Travellive 7 - 2018

travel
Children
are all
naughty
and lovely
no matter
where they
are from
Clenching teeth
and pushing hard
on the pedals, we
stubbornly moved
forward. We
succeeded to reach a
home stay, to have
a cold beer when
the sky finally tore
apoart and poured
torrents of water
down on the earth.
NARROWLY ESCAPING
THE HEAVY RAIN
When we arrived in Kyrgyzstan, the
landscape changed 180 o . No longer
were there arid mountain ranges,
nor immense treeless plateaus; but
luxurious green from grass and trees,
murky red from water rumbling
at the foot of the mountain. On
the mountainside big yaks with
their proud horns lumbered about;
euphoric horses, manes whipping
romped on the grass in the wind...
It's bursting with life here.
Much to our surprise, we did not
have much time to embrace this new
change as we had to cycle onward at
full speed. Heavy dark clouds, like a
looming threat, followed us across
the border.
If we didn't reach Sary Tash - the
first village 20 km from the frontier
- before these clouds ripped the sky
asunder and began pouring water,
we would have passed an indelible
moment. It felt like the everlasting
slopes of Tajikistan had drained away
all of our strength and the ferocious
headwind was going to beat us.
However, clenching teeth and pushing
hard n the pedals, we stubbornly
moved forward. We succeed to reach
a home stay, to havea cold beer when
the sky finally tore apoart and poured
torrents of water down on the earth.
Once again, we learnt a lesson
about our own capacity, about our
willpower: When you think you can't
take it anymore, when needed, you are
still able to unfold enough strength
to cross an another river, to move an
another mountain...
And here, as in Turkey, Iran,
Uzbekistan and lots of other places,
Aigul, the young homestay owner, was
surprised to see men washing clothes
and even helping her carry the water
home from streams. "Kyrgyz men
after work just eat and drink wine"
she confided, rubbing her two-year-old
son's head while he, sparkling eyed,
hugged her legs. We hope that our
small amount of money will help to
improve her daily life.
Like Tajikistan, much of Kyrgyzstan's
territory is mountainous and full
of pot-holed roads, which sums our
journey up in one word "struggle".
The daily routine is to bend our back,
trying to climb passes to passes under
the burning heat near 50 o C, with a
bent body sweating like a bath. We
didn't even have time to think about
wiping off our sweat. All we cared
about was jamming on the brake and
preparing our legs to stop in time,
especially when both our bikes and
our bodies bounced on the way down
the rough roads. Luckily for us, the
green and peaceful scenery helped us
to forget our exhaustion.
Here, the pine forests cover the
mountains interspersed with
sprawling green meadows stretching
across the horizon bringing to mind
images of Austria and Switzerland.
And it's also here that rosy-cheeked
children, smiling from their eyes,
ran out of their "yurts" - the symbolic
nomadic tent - waving, pulling us back
to reality.
TRAVELLIVE
85