.  It was slightly sad to say goodbye to the staff at the Madanur Hotel, our home away from home for the previous month.  After a long bus trip to Naryn, around Issyk Kul Lake and then diving south through some pretty barren semi-desert, we arrived in Naryn town in a driving downpour.  Luckily our marshrutka dropped us off right outside the Community Based Tourism (CBT) office along the main street.  We dragged our bags inside and introduced ourselves to the staff, with whom we had been messaging back and forth for a month.  We nipped next door to pick up the border-zone permit that we would need for venturing to Kel Suu, caught a taxi to our guesthouse (Datka's), then returned to CBT to arrange our horse trip.

It proved to be a rather frustrating process.  Gulira, the boss of CBT, had assured us that she had arranged a horse guide for the trip we had proposed, but when Rustam, the guide, showed up to meet us, we realized that Gulira hadn't told him anything about our route and our timeframe.  Rustam frowned as we laid out our plans; his horses were nowhere near the starting point of our trip, and he hadn't done a trip over the pass we had chosen.  He had a guest house in the At Bashy Valley and had thought that we would stay there that night, while we had committed to staying in Naryn.  We thrashed out payment, went shopping for food with Rustam, then returned to Datka's for a good night's sleep while Rustam drove back to his base in Kyzyl Tuu.

The next day was a bit of a write-off, directly as a result of Gulira's lack of communication and organizational skills.  We put much of our luggage into storage at our guesthouse and loaded ourselves and our camping gear into a taxi that Rustam had sent to pick us up in Naryn.  Our driver was a frustrating combination of reckless and slow; we hurtled at unsafe speeds over the pass to At Bashy town before then dawdling for 45 minutes in At Bashy while our driver disappeared without explanation, leaving us impatient to get going again.

Eventually our driver reappeared and we drove off to Kyzyl Tuu.  We were concerned that we were losing valuable riding time, but we needn't have worried, as we arrived to find Rustam in a holding pattern.  He had arranged for a truck to transport his horses to our starting point in Pervaya Maya (May 1st in Russian; Kyzyl Tuu means Red Flag in Kyrgyz; the At Bashy valley features Russian Revolution-themed place names, including Bolshevik), but the driver kept calling with various excuses while we fretted and fumed.  We had ample time to inspect our horses, a quintet of stallions.  Terri was surprised that we were riding stallions and not mares or geldings, and Rustam explained that in the At Bashy valley it wasn't done to ride anything other than stallions.  We were both a bit apprehensive, as Terri hadn't ridden much in 15 years and I hadn't ridden much in my entire life, and stallions have a reputation for being feisty and hard to control.  At least the saddles looked comfortable and the rest of the riding and camping gear looked to be in good shape.

While we waited we had a chance to chat with Ryan and Meredith, a couple of Peace Corps volunteers.  Ryan was stationed in Kyzyl Tuu and was living in one of the rooms of Rustam's guest house, while Meredith was visiting him from another corner of the country west of Bishkek.  I have always been fascinated by Peace Corps volunteers, and have run into them on many of my travels through Africa and Central Asia.  Ryan and Meredith were fascinating to talk to and a source of lots of interesting tidbits about everyday life in rural Kyrgyzstan.

Eventually, several frustrating hours later, Rustam had given up on his original unreliable trucker and gotten another truck to come and load our five horses aboard.  Rustam's horse man Altynbek went in the truck with the horses while Terri and I climbed into Rustam's Subaru and drove behind.  We stopped at a few places along the way to buy last-minute supplies, including of some of the most delicious honey we had ever tasted; the producers claimed that At Bashy honey had twice won a world-honey-of-the-year award, and so a price of 4 USD for a litre seemed a thunderous bargain.

Setting off early in the evening from Pervaya Maya 
After At Bashy our road turned to rutted dirt and we passed the horse truck, making plodding progress, in a cloud of dust.  We got to Pervaya Maya and got out at a small stream crossing.  We unloaded our gear and stood around staring up at the high peaks of the At Bashy Range, glancing at our watches and cursing Gulira.  Eventually the horses arrived and we saddled them up and climbed aboard.  It was almost 7:00 pm when we finally started riding upstream, and we were racing a setting sun.

I was surprised at how unpainful the riding was at first.  My previous horse trip, a dozen years earlier in Mongolia's Altai Mountains, had almost crippled me, as my knees had been in constant pain from wrapping my legs around the horse.  This time, though, with better saddles and comfortable padded saddle cushions and longer stirrups, it seemed a lot less rough on my knees.

The path led steadily uphill, along a forested ridge and into a deep valley.  The riding was easy most of the way, but a steep rocky bit had both Terri and I getting out of our saddles to walk, much to the amusement of our two Kyrgyz companions, completely confident in the surefootedness of their mounts.  We kept pressing along, not passing any places suitable for camping, as the sun set and dusk began to deepen over the hills.  Finally, at 8:45, in almost complete darkness, we found a flattish meadow full of wildflowers and set up camp.  We put up tents while Rustam and Altynbek hobbled the horses and started cooking.  Luckily it wasn't too cold despite being at almost 3000 metres' elevation, and Terri and I sat outside looking up at the stars and sipping a bottle of Moldovan wine while waiting for dinner to cook.  When it arrived, we sat around a crackling campfire and ate, content with being in the middle of spectacular, albeit invisible, mountains.  We crawled into our tents at 11:30 and slept soundly, full of food and excited that we were finally underway.

Terri and two of our horses at our first campsite
We awoke to clear skies and the whinnying of horses who had been released from their hobbles to graze freely on the lush grass.  Breakfast consisted of generous portions of oatmeal porridge, and by 8:50 we were packed up and in our saddles, ready for another 1000 metres of climbing up to the Bogoshty Pass.  It was a steady climb, at first past dense patches of spruce forest and then through alpine meadows festooned with colourful wildflowers.  Far overhead we saw patches of glacier and forbidding rocky ramparts, with fleeting glimpses of imposing summits.  We rode fairly steadily, the horses sweating and working hard in the thin air.  Terri and I got off and walked twice on particularly steep sections (as much to get out of the saddles and stretch as out of genuine nervousness).  Finally the top of the pass came into view, a steep scree slope with water running across it.  Even our Kyrgyz companions got off to lead the horses up this final precipitous ascent, and soon enough we were all contemplating the view from the top, some three hours after setting out.
Heading towards the 3900-metre Bogoshty Pass 


Happy to be atop the Bogoshty

To the north we looked steeply down the path we had just ascended, while southward the ground sloped away much more gently towards a distant and as-yet-unseen Ak Sai River.  There were hints of something large in the haze on the horizon, but nothing definite; we would have to wait for our first clear views of the Kokshal Range.  We took photos, adjusted the loads on our horses and then set off downhill, excited to see new territory.




The expedition at the top of the pass
Idyllic valley on the descent into the Ak Sai Valley; note the yaks

The descent was reasonably easy, with only a couple of tricky spots where we nervous Westerners hopped off the horses to walk, to the mirth of Rustam and the puzzlement of Altynbek.  The meadows were lush and green and supported herds of horses and, rather to my surprise, yaks.  We stopped for lunch in a beautiful meadow ringed by snowy peaks and plagued by persistent horseflies.  It was a relief to our bruised backsides to get off and lie on the saddle cushions for a while while Altynbek brewed up tea and we tucked into bread, cheese, tinned fish and a delicious salad.

My view much of the time
The rest of the afternoon passed in a never-ending gentle downhill to the Ak Sai River.  Our loss of almost the entire previous day meant that we had to cover some 150 kilometres in four days, making for long days in the saddle.  We descended from the verdant high-altitude meadows to drier, scruffier terrain along the course of a mountain stream.  The Kokshal mountains took shape gradually through the haze, a wall of white astride our path in the far distance.  Here and there yurts dotted the hillsides, surrounded by herds of horses and sheep, and late in the afternoon we diverted towards one, lured by Altynbek's desire for some fresh kymyz, the fermented mare's milk that is the national drink of Kyrgyzstan.


Our first good view of the Kokshal Mountains
The tunduk, the skylight at the top of a yurt

Our hosts were a middle-aged couple who welcomed us in as though we were old friends rather than a couple of random foreigners on horses.  We entered the yurt and, once our eyes had adjusted to the gloom, we looked around interior.  It looked very familiar from previous trips to Kyrgyzstan, from the interior layout to the furnishings and the distinctive skylight, or tunduk, that is so characteristic of Kyrgyz nomadic culture that it forms the centrepiece of the Kyrgyz national flag.  We lounged around a low table, drinking tea and nibbling cookies while our host dispensed kymyz.  I had developed a taste for the distinctive smoky sour flavour of the drink back in 2004, but Terri wasn't at all taken by her first impression of the stuff and after a few polite bird sips, she passed her cup to me to finish.  We sat discussing the state of the flocks, the weather and the trail ahead until Altynbek and Rustam had drunk their fill, then said our goodbyes, saddled up and rode the final ten kilometres to the banks of the Ak Sai.  
Kymyz break in a yurt along the way

It was fairly non-descript terrain, and I was glad not to be plodding across it as a pedestrian; Terri, on the other hand, set off on foot, keen to give her badly bruised tailbone (a souvenir of our Inylchek adventures) a bit more of a rest.  Keen to cover ground, once Terri got on her horse, we trotted for a long stretch.  On my previous horse trek, trotting had been an absolute Calvary to be endured, but this time, with longer stirrups, I was better able to rise out of my saddle to absorb the jarring cadence of the trot.  My horse was competitive, and once he started to trot he started going faster and faster to keep ahead of the others, eventually changing to a canter and once, rather alarmingly, into a full gallop that had me holding on for dear life and pulling back frantically on the reins.  

Idyllic campsite beside the Ak Sai River
Terri on the banks of the Ak Sai
Not long before sundown we reined our horses in beside the river and dismounted to set up our tents.  It was a pretty spot, full of birds, and we had enough time to sit around sipping tea (and a bottle of Chilean red wine) while Rustam conjured up a plov, the rice-and-meat dish that is a universal staple of Central Asian cuisine.  The views were stupendous, back towards the jagged At Bashy Range, and ahead towards the even more vertiginous Kokshal Range.  To either side the broad Ak Sai valley stretched to the horizon.  Almost no-one lives in the Ak Sai over the winter:  at 2500 metres above sea level, it's bitterly cold for six months a year, and the summer herders retreat to houses and villages in the At Bashy valley.  

Our horse man Altynbek
The grasslands seemed quintessentially Kyrgyz, and there was no better way to engage with the landscape and its people than on horseback.  We sat on the grass perfectly content, watching the Milky Way appear as the last light faded over the mountains.  Both Terri and I were bone-weary after a long day on horseback, and we were sound asleep not long afterwards.






Looking and feeling a bit weary after a long day in the saddle



Last light over the At Bashy mountains

Sunset light on the Kokshal Mountains

Heading south from the Ak Sai River
We awoke at 6:30 after a sleep of utterly refreshing profundity.  We got going reasonably quickly, breakfasting on oatmeal and a litre of fresh milk from a nearby yurt (Altynbek opted for leftover plov rather than fancy city food).  We had worried about the crossing of the Ak Sai River, but it proved to be an easy ford this late in the summer; our feet didn't even get wet as our horses picked their way deftly across the slippery cobbles with the sure-footedness of mules.  Once across we made good time across the endless plain, trotting much of the way. 
A pretty red rock canyon

Finally we turned east, crossing a beautiful red rock canyon that had been hidden until we were right on top of it.  We followed a jeep track for a while, then abandoned it to follow a river directly upstream through a series of idyllic meadows.  After a long, gradual climb past a series of yurts and a few abandoned Soviet-era structures, we stopped for a long, relaxed lunch in yet another wildflower meadow while the horses energetically cropped the grass short.  We watched a golden eagle take wing, while around us we could hear well-fed marmots sounding their shrill alarm calls.


Lunch stop
Yet another pretty glade
This day was the centrepiece of our trip.  Our lunch spot was close to our objective, the narrow lake of Kel Suu, trapped between rocky ramparts in the heart of the Kokshal Range.  We proceeded further uphill after lunch, crossing a pair of steep passes with stupendous views before a final climb up a boulder-strewn slope brought us to the shore of the lake.  The first view of the lake was unforgettable, an emerald jewel in a vertical granite setting.  We stood and stared out across the lake to where it vanished in a narrow cleft to the south.  Two parties of tourists who had arrived by jeep trooped down to the shore for a ride in small inflatable motorboats, but we were happy just to look from dry land at the marvellous spectacle.  
A precipitous descent

Suddenly the two long days of riding, and the day of frustrating logistics beforehand, all receded and all that mattered was the elemental, ethereal, unearthly beauty of the spot.  Overhead a kettle of griffon vultures wheeled effortlessly, impossibly high above our heads.  

We stood there mesmerized for a long time, but eventually the sun moved behind mountain cliffs and the dazzling light vanished from the waters.  It was time to think about starting our long return ride.




First view of Kel Suu

The team at the lake
Homeward bound

It was getting late in the afternoon, and we had to find a reasonable spot to camp for the night.  We retreated from the lake by a different route, scattering snow finches in front of us, following the jeep road about eight kilometres downstream to where a series of tourist yurt camps had been established.  After two days of near solitude, it was jarring to be surrounded by tourists in bright Gore Tex and the sound of internal combustion engines.  After a rather terrifying climb up into the first camp, where a single misstep by the horses would have led to a painful and possibly fatal tumble down a steep slope, we proceeded to a more isolated spot beside the river to spend the night.  

A little slice of Patagonia

The views from camp were expansive and reminiscent of southern Patagonia, with steep granite spires soaring above sweeping grasslands.  Rustam cooked up a delicious pasta dinner while Terri and I watched the stars come out.  Rustam told us that Polaris, the North Star, was called the Golden Spike in Kyrgyz, since, like horses tethered around a spike, the stars spin around Polaris endlessly.  

Rustam, our fearless leader

Rustam was an interesting character to talk to.  Like me he had studied physics and had worked at the Kyrgyz Academy of Science in Bishkek in the plasma physics section.  Like me, he had tired of academia.  In his case he had returned to his father's village in Kyzyl Tuu and had become, rather improbably, the mayor, using his education and connections to try to navigate the tricky waters of government funding.  He had gotten into tourism completely by accident, picking up a couple of German tourists hitchhiking years before and, on the spur of the moment, inviting them to stay at his house.  He drove them around for a few days, showing them the sights, and decided that this might be the basis for a career.  He had always loved travelling by horse, and he found that tourists like us loved the fantasy of travelling across the landscape by horse.  He had established ties with a Swiss tour company and set up trips for them for two, three, four or more weeks.  He had two trips in the field at the moment, and had only decided to go on a trip himself with us on a last-minute whim.  We discussed his favourite corners of the country to explore on horseback, and tossed around ideas for future trips before the evening chill got to us and we retreated to our tents and warm sleeping bags.

Our faithful stallions
Terri and I on horseback


Our long-suffering steeds
We awoke the next morning refreshed and rested, unlike Altynbek and Rustam who had been up three times in the night to chase off stallions from nearby yurts who had come visiting in the night to pick fights with our horses.  We breakfasted, then had Rustam take a few photos of Terri and I on horseback (something that I had been unable to do myself, for obvious reasons) before setting off.  Our path led us up over the jeep road pass and then down to our previous trail along the pretty riverside meadows. Once again we were prisoners of our constrained calendar and had to ride for four hours almost non-stop before reaching our previous fording point over the Ak Sai.  By this point our horses were hungry and rebellious, spitting out their bits and refusing orders.  It was a relief to all concerned to cross the river, dismount and have lunch while our mounts devoured vast quantities of grass with single-minded devotion.







The long trail up towards the Bogoshty Pass

After a luxurious late lunch, it was more hard slogging uphill, via a return visit to our kymyz hosts (only on this second visit did I notice the solar panel leaning against the yurt).  Late in the afternoon, some 8 kilometres south of the Bogoshty, we called a halt and camped well above the river, on a terrace with beautiful views.  Both Terri and I felt weary, ground down by the unrelenting pace that we had rather foolishly set ourselves, and we were glad to get back down to ground level.  I did some juggling beside the tents and played harmonica before we turned in early on our last night of the trip.

Our final campsite

Not a bad place to spend the night!




Morning water stop
Our last day in the saddle was appropriately long and arduous.  After a series of rainshowers the night before, the day dawned blue and warm, and we were off betimes, moving before 8:30 for the first time on the trip.  The light on the reddish grass and sparkling stream was magical, and both Terri and I felt more at home in the saddle than we had up until that point.  We stayed in the saddle almost all the way up to the Bogoshty Pass, dismounting only for one particularly steep, rocky part.  We were learning to trust the sure-footed judgment of our horses rather than surrendering to vertigo and fear. 
It took remarkably little time to get to the crest of the pass, where we stopped for photos and a final view of the enchanting Kokshal Range.  
Walking down the steep initial descent from the Bogoshty

Exhausted and bruised, Terri takes a much-needed siesta
More wildflower-strewn meadows
Once over the pass we pounded downhill relentlessly, setting a pace that was tough on knees, thighs and backsides.  We stopped for a final lunch amidst a profusion of wildflowers, and Terri passed out on her horse blanket, utterly worn out by four days of non-stop riding.  We revived her and then retraced our steps of four days earlier, picking our way down a long descent, past our first campsite where Terri's horse stopped for a good feed, sure that we were going to stay the night; he was extremely put out to be spurred onwards, away from his favourite restaurant of the trip!

The descent into Pervaya Maya was almost anti-climactic, with the heat of the "lowlands" (2000 metres above sea level) hitting us like a hammer.  It was a long, dusty plod through the length of the village to where Rustam had parked his car at the house of a friend.  We stopped in to devour a table full of goodies, ravenous after four days of fresh air and long rides, then climbed into Rustam's car for a high-speed drive back to At Bashy.  It had been an intense and over-ambitious four days of riding, but it proved to be one of the absolute highlights of our summer in Kyrgyzstan.  

Rustam atop the Bogoshty Pass




Our amazing sure-footed steeds