20 September 2008 - Osh, Kyrgyzstan

Hello all! Thanks for the messages following our last blog - great to hear from you all!

So - we made it to Osh - although we planned to do it in 2 days, we couldn't find anywhere to stay in Ozgon as planned, so continued on to Osh - our longest day yet. Possibly not a great idea as we both spent yesterday in feeble heaps trying to get our energy back. I've really suffered from the ill effects of the anti-malarial I'm on - causes photosensitivity - so no matter how much suncream I put on, I still burn badly. It mostly effects my hand and fingers (knuckles!!?) and nose. It was excruciating so I've finally given in and come off the drugs. We've researched it and I'm clearly fine without them until we get below 200m in Pakistan - so am already feeling much better.

Today, having rested yesterday, we headed out early to the Bazar in Osh - we got there as just a few stalls were setting up, which was brilliant - had the chance to speak to traders (well - gesticulate!) and sit in a tea house watching the market come alive. We're on the old silk route - and you can imagine that in many ways, not much has changed! Literally thousands of stalls - selling everything imaginable - lots of clothes and dodgy local muslim dresses. Paint powder and spice sellers. Vegetables. Meat (mutton!). Tobacco. Big rocks that turned out to be salt! Garlic sellers. Sunflower seed sellers. Broom sellers. The tea house gave us fresh bread hot from the oven, and the first cooked samosas of the day which were delicious - they're just like Cornish pasties and they somehow wet them first, then stick them to the inside walls of the oven where they bake - then they prise them off when cooked - quite fascinating! We've got pictures and will load them as soon as the internet speeds up!

Due to popular request, we will also prioritise photos of our new saddles - which worked a TREAT by the way! Clever Andrew!

We are buying up some provisions for the next week or so to get us to Kashgar in China. We've heard the Chinese like to take about 10 days holiday some time early in OCtober, so we have to get there before then (which is no problem - we leave tomorrow and we should get to the border by Friday latest). The road is VERY hilly with 3 passes around 3-4000. Plus, the road for most of the way is apparently not much of a road at all - just corrugated dirt and gravel, so it will be slow going. Still - it will be good to head into the hills again and away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Have seen tonnes of eagles during the journey - or at least, we know that some of them are eagles, but there have been at least 2 other enormous birds of prey that we cannot identify - there don't seem to be any books to id birds anywhere. Mum - got any ideas? One was huge and pale with a yellow head - the other, pale again with a grey head and black wing tips and white tail. Frustrating not to be able to identify them.

The good news is that most of the yurts are coming down now from the mountains as although it's pretty hot down here on the plain, the mountains are building up to winter - this hopefully means easy camping (better when no one else around) and fewer doggies (phew says Tracy - 'don't worry' says Andrew - 'they haven't got any teeth in this part of Kyrgyzstan so they can only gum you visciously' - 'oh that's ok then' says Tracy with a sigh of relief!

Have met lots of other travellers in Osh - most doing journeys bigger than ours - which is very humbling. The French lad cycling to Russia (Siberia) for winter is possibly the nuttiest! We've also been lucky enough to meet 2 great Aussie girls on a 'Stan' adventure, also with bikes (though not always on them) who we regularly bump into over the last week or so - good company.

Although we're in Kyrgyzstan, Osh is largely made up of Uzbeks. But this is a realy melting pot of nationalities - some look pretty Russian, others very Chinese, plenty of Kyrgyz and lots else in between. Central Asian history is reflected in the faces all around us. But on the whole, even the faces that first look at us curiously, burst into smiles as soon as we smile and wave at them. The most endearing gesture they have is to shake you hand everso gently with the other hand across their heart. It's catching - we use it regularly to show respect and heartfelt gratitude.

There is a strong muslim contingency so we are very careful about behaviour and clothing - but in the towns you still see girls in short skirts among those who are fully covered up. There is no doubt that a shawar kameez is needed in Pakistan with the head scarf, so I'll buy or get one or 2 made in Kashgar when we rest up there for a few days before the next stint over the Karakorum Highway (KKH).

So - that's all from us for now. We'll do what we can to get photos loaded, but might not manage it before China.............the power just went off and we thought we'd lost the whole blog - but clever clever blogger automatically save - HURRAH!!

Lots of love to all.

Tracy and the big man

xxx