Kyrgyzstan and Crossing Western China

*Driving the empty mountainous roads of Kyrgyzstan*

Our journey across Kyrgyzstan was actually split into two parts - but we describe it as one contiguous trip here. We entered the northern part of the country from Kazakhstan, then exited through Uzbekistan to Tajikistan. Then we re-entered Kyrgyzstan briefly from Tajikistan to access the border crossing open for tourists to cross a piece of extreme western China. Planning border crossings in this region is critical as access is limited for foreign travelers. There is only one border open between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and only one border from Kyrgyzstan to China open to foreigners. Our son Nicholas was traveling with us for the latter part of the trip in Kyrgyzstan and for crossing China.

Crossing China was another milestone for us - one of those complicated logistical pieces we thought through well in advance and planned for. In terms of visa complexity, it was up there with crossing Nigeria or Russia. In all it was a very unique experience - more details below!

Kyrgyzstan

As soon as we entered Kyrgyzstan from Kazakhstan, the geography changed wildly. No more flat empty steppes. Instead, there were mountains everywhere we looked, beautiful rugged peaks. Cold rivers flowed through green valleys and dense forests. Villages were small and rural, many people using horses as their main form of transport. The roads were empty, most of them gravel but in decent shape.

The Kyrgyz people are welcoming and kind although communication was a challenge for us. As the country was part of the USSR until it declared independence in 1991, most of the people spoke Russian as a second language. We tried to learn how to say “hello” and “thank you” in Kyrgyz, people laughed at our pronunciation but our bumbling was a good ice breaker.

Most of the country is rural and over half of the land is in agriculture (wherever it is flat). Although 90% of the country is Muslim, it is rare to hear the call to prayer, it is loosely banned. The Kyrgyz government takes the official stance that religion should be a private matter and listening to the call to prayer should not be inflicted upon non-Muslims. In general we missed its beautiful haunting sounds, but maybe not the 4:30am call when we were sleeping near a minaret.

After a few days in the beautiful Jyrgalan Valley, we made our way to Karakol, the fourth largest city in the country. Karakol was easy to navigate, with wide open streets. It was an easy re-supply point.

*Trying the local staple - noodle soup or Ashlan-Fu typically about $1 in a cafe.*

*Learning to slurp, the kind host brought us forks as we were struggling*

We really enjoyed the food in Kyrgyzstan - lots of flavorful noodle and rice dishes, definitely spicy! The food was not as heavy as in some of the neighboring countries (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan). We loved, (what seemed like to us and our ignorant palates) the mix of Arabian, Chinese and Central Asian flavors.

*Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Karakol, completed 1895*

In a crazy coincidence we ran into a group of young Kazakhs who had seen our truck in Almaty and now we were all reunited in Karakol. They were on a self organized tour of their neighboring country. Typical for their generation they spoke perfect English so it was fun to have a conversation with them.

*Fellow travelers - a friend group from Kazakhstan and Russia*

*Hiking in the “Fairytale Canyon” locally known as Skazka Canyon*

In addition to green valleys and rugged mountains, Kyrgyzstan had geologically interesting desert areas with fantastical rock formations.

*The spine of the fairytale dragon - legend has it he froze after the princess he loved did not return his affections*

Then we were off to find our next wild camping spot. Like the rest of Central Asia, wild camping was easily accessible and finding stunning spots to spend the night and enjoy the scenery was simple.

*Driving the remote “Canyon of Forgotten Rivers” to get to a camping spot in the shore of Issyk Kul (translates to “warm lake”)*

*Found a flat spot with a beautiful view!*

*Never far from a mountain view in Kyrgyzstan*

*Not often do you get mountain, lake and desert views in one spot*

*The next day heading back through the canyon to the main road*

One of our favorite aspects of being in Kyrgyzstan was the stunning and varied hiking - there was never any shortage of interesting places to walk.

*Beautiful canyon hike with narrow walkways*

*And opening up to sweeping red cliff views*

*With a few tricky bits to add excitement*

*Camping in the high mountain plateau at nearly 10,000’*

*Yurt camp by Song Kul - an enormous alpine lake*

In one of those happy travel moments, our next mountain pass drive was our favorite in Kyrgyzstan. (It was not on Andy’s famous planning spreadsheet but we stumbled upon along our route after a few Google mis directions along non existent roads.)

*Heading up the mountain pass to the Kowe Cheleng Buwajingan area above Song Kul*

*Beautiful mausoleums common for the area*

*Walking the track to a potential wild camping spot*

*A great place streamside for the night*

That was the end of our first trip through Kyrgyzstan, exiting to Tajikistan, excited to pick up our son in Dushanbe for our Pamir Highway adventure. After our trip through Tajikistan (separate blog) we re-entered Kyrgyzstan via the Kyzl-Art pass, the only border between the two countries that is open for foreigners to cross. It requires free pre-registration through a Kyrgyszstan government site. We had heard of travelers having trouble with the pre-registration process working, which meant showing up at the remote border and waiting a day or two for the paperwork to get sorted out. To avoid this we paid a private operator, Erali through Destination Pamir, $15 a person to register us and our vehicle. It worked beautifully, he sent us proof by Whatsapp and we had no trouble at the border. (And we felt compassion for the two French cyclists camped outside the border gate waiting for their registration to come through.)

*The road was a little rough over the pass*

*Road side camp after crossing the Kyzyl-Art border from Tajikistan back into Kyrgyzstan*

We crossed the 15,000 foot pass and had a couple of days to take a side trip in Kyrgyzstan to the Lenin Peak Base camp before entering China.

*Wild camp with a view of Lenin Peak - 23,406’ tall, on the Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan border*

*Walking through the closed base camp for Lenin Peak - not climbing season in September*

*Glad to have our son Nicholas with us for this leg - and his tiny grey tent bedroom*

China

China is one of the more difficult countries to drive through as an overlander. Foreigners are required to be accompanied by a guide. There are a few Chinese companies that specialize in organizing travel to key destinations, like the Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan route we wanted to take. (The alternative for us would have been to cross Afghanistan which we did not feel comfortable with as US citizens in a US plated vehicle.)

We chose to do the trip with Drive China and they were fantastic, very professional, communicative and helpful. They provided all the documentation for the three of us to present at Chinese embassies to secure tourist visas (Nicholas got his in San Francisco, Andy and Dawn in Yerevan, Armenia). They bundled a group of 10 vehicles (6 motorcycles and four campers) together so we could share the cost of a guide. The total fee for our five day trip for two of us and the truck including four nights accommodation was $1272. When we added Nicholas into our vehicle it was an additional $300 (including a single room occupancy fee).

Drive China also provided critical pre-trip information - links for the app we would need to pay for things in China, the mapping program, and the VPN so we could communicate with friends and family back home. Our itinerary was to spend one night in Wuqia, near the border, two nights in Kashgar and one night in Tashkurghan.

It quickly became clear how critical our guide was - we met Hedy on the China side of the border at Irkeshtam. She jumped into communicating with the border guards for us, efficiently herding us all through. She got us through customs (despite the fact that many of us did not have our VIN numbers engraved on our vehicles which was a huge point of consternation) and after a few hours we were in China, meeting our fellow travelers in the group (all awesome!) and seeking out a lunch of the first of many delicious noodle dishes.

*Row of restaurants at the border, lots of smiling and pointing at pictures to get our food (our guide was still working with customs to release our vehicles).*

*Our first caravan journey, our guide riding in the lead vehicle.*

*Our group of intrepid travelers - no surprise that everyone was fantastic - they were all long term overlanders, everyone else was from Europe or the UK.*

*Late afternoon walk from our first hotel in Wuqia*

The accommodations were all basic but clean, comfortable hotel rooms with wifi, hot water and a hearty breakfast included (luxury for us).

*With the administrative help of Drive China, Andy was given a Chinese driver’s license and the truck Chinese plates.*

*Stopping for gas, our guide Hedy had to register us with her passport so that we could buy gas as foreigners*

We immediately had fun exploring the wide range of food and drinks available - so much! (Our last stretch on the Pamir highway and through Kyrgyzstan there had been very minimal groceries available.)

*And we had never seen so many kinds of oreos*

The next two nights we spent in the historic Silk Road city of Kashgar. Our guide Hedy took us to see the sights one day but we were also free to explore on our won.

*Giant statue of Chairman Mao in Kashgar’s People’s Square*

*Nicholas jumping in to try the street food*

*Metal artisans at work in old town Kashgar*

Kashgar was fascinating but definitely felt a little bit like Chinese cultural Disneyland. The old town had been completely torn down and re-built with cafes, bars and a myriad of souvenir shops.

*New, modern gate built as entrance to ancient Kashgar*

*Many women posing in for photo shoots in traditional clothing*

*All of the fellow tourists we saw were Chinese nationals so we were an obvious oddity - many requests for photos*

*Pictures made ordering anything very helpful*

*Our tour group posing in front of the statue of the fragrant concubine*

In addition to exploring the old town, our guide took us to the “tomb of the fragrant concubine” - Xiang Fei - a woman who reportedly smelled so amazing that she became the concubine of the Emperor.

*Welcome ceremony to the mausoleum site*

*At first we were a little confused by the ceremony and what it was about but the sign we saw afterwards made it all clear.*

Although we deeply enjoyed our guide Hedy and her insights, we did have the sense that our visit and what we were allowed to see was being highly regulated. The mosque in the photo above was open for visitors to enter with a purchased ticket. But like many other mosques in China, it was closed for worship. The local Uyghur Islam population has not been able to pray there except for on a few restricted holy days since 2016.

*Some of the flavors we found in supermarkets were definitely unique*

*Stocking up for our next remote journey through Pakistan - lots of noodles on the menu. Not surprisingly the instant noodle mixes and spices in China were fantastic - and cheap.*

*Our favorite style of local restaurants - hot pot dining, you are given a pot of hot broth and oil and pick your items to cook from an enormous buffet*

After our two nights in Kashgar, we left to drive to Tashkurghan along the Karakorum Highway.

*Nicholas had fun using Google Translate on his phone to figure out how the frequent billboards and signs were instructing people*

*Stopping along the way at Karakul Lake*

*Along the way were many police check points, typically requiring at least an hour stop. When there was not an official stop there were many pretend reminders that we were being watching.*

*Spectacular scenery along the Karakorum Highway*

*Our last hot pot in China - this one started with 5 lbs of yak meat*

*Our last customs and police check point in Tashkurgan - Nicholas has figured out how to wait them out*

*Dawn saying goodbye to our guide, Hedy*

*After a couple of hours of paperwork being signed out of China, we are on our way*

*But to ensure we do not get out of our vehicles before Pakistan, Chinese customs stickered our doors closed*

Our experience in China was mixed. The people were fantastic, friendly and welcoming, wanting to take pictures with us and helping us communicate even though we did not share a language. The food was tasty and spicy. We learned to enjoy noodles and rice for breakfast. Travel was slow as a foreigner because of the multiple police check points and need to be registered to buy gas. We appreciated the information and background provided by our guide, but also enjoyed wandering on our own when possible - once we were booked into our hotel in a given town. The area we were traveling is troubled with conflict between the Chinese government and the local Islam Uygher population. We were not given opportunities to have real conversations about this and were very aware of our status as outsiders and visitors to the country.

We will be crossing China again with Drive China, on the Nepal to Laos route through Tibet and look forward to another efficient and well organized experience, along with the opportunity to develop friendships with fellow travelers.

Thank you for reading!

Kyrgyzstan and Crossing Western China

Kyrgyzstan

China

Tajikistan and the Pamir Highway