How to go from Bishkek to Tashkent

Happy Independence day Pakistan! So, what did I do to celebrate? Well...I got a mean headache, and felt real weak. I felt so exhausted, I could not even think about doing the drive from Bishkek to Osh, stay the night, then hire another car to the border of Uzbekistan and another on the opposite side to Tashkent. I felt like I had been on far too many rides, haggling and being cheated or worrying about what some jerk keeps in his car door or worse passenger door to make it look like it is ours or who decides to throw stuff through the window at night. So, Omar and I decided to just fly to Bishkek for about $150 more.

This is a vacation after all. We spent the day figuring out the logistics of all our travel plans, then bought or changed tickets. The four of us were exhausted as we shared a final dinner together on this trip at a place called NY Pizza. The pizza was very good and we were all grateful that we had each other to make this trip possible. I went to bed early that night.

Fun at the Osh Bazar

 

In the morning we got up and head down the street to a more modestly priced restaurant than we had seen before. It was upstairs and there was a recording of verses from the Quran being recited over the speakers (kirat). The place had a really calm and peaceful atmosphere. The family that ran it was very friendly. They led us to the kitchen and out back when we had trouble communicating ingredients for an omlette. The food was some of the best I have had in Kyrgyzstan. Afterwards, we head to an internet cafe where the guys had to tend to matters back home.

I uploaded some more blog stuff, then just hung out. Eventually Omar and I went to the Osh bazaar. It was okay, like many other bazaars we had seen, but the police were extra friendly. A pair of them called us over, then checked our documents, before introducing us to a group of their buddies working diligently on nothing to one side of the road, definitely not goofing off or anything. Likewise, we figured we should return the favor by going through all our belongings with them and then Omar stared at the mysteriously palmed 100 som note the one guy had held on to for safe keeping before he returned it. This happens all the time in Osh bazaar according to Lonely Planet. We expected it to occur far more often all over, but thankfully that was the only place and time during our stay in Kyrgyzstan.

After all that fun, we decided to walk back and wait for our other friends who aren't as polite about holding money for us. That evening we met up with some friends of Andy's who were very sweet to come hang out with us. We ate some delicious food together and called it a night.

Lake Issyk-Kol day 2

  

We woke up in the home that Gulbubu had found us a room in. The guys slowly got out of bed and we played some music for the family. The kids started dancing and it was a lot of fun just watching the funny things they did as we sang. Gulbubu kept explaining things to us in Russian and some of the grade school children who knew some English tried to translate bits of it. Either way, she had such a sweet and friendly laugh, like one of my aunts. She was so warm and sweet to us, that even after trying very hard to explain something to us, and then just receiving a blank look with no understanding from us, she would start laughing and try some more. It was a little sad saying goodbye to these sweet people, but I did record some video of something Gulbubu was trying to tell me. I'll try and find someone to translate it for me. Enjoy this video of our biggest fan, dancing away. Watch as her assistant comes in during the clip.

After that, we grabbed some food, played for the people in the restaurant then walked over to the beach and enjoyed a quick dip in the super cold water. The beach had some rides in an amusement park and typical fair type game stalls and food vendors. There was a weird pizza guy selling gross looking pizzas out of a box who didn't seem to take a hint or like it when I mimed that his pizza looked like barf. But he left eventually and so did we, catching a bus leaving for Bishkek. We played lots of music on the way back in the bus, and got here around evening. We head to the internet cafe, then barely made it back to the hostel for some beds that were not gauranteed. So plenty of stress later, we slept in our many times slept in by others beds, and enjoyed the sweet scent of stranger's sweat (one of many times) as we fell asleep.

off to Lake Issyk-Kol, Bollywood in Kyrgyzstan

The next morning we woke up, cleaned up a little and with the help of Andy's friend head over to the train station to get tickets to Lake Issyk-Kol. The lake is a scenic tourist spot, for locals as well as foreigners. After navigating several lines we were turned away to other lines, met a line cutter I dubbed "the Buzzard", then found out that the one and only train there was at 6am. Many friendly taxi drivers approached us repeatedly offering to drive us there for a princely sum. We declined, and one asked for Asel's phone number. I was sad that none of them took notice of me. We thanked Andy's friend Asel, and head over to grab a minibus (or as they call it, auctobus) to the bus station.Once there we got a price that seemed high, so we went the hostel we stayed at, a couple blocks from the bus station, sat down and played some music as we waited for a man there who offered a driver service. Twenty minutes, and twenty more minutes and then many more minutes later, we all ate, found out the bus was the better deal and head out to it once again. We had to wait for the bus to fill up with passengers before it would leave, so Andy and Omar decided to pull out their instruments and help the conductor get people on the bus. I joined after a while and we sang a whole bunch of songs and got a crowd around us. We even managed to make some ice cream money thanks to the generous donations of our audience into Omar's hat.Finally, after a very long time, we all boarded the bus, ice cream in our bellies and started down to the lake. I fell asleep, a bunch of times until we reached Bosteria, a popular section along the huge lake. We stepped out and there were people walking all over, returning from the beach, walking up and down the streets. We grabbed some food at a restaurant, found out the places to sleep on that section of the lake were very expensive, then started walking back to the main road to search for a better option.Along the way we saw an old man playing an accordian beautifully. We sat down and started playing music together. A crowd gathered, the sun started to go down, we had no place to sleep but we were having too much fun to care. He played a bunch of different songs, including an old Hindi movie song "Juta maira Japani, patloon hai Englistani, topi Turkistani par dil hai Hindustani." While we were playing we befriended a lady at a stall next door and some random drunk guy who kept trying to speak to us (like a small child speaking gibberish that sounds like sentences). We explained to the lady that we were looking for a place to sleep. She was really friendly and though we shared no common language, we started walking with her and so did the gibberish guy. She had really enjoyed a Junoon song we played called "Saeen". She turned out to be Muslim as well and as we walked we explained to her "Nyet Vodka" "Mussalman" etc and got away from the gibberish guy and ended up renting a room with her family for the night.

Al-Archa

 

 

We woke up and head out of the hostel to Andy's friend's place. She had very graciously offered to let us stay in her apartment. She seemed worried that the place would be too small, but I don't think she'd seen most of the places we have stayed at. Anyway, it always feels so much better to stay in a place where there is the warmth of friends. So we dropped our things off and head out to meet up with a few Turkish guy that Omar and Mike had met the previous day.Ali showed up at the bus station for us. He took us to a Turkish restaurant, and invited his friend Yusuf to join us. We ate some amazing Turkish food and got to know each other a bit better. We decided to go to Al-Archa where there was a beautiful canyon and river. It took us a while to figure it all out, but Ali was tired apparently from a long night of video games, so Yusuf who spoke English, joined us in a cab and the rest of us squeezed in the back seat. After about an hour or so we reached the outer gate and were convinced that we should walk the rest of the way.So, we started walking along a road for a bit, then Yusuf ran back to get the taxi to come take us the rest of the way. Reluctantly, the cab took us up to the river. We sat down next to it, relaxed and started playing some music. There was a Kyrgyz family having a picnic close by. The children came to check us out, then the grandfather came by and invited us to join them. We sat down at their picnic and they shared their food with us and we played more music. Some other people nearby came with cameras and there was a bit of a crowd there with young and old. It was so much fun playing for them. I don't really care much about singing for everyone in LA. I mean, it is fun, but I don't care for attention and there's shyness too when you're put on the spot in a group, but here with my friends playing music is a joy. Just like when I did it with friends back in high school, it was never about attention. To play music to people here is fun because there is a real sweetness that we share with people when we connect that way, across language and cultures. In many ways, to me it feels like we are saying thanks for being so nice or in other situations, just breaking down that barrier between being consumers on this trip and getting a bit more connected just as people.After a while, we parted ways, head back to the taxi and drove back to the Turkish restaurant. The cab guy wanted to charge us extra again, and we were all sick of getting overcharged by people, so we refused. We could tell that Yusuf was going to pay the guy to avoid any issues, and more than not wanting to pay the jerk, we didn't want Yusuf to pay him, so we paid the extra 100 som and walked back toward the restaurant. Omar and Andy sat down on the steps to play some music, Mike went off to use the restroom, and I walked down a couple stores to get over that annoyance. As I was walking, I heard some men speaking in Urdu. I turned and saw a group of men sitting at a table in front of a burger joint. I introduced myself and asked if they were from Pakistan. They were and invited me to sit with them. A few moments later so ice cream was brought out and I was offered one. I wasn't about to leave after that. I explained that the music they heard in the distance was from my other friends. We talked a bit and I shared some stories from our travels and they shared their stories as well. One man was visiting and the others all worked in Bishkek for a number of years. The ice cream was great and so was the company. Omar, Andy and Mike came looking for me and found me there at the table. The too were invited to join. So we put some tables together and sat down. They even placed an order at the Pakistani owned fast food place which does not serve Pakistani food, for some Pakistani food. Apparently the group hangs our there every day and they have the restaurant cook up some Pakistani dishes for them. Usually on this day they go out for a hike, but as our luck would have it, they didn't go today and so we were lucky enough to meet them.We sat for hours talking, playing songs, then eating, and talking and singing some more. Another wonderful experience with music.Afterwards, we head back to Andy's friend's place, gave her a run down of the day's adventures and went to sleep.

In Bishkek at last!

 

The next morning around 6:30am or 7am, we reach Bishkek and a hostel that had been recommended in Osh. It was very quiet and hardly any people were on the streets as we paid the driver the balance of what we owed and some money to help him with his windshield, not that it was our fault, but because it seemed like the right thing to do to Omar and I. We were all really annoyed by all that had happened, and just glad to be there at last. It felt like we had gone from misery at travel the night before, to really enjoying the day in Osh, to more miserable travel at the last night getting from Osh to Bishkek.The hostel was a house with some tents and yurts in the backyard. The staff was busily preparing food for the wedding of the two owners which was taking place that evening. We got information to take Andy to the hospital, and planned to but he decided not to at this time. Again some guy tried to tell us that we should have jumped out of the car and beat the guy up. He told us about a fight he had got into with some guy who said something to him while he was walking down the street and then a photo of a huge gash he got in his head as a result as proof of why we should have gotten into a fight. While his reasoning seemed sound, we decided his advice probably wasn't worth taking. There are a lot of macho jack asses in the world who put ego before the safety of those around them as well as their own well being. Mike, Andy, Omar and I grabbed some breakfast, then Mike and Andy returned to the hostel for some sleep. Andy and I decided to check out the town and sleep at night instead. We walked around, checked out a mosque, made our way toward the center of the city, and met of with a friend of Andy's from Kyrgyzstan. She took us around to a museuem of Soviet history, with statues of Lenin and many major occurences during his time. It was all pretty sad, until we got to the top floor that was focused on Kyrgyz cultre which was similar to Mongolia and very beautiful. The people at the stores on the first floor were really nice. One lady had me sit down once she learned I was an artist and asked me to make something on a piece of cloth. I drew some flowers on it and signed and gave it to her.We checked out some art in a park just before that also, and walked around an amusement park, ate some good food, then parted ways and returned to the hostel.I finally took a shower, and sat for a bit as we waited for Mike and Omar who had gone out while we were away, to return. They came back and we met up with Andy's friend and another friend of hers again for some dinner. She and her friend were so kind to us, that it really made us feel at home. For all the rough travel and some negative experience during the trip, it is all these beautiful places and even more important the kind people we meet along the way that makes it all worth while.After dinner we grabbed a taxi back to the hostel and got some sleep.

To Bishkek!

 The next day we woke up and paid for our room. After we talked to the guest house people about arranging for a car to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan's capital). They called back and said a car would be there in 30-40 minutes, so Mike and I walked over to pick up some food as Omar and Andy sat with the bags in the apartment complex courtyard and played music with a few kids as the start of the audience sitting on a bench across from them.We picked up some food to go, and again everyone we ran into as the day before was so kind and polite and went out of their way to help us communicate and make us feel welcome. We came back with food and saw that the crowd had grown significantly. There were children dancing happily, and some adults standing around, smiling, including the owner of the apartment we stayed in, who was smiling by the door of the building as Andy and Mike played. I sang a little and we wrapped up with the kids playing around with the instruments a bit. A Pakistani and an Indian medical student who were roommates had come by and joined the crowd while Mike and I were purchasing food. I talked to both and they were very friendly, inviting us to come eat with them and telling us lots of invaluable information about the area. We would have loved to join them, but were just about to leave the city. Perhaps we will see them on the way back. I've met so many nice peopel travelling like this, and getting email addresses etc along the way.Our car arrived and we loaded up, then drove off. Along the way we took out our nan and kabobs to get some food in us, as beautiful mountains streamed past. Things were looking good. The car was fast, the road was good and the scenery, as usual, beautiful. After a while, the car started to stutter. We kept making stops at the side of the road, eating with some British travelers, getting to know our driver through our limited communication, listening to tapes. Several times we stopped and just walked around until the car got settled down a bit, until we reached an autoshop run by children on the side of the road. We stayed there for many hours as they went to get some clean gasoline, then drained the contaminated gasoline and refilled it. We played music and made friends with the kids who worked there. The river water there was very clean and good. By now it was night and we were far behind in getting to Bishkek. It seemed at this point that we weren't destined to have much luck with transport on this trip. Still, we were very grateful that it was much better than the horrible ride from the border into Osh, so everyone was patient and in good spirits. It was dark by the time we got back on the road. We passed more rock, and went through a very long tunnel, as we all tried in vain to sleep. Suddenly I heard a loud crash and a 7-8 inch piece of concrete fell next to my foot in the back seat. Andy told the driver to keep going, and we got out of there quick. At first I thought a rock had dropped from above, but noticed that we were surrounded by trees. We drove a ways from where the rock had smashed through the windshield then stopped to assess the situation. It turned out that Andy opened his eyes, just in time to see a 20 or so year old man throw the rock into the windshield from the side of the road. He barely moved out of the way and the rock scraped his hand and the side of his head. All of us were covered in fragments of the windshield. We checked Andy out. It was dark everywhere. The driver called another car and decided he wanted to go back. Andy had said to keep going at the time because we had no idea if there were more people waiting in the dark or if this guy had some other kind of weapons. The driver drove back to find this guy with us in tow. As we reached there, another man had already grabbed a kid who seemed to fit the description. There really wasn't anyone else out at that time, so it seemed likely that he was the culprit. He even had the same color red shirt that Andy had seen, but he could not be absolutely certain and we could not accuse someone not knowing for certain. So we let the kid go and the two men (our driver and the other car driver who had turned up to help) communicated to us in gestures that they thought we should have jumped out of the car and beat the guy down. Sound logic in a pitch dark place, where we don't speak the language and the law can't be trusted any more than the bandits who roam about at night. We drove on down the street, not quite understanding what they were all saying. At a row of roadside stalls in the dark, our driver picked up some tape to cover up the gaping hole in the windshield that Andy had been covering up with a cloth propped up by his feet to try and keep sand like glass from getting into our eyes. Meanwhile a brawl was taking place a few stalls down from us and a bunch of cars pulled up around us. Our driver didn't seem worried, but we all felt we needed to be cautious. I found some odd things in the car, so we all tossed them out at the next spot we stopped at as our driver taped up the windshield unaware of us.From there the ride was tense and silent in the dark.

Osh: Welcome to Kyrgyzstan

 

No one could sleep or sit still, or relax for the entire ride. Finally, we reached Osh at about 6:20AM. Plat wanted his money right away and we explained that we needed to check into a hotel first. We hunted around for one, and he got us close by but then just panicked instead of being of any help. Of course he was extremly exhuasted and paranoid about whether he would be paid. I felt bad for him, but I was also pretty mad that he refused to listen to us or communicate his thoughts in an efficient way so we could listen to him properly. Language barrier or not, he really didn't make it any easier on us. Still, I tried to set his mind at ease and explain what we were doing each step of the way, looking for the guest house. No one would let us call, whether because it was not possible or it was expensive to them I do not know. Finally, we met an excited woman who worked for a restaurant there that was just starting to prepare for the day. Her name was Sonia, and she head all her front teeth in gold, as we would find many people in Osh have. She walked around with Andy and I to find the Osh Guesthouse. The directions in the book started at a trash heap and went to one of the apartment buildings in the vicinity. So we walked around in the early hours of the day. Sonia asked some people questions in Russian, but no one knew. Finally I found a sign, and from there eventually the trash heap. She called the place and we met Ali, who told us they were full but kindly started calling around to find another place to stay. These places are basically apartments that people own and rent out to guests as added income. He walked back with us to the car and explained the situation to Plat as we awaited a call from one of his associates regarding a room. Plat apparently was cursing and said some nasty things to Ali, who calmly related this to me in English (not the actual cursing, just the situation). He told us Sonia requested some money for her help, so we gave her a dollar and she told us to come back to te restuarant. I think the money was for phone use, which may be very expensive in Kyrgyzstan. I'm not sure yet.Finally we somewhat calmed Plat down long enough to pay him, get our things and thankfully bid him farewell. It's no wonder we didn't take him up on his offer to take us further to Bishkek the next day. No thanks.Ali on the other hand was very calm and sincere in helping us. This was his business, but unlike many people we had met, he knew how to conduct his business in a manner that made you want to come back. The city had not quite awakened yet, and it felt pretty uncomfortable after that nasty entry into the country. Ali introduced us to an apartment owner how was just finishing cleaning up the place for our use. There was no electricity yet as it was turned off every night and then came back in the morning. We were very grateful and they were very relaxed about the fact that we would change money and pay them later. So got the key and collapsed on the beds for a few hours. I awoke a while later, and took a cold shower and woke the guys up so we could see the city some before leaving the next day as we planned. With the sun up and some rest it seemed a lot more pleasant.We went back to Sonia's restaurant for some food. There were all kinds of kababs, and we figured out what was what by making animal noises. Sonia was hilarious and more than happy to help us non-Russian speakers. After some food, Andy tried contacting his friend's friend in Osh, then we walked down the street through a bazaar, looking around until we got to Soloman's Throne, which is a rock hill with a small room on top. We played some music at the base and more than made our admission money back. Omar, as a joke opened up his drum case and people put money in as we played. After a few songs we said thanks to the people and walked up the stairs to the top. My legs sort of quivered by the time I reached the top. Too much tiredness. The view of Osh was very beautiful. In the room there was an old Muslim man speaking in Russian. Along the way to the top there were rags tied to trees. Local people believe that the Prophet Mohammad prayed here once, though I have never heard of him travelling here. Expecting mothers tie rags in hopes of improving their fertility as some say the hill has the shape of a reclining pregnant woman (I didn't notice that). Afterwards we walked back down and checked out a 3 story yurt which was a museum of folk crafts and traditional Kyrgyz clothing. There were beautiful wall hangings made of felt and some musical instruments and other interesting crafts. From there we crossed the street and entered a place called the Art Faculty. All the rooms were closed inside, except one where I found two people with a sound mixer and computer. I asked if they were musicians (mausikaar) and they nodded, so of course we sat down and played music with them for a bunch of hours, before heading out to dinner with the pair. They were both music teachers there, and we had a lot of fun playing music and acting things out to communicate outside of that. At dinner we laughed a lot and talked, before heading to an internet cafe. One of the guys at the internet cafe wanted to communicate to me so we talked a bit using google translate to go from Russian to English and back again. The electricity went out (as it does at that time every day in Osh), so we took a taxi back to the hotel. I don't think it is safe to be out at night, particularly as we don't speak the language, and it is very dark all around, so we went back and slept.

Goodbye China!

The next day we grabbed food at the same Pakistani place as the night before. The lady who ran the place was Uighar. She told us about how she loved Pakistani food, and had learned to cook it on a few trips to Pakistan. She said it made her eat more and that it was more interesting to her than Uigher food which had less variety.After eating, we head to the bus station to check on tickets to Kyrgyzstan. I waited in the car as Andy and Omar went in to check times and prices. The taxi driver misunderstood and thought we were dropping them off and driving to the next hotel, so we went off and I had to keep explaining that we needed to wait and then go back...so a few blocks later, we started driving back, looping around to a place we could turn around. In the meantime, Andy and Omar thought I was kidnapped by the driver and I could see them in the distance looking around the parking area. Finally the taxi came back around, we picked them up and moved on to Chini Bagh, where the travel agent's office was.At CITS travel agency we sat down to figure out passage to Kyrgyzstan and get a refund on part of our previous trip. It turned out we could leave that day in about 10 minutes. The timings were limited due to the hours that the border was open. So we had barely enough time to set out immediatly by car and reach the border in time to get across, then jump into another car that was waiting for us on the Kyrgyzstan side and travel through rugged country to get to Osh. We went through all the details as quickly as possible, with the travel agent using additional staff who spoke the appropriate languages to make arrangements with a travel agency in Kyrgyzstan for that side of the trip. We were in luck (or so we thought) and a driver was already in the area to take us on from the Kyrgyzstan border to Osh. Along the way we were told we would have to hitch a ride with a truck across the 8km between both borders.In the middle of all of that Mike arrived, making it possible for us to leave immediatly. We thought he was arriving that night, so it was kind of surreal to see him walk right in as we were discussing plans for Kyrgyzstan. He'd just come off a rough ride to get to Kashghar and had not eaten since lunch the day before, but he too was ready to get out of China.So Andy and he ran off to do some last minute things, Omar went to get some water and snacks for all of us, and I sat waiting for our driver. It turned out to be Mr. Ling, who had taken us to Kashturgan.This time with Mike in tow, we could communicate using his Chinese language skills. Mr. Ling was far more talkative as we sped toward the border. Along the way we stopped for gas, and all of us had to get out of the car outside the gas station before the car was allowed to enter with only the driver. Security checkpoint after checkpoint we were checked and let to pass. Finally we made it to the Chinese side of the border, filled our departure cards, paid the fees, had our passports stamped and luggage checked. The staff was much more at ease at the border. They examined us closely, but were far friendlier than the rest of the checkpoints before, where there was obviously a great deal of tension. So crossed several more Chinese checkpoints, performing some music for some of the soldiers at their request. That made them pretty happy, and one was kind enough to ask a crossing truck to take us through the middle stretch across to the Kyrgyzstan border. We hopped in a truck with an Uzbek driver of a double trailered truck, traveling at about 5 miles an hour over unpaved road. He was very friendly and we pulled out our instruments and performed a few songs including an Uzbek song that Andy knew to entertain each other across the way.We thanked him once we reached the Kyrgyz checkpoint after a few more Chinese checkpoints, and meeting some of his friends along the way and passing scores of huge trucks waiting to enter China. I didn't take any pictures of any of this due to security reasons..as in securing myself from getting beat by the friendly border folks!At the Kyrgyz checkpoint we went through the usual questions and scrutiny, before meeting our driver, Plat on the other side. He strapped our heavy bags to the top of his old Russian jeep, and we started down the unpaved road in Kyrgyzstan. The driving was slow, but intense. Sometimes we would go off on dirt side roads, away from the stone filled main road from the Kyrgyzstan border. It is known as one of the worst roads in the country...which seems odd as it is an important trade route into China. At times the car would speed up and we'd avoid potholes and smack right into others. Our driver seemed pretty funny, as we tried to communicate with his limited English and our even more limited Russian. He was retired from the Russian Military and drove for a living now.There was some kind of deal to stay the night at some overpriced place along the way that the travel agency had relations with, so we refused to pay 8 times the cost. We had also requested to go straight to Osh, so the confusion now became more and more annoying. I don't think our driver, Plat was at fault for this, but he really did not seem to have ever taken anyone from the border before. He was confused and thrown off by misinformation that we would stay at the over priced (8x what it should have been) tourist trap along the barren road into Kyrgyzstan. The mountains around were beautiful. It was red and dusty, with bits of green all over, as we bumped and swerved and jumped along the road.Plat would at times insist that we stop somewhere and at other times insist that we keep going to Osh. He was a thin, older man and in any case this was an insanely intense drive, so we didn't want him to have to drive all the way through, but he wouldn't communicate to us properly about our options either. It was, stay in the tourist trap or drive all the way through. He would get very frustrated and annoyed, and not really try and communicate his thoughts properly. The sun went down and it was darkness everywhere. We had no Kyrgyz currency as we had not stopped anywhere we could change it. At last, late into the night we stopped for food and Plat filled up on some coffee. He paid for the meal, which we agreed to pay him back for in dollars.As we drove, he became afraid that we would not pay him at times, or he would change his mind about sleeping and then stop somewhere, only to argue that we had to continue due to safety issues. I know this drive was torture for him and also for us, though he had the advantage of understanding the language, and we had the advantage of not destroying our arms yanking the steering wheel from big pot hole to little pothole, to side of road, up and down inclines, stopping to cool down the engine etc along the way.This was without a doubt the worst ride we had been on, and during this trip we've had some really tough ones.

Back to Kashghar?

The next day we learned the pass was closed and that we would not be able to go up to it. We were all devastated. The mood of the city changed. The morning we had left Kashghar we learned there had been a bombing at a police station. As usual in China, there were many checkpoints along the way, but the morning we awoke in Tashkurgan, it really felt like things had soured. There was a lot of tension in the air. We ate with the Pakistanis again, learned about the current situation as security people intensified their scrutiny. The police had come by as we played at the hotel the night before, though the people at the hotel said not to worry. It was routine for them to charge in sirens blaring to check the guest registry, or check up on retaurant books to see who and when they got eggs, vegetables, meat and other supplies from.We walked around ruins of an old castle and enjoyed a beautiful view, and the local bazaar before deciding to start heading back. Out tour guide at CITS was not able to provide any alternate destinations. I asked about local handicrafts, but she really didn't care. They just seemed to want us to go to all the overpriced tourist traps that they had special deals with. All of this with the tense atmosphere combined to make us all feel a bit miserable. We were in one of the most beautiful spots on the planet, but due to some people it was really maddening. We stopped at a beautiful lake, and refused to over pay for nasty food or tourist trap prices. We left i disgust, visited a hot spring, that had been turned into a bath house, then left after looking at it for bit. Too much bad salesmanship, and people not trying to communicate, but just take you for what you are worth to them and all this bureaucratic nonsense can turn a person sour quick.Mr. Ling seemed confused, but took us slowly back. We stopped at the stone work tables and I was in thr process of bartering my boots for a traditional jacket (the guy had gone to get his jacket so I could see it), but Mr. Ling insisted we leave. The tour lady called a bunch of times on his cel phone, but she just wanted to go to more tourist traps and they refused to let us visit regular people.We decided to end the trip and just go back to Kashghar. It just felt like it was time to get out of China, withe the Olympics and even more heightened image conscious paranoia and terrorist threats only days away.Along the way, Mr. Ling I think sensing some of what we were about stopped at a Yurt where we ate some bread, drank tea and put on a music show in a beautifully decorated Kyrgyz home. The family crowded into the door and we all had a good time, though the songs felt tired as we played. It felt like our hearts had been ripped out and we just wanted to leave China. The people were very sweet and it was great to share music with them. One lady pulled out a mouth harp like Andy had. She joked that his was no good and played us some beautiful music on hers. One of the girls danced while we played. They showed us a photo that some other American tourists had taken with them and sent back. We took photos with them and I met some of the little ones outside before we left. It was a long ride back to Kashghar. The feel at the checkpoints was much more intense.We got back into Kashghar, and got a room at the Semens hotel where many Pakistanis stay. The hotel was beautiful with a lot of Uigher cultural decorations in the lobby, but like most places, the rooms were not good. There was a tv, with no power outlet (not that we were going to watch it), the fan burned out, the toilet needed to be repaired and was just as we were going to bed. It was a bad hotel for the price, but another interesting experience. We ate some Pakistani food at another cafe near by, before going to sleep.

To Tashkurgan!

The next day we jumped in a car with our driver Mr. Ling, to head out to Tashkurgan, a border town on the way to the Khunjra Pass to Pakistan. We had obtained permission to go up to it, and were very excited to see it.As we left Kashghar, we stopped at a small dusty town along the way. Mr. Ling pointed us to a bazaar, so Omar took his drum and Andy his Rabab and we walked over to it. It was a lot less built up than the one in Kashghar. It had tents instead of concrete shops and it was definately not geared to tourists. I went to a stall to buy a notebook and pen, meanwhile a bunch of people seeing the intruments asked Omar and Andy to play. Before they knew it, old women and pulle dout little chairs for them and they started playing as a very large crowd formed in front of the stationary stall. I joined them and we sang a couple of songs, as the crowd surged, pushing a little to see what it was all about. It was a pretty amazing experience, but we wanted to move on quick as we had attracted a very large crowd. People were very friendly, and appreciative. They made sure we didn't leave any stuff behind and thanked us as we took off back to the car, running into a bus of Pakistanis and on down the road.The scenery changed rapidly and we could see huge mountains in the distance. We stopped at a tourist shop along the way, where I finally found some intricate traditional Uigher clothing. It was very beautiful with intricate needlework. Apparently that type of clothing is not too common any more. It is made by families for themselves and sometimes for shops like that one. We moved on and stopped at a line of tables with stone work. Vendors ran out to call us over to their tables. I walked along, largely ignoring the over anxious sales people. Finally, before leaving we decided to play some songs. That completely changed the feel of it all. From being annoying sales people, to the sweetest crowd we have every played for in a matter of moments. Little kids, mothers and people of all ages came to see from the yurts across the street. It was such a pleasure to share some music. The crowd made room for some men to dance a bit. It was pretty unbelievable.We head on down towards Tashkurgan stopping along the way to admire the magnificent landscape.Eventually we reached Tashkurgen, checked into a hotel, only to check out very annoyed at the staff trying to double the price and that too with no running water and all kinds of construction being done in the hall. So we walked across the street and booked a room there. It actually turned out great as we met a Pakistani man who had just opened a gift shop selling Pakistani souvenirs. His name was Mustafa and along with a man from the Pakistani bus we ran into earlier named Javed, we head to a Pakistani restaurant. Andy was hooked on Pakistani food at this point. Along the way we picked up some dry fruit to help with altitude sickness as I was getting a bit of a headache. Once at the Pakistani restaurant there was a steady stream of Pakistanis coming in. We ran into more people from the bus from earlier in the day. They all said we should have just hopped on the bus with them. We ate some good food, played some music, then head to one of the hotels where a lot of Pakistanis stay and played more music in the lobby.It was late and I was a bit afraid that we would wake people up, but our hosts insisted that it wasn't a problem. They were all business men, mostly trading in fruit and they knew the Pakistanis we ran into in Kashghar as well.After a bit, a man in a green uniform stumbled out of a room across the way. His eyes were almost shut, his hair a mess, face all red, he just stood there across the lobby staring at all us. He didn't look too happy. I invited him over to join us, but he just stood there. The other Pakistanis around me explained that he was a Tajek, and sarcastically said he was the Minister of Oil, drunk out of his mind, and not to bother with him. So we continued, and so did he.Finally he got the hotel staff to cut up some melons and presented them to us. He sat down and really enjoyed the music. He kept asking us to play more.Andy handed him the Rabab and he played and sang an amazing Tajek song unlike anything we had heard before. He just stared at Andy and me as he sang with a huge grin ear to ear. Yeah, it was kinda creepy, but man could he play. He begged us to stay, but we were tired and managed to get out and back to the hotel. The Pakistanis we met in Kasghar and Tashkurgan were all from northern areas like Swat and Gilgit. Their hospitality was very genuine and it felt nice to be welcomed and to speak in Urdu with all of them.

Kashghar 2

The next day we ate breakfast at a Pakistani restaurant which Omar had seen the night before. We met a bunch of friendly Pakistanis who worked in the fruit import and export business. After, since it was Sunday so we head out to the famed Kashghar Sunday Market, though it is open every day...just bigger on Sunday.There were lanes of all kinds of carpets, cloth, decorations, household goods etc in the market. The instruments that Andy tried were not up to the quality of what we had seen the day before, and I wasn't able to find the traditional clothing I had hoped to, but it was interesting to see, though perhaps a bit over hyped. We walked around for a while, then grabbed a ride back to the old part of town so we Andy and Omar could make their instrument purchases. I hung out for a while, then head out to the bazaar across from the Eid Ka Mosque. The lanes there were very interesting. There were some beautiful mosques and balconies, along with food vendors and people's homes. I wandered about for a while before returning to the tourist shops around the Eid Ka Mosque. I wandered them for a while before joining Andy and Omar. Andy was in the process of choosing having the instruments packed and figuring out the logistics of shipping them, with very little time left as we were taking off the next morning for some sightseeing outside of town. Omar had already made his choice and had a Naagara drum. I hung out as they played around and I joined a bit here and there. A funny little girl wandered into the shop. Every time the fan blew on her she would flinch. She didn't say much, but just watching her look at things and be curious and funny was very interesting. She sat down with me for a bit, before running off to new adventures.Mohammad was tireless and very excited as he ran around between customers making many sales that day, all the while taking care of Andy's needs too. Afterwards, we went to another beautiful restaurant, that featured some live Muqaam music. It was a real treat to check out. Omar had his drum, and the waiters and staff kept looking curiously and asking if he would play as the other musicians had finished and left. Omar started drumming and we both sang some songs. It was funny how quick we were surrounded by excited restaurant staff. It was a lot of fun to give them something to enjoy. The management got a little bugged, well one guy, so we stopped so as not to get them all in trouble. We finished our food, then played a few songs outside before heading back to the hotel where we ran into Musa, one of the Pakistani fruit import/exporters we met at the Pakistani cafe. Actually, helped us at the laundry next door as the guys were trying to explain what they wanted. He happened to be walking by and he helped us communicate in Uighar. We played some music for him and whoever else wanted to be woken up in the hotel, before going to sleep.

Kashghar

The bus brought us to Kashghar in the morning. We checked in about bus tickets to Kyrgyzstan, then jumped on a little motorcycle with an attached wagon to get to the Chini Bagh hotel. From there Andy and Omar got some tour info about exploring the mountainous areas on the way to the Pakistan border. With that in mind for the next few days, we head out to see the old part of town. As we walked down the street, a drunken man invited us to his brother's birthday. He insisted that we join him as he was an english teacher. So I invited him to come pray with us at the Eid Ka Mosque which we were headed to. That got rid of him quick.We walked down some lanes to the old city and followed them to a row of shops with people making wood items, musical instruments and metal pots. I walked into a shop with antiques and the shopkeeper spoke to me in Urdu and English. His father had been to many countries and much of the antiques in his shop were from Pakistan. He suggested I trim my mustache, in fact he really wanted me to trim it, as he showed me how well manicured his was. He was a very friendly person, working all day in the shop, but still full of good cheer. We walked across into the best looking instrument shop and met the owner, Mohammad Abu Bakri, whose family had been making instruments for 4 or 5 generations. He had all kinds of Uighar instruments, including huge bass variations we had never seen. Andy had planned to purchase some and Omar was interested in a good drum. We sat down and started jamming with Mohammad who was very warm and happy to explain the different instruments to us, without any expactations. We started playing different songs and found that old and new Pakistani and Indian film songs were popular amongst the Uighars. He shared some songs with us and we shared a bunch with him, both playing each other's music as a crowd streamed into the shop and outside the glass window. After a while, I walked down the street as Andy and Omar kept jamming.I passed the metal workers, ate some Uighar ice cream, as we had in Urumqi, then happened upon a little barbershop. It had two barber chairs, and was run by two boys who were about fifteen at most with a number of small assistants. I sat down and little eyes all over started watching me. I waited my turn then showed an old photo and with gestures decribed I wanted a mustache trim etc. I figured I'd follow my new friend's advice. I checked to make sure that they use fresh blades etc and then let the kid do whatever he wanted. It was pretty funny, with the little assistant kids watching and helping, and getting my hair washed more thoroughly than I ever thought possible. The young barber himself was very meticulous and after a long time and lots of care, we were done. The guys were still at the shop, quite shocked to see me.We did some more music, as Andy and Omar tested out different instruments. I saw some amazing Muqaam paintings, of traditional music in a catalogue of Uighar instruments. There was a tiny little boy who kept hanging around to see us. He'd ask me something every now and then, I think asking for some money, but mostly just stood and watched. I got him to clap during one song at another shop, but he would not take the food I bought for him. I suppose the sweet little kid was probably begging for someone. We also stopped by the shop of Mohammad's younger cousin and jammed with the cousin and another boy for a few songs before they closed shop.We walked over to a beautifully decorated restaurant, where Andy amused some bald kids with a piano. They even turned off the restaurant music as he played, until some stuffed shirt made him stop playing. We ate some food, then walked back and went to see the Eid Ka Mosque which was the largest mosque in Kashghar. There was a whole open area around it with shops. We walked back to the hotel and got some sleep.

One month on the road!

To celebrate our first month of travel together, we all decided to have some stomach problems. Mike joined in a bit early, but obviously didn't feel like being a part of the team on this one, because he quit quick. Ubul's mom made some special corn gruel to help us at the family restaurant down the street. After, we spent some time outside of town by a large river. I wasn't feeling well, so I sat on one side and sketched. The rest of the guys and our taxi driver jumped in for a swim. There were all kinds of kids and adults (all male) swimming in the river. As I sketched a lane off to one side, a crowd of 15 kids crowded around to watch. When they left 15 more came by. It was pretty funny hearing their voices and picking out a few words here and there. I showed them the sketch from time to time as I worked on it. It was funny, but cool to share with the kids. After I finished, I passed it around to the kids that were around me and one gave me a "Yakshi" and a thumbs up :). We spent some more time at various spots around the river before rushing back to get our things and jump on the bus to Kashghar. Mike parted ways for a bit to do his own thing, and we'll meet up with him again in a few days. It was a pretty sad goodbye to Ubul and his family. Even with language barriers etc, we really felt close by the time we left. Particularly Ubul, who made time for us and was just so much fun to be around. He is one of the warmest, kindest and funniest people we have met on our trip, and being here with him and his amazing family has been one of the best times in the whole trip.

Khotan Day 2

I woke up early and painted a sketch of the courtyard in Ubul's home. I spent a couple of hours building it up as Ubul and his mother walked passed, checking in on my progress and working on breakfast. I could not really communicate my gratitude to Ubul's mother for her hospitality in words, but it really made me feel good to present her with the sketch as a gift once it was finished. The neighborhoods around there are very nice. They are similar to small town neighborhoods in Pakistan. Being in Xinjiang province is like being in a different country from China entirely. After cleaning up, we walked outside. A neighbor invited us in to eat some nan, and piles of watermelon and cantelope. We spoke for a while, then took off to Ubul's family restaurant. Later in the evening we walked around town, sampled some different kinds of food, went to the river, then went to the market square to look around and eat some food in the open market. After all that walking we head back for some sleep.

Arriving in Khotan!

We rolled out of bed the next day and head for the bus station next door to go to Khotan. Along the way, we passed lots of desert, stopped at a town and ate some food, before finally reaching Khotan. Once there we called a musician friend named Ubul whom we met in Beijing. His brother came to get us. We hopped in a taxi and told it to follow him to Ubul's family home. It was similar to the museum home we had seen the day before. Simple, spacious and very beautiful. We were all exhausted. He and his family brought us tea, delicious sliced watermelons and cantelopes, and a hearty soup to help us sleep. We had met Ubul during a performance at Beijing and I gave him a sketch I had done of him and Omar and he had jammed on percussion afterwards. That was it. From there to the hospitality, warmth and love that he and his family gave us was really amazing.

Cherchen and Bin Chi Leen (Ice Cream)

The next day we woke up, I went to visit my pals at the internet cafe and when the guys woke up we walked around town. We could only get tickets to Khotan for the next day, so we had another day in Cherchen. After checking out a little market where Omar and Andy bought some cool hats, we went to the ice cream place that had broken our hearts the day before. Once there we waited for a while and then ate some watered down tasting soft serve ice cream.We really amused the store owner with our enthusiasm for ice cream. After eating a few, we head over to the local museum which was housed in the former home of a local man who..um..doesn't live any more. The lady there was kinda nuts, but we saw some traditional tools, got a feel for the layout of a traditional home and saw some beautiful carpets in what remained of the household. From there we wandered around some more, asked the music store guy if there were any local musicians we could hang out with, met one who wanted to charge us lots of money to put on a show, and did not seem to understand the concept of just wanting to share music with fellow musicians, so we took off and ate at a nice restaurant.As we ate, a crowd of kids gathered and watched us. When we stepped out, we went to a general store where the lady there spoke english. We bought some ice cream as many children watched us. We sat down eating ice cream amid giggling children who had been playing outside the restaurant. The general store lady invited us to sit on some stools with her and we talked for a while about our travels. She was really kind and brought us some sliced cantaloupes.After a while, the little street tough from the previous day walked up and smacked Mike on the back. He joined us for a bit and spoke his strange street language then left. I was hoping we'd see him again. We walked around some more, then went back and slept.

Cherchen

The bus kept making stops and the lights would go on all night, so none of us got any sleep by the time we got to Cherchen at around 5am. We walked over to a hotel by the bus station and got ourselves a good rate on 2 double rooms thanks to Mike. I woke up around 11am the same day, and the guys were still getting some much needed sleep. There was no water, so I went downstairs and let the hotel owner know, with the help of my phrasebook. He got the idea and said something, but I didn't really get it. So I walked back up, hung out, went back down a couple hours later and still nothing. I could not really understand the replies, but the owner and his family were all very friendly and we smiled at not being able to understand one another. One man in the lobby asked me where I was from and when I replied Pakistan and America, he bought me a Future Cola. I asked about an internet cafe and followed directions down the street. Once there I realized I didn't have my ID on me, so I went back to get it. By then the water was back and I cleaned up before going back to the internet cafe.There is a lot of paperwork at the hotels and internet cafes whenever you sign in. Language barriers don't help this, but the girl and guy at the internet cafe very sweetly typed things into google translate in Chinese and translated their questions to English. They were very patient and polite, as many people I have found here. Another thing that I really appreciate is, even if people might look at you a bit because they don't see foreigners all the time, they still extend the exact same politeness and courtesy to you as they would any Chinese person, for the most part. There are many sweet polite things that people do, like handing you change with both hands in a very respectful manner, or saying there's no need to thank when you say thank you etc. There are many polite customs here, and it adds something good to even the smallest interactions with people.My friends met me at the internet cafe once they were ready and we set out to wander the streets of Cherchen. Andy had found some fresh sesame nan, so we got a few and munched on that. We stopped at a music store, because music always trumps food when it comes to priorities and picked up some traditional Uigher music cds. There Mike met an interesting, assertive character who shall be referred to as the Low Rider for her interesting bicycling techniques. She joined us as we explored the market, funny babies with poop ready pants, and settled down for food at a restaurant.After that we walked down the road through some neighborhoods with beautiful, ornate, wood doors and brightly painted metal ones. Along the way we met many friendly people, and walked through some corn and sunflower fields before making our way back to the hotel.There are lots of cute and funny little kids here. Often, little ones, seeing us foreigners will shout out "Haaalllooo!" with the happiest little smile you have ever seen while walking past with their moms.The little boy in the last pic of the third image met us at lunch. He played with us all during our sit at the restaurant. When we walked outside, he picked out a special booger from his nose and then hugged a leg off each of us..well except the Low Rider. He pulled away from her. She likes kids..but I'm not sure they like her :).We rested a bit, then head out to get Andy from the internet cafe and check out some music at a club with the Low Rider. The music was fun and seeing some people dance was also cool, but it was a monday night and the place was fairly empty so it lacked a certain energy.Andy, Omar and I head out to explore a little further outside. We came upon an open area full of pool tables, food stalls and people enjoying the night. We tried some iced, yoghurt flavored with sugar and pineapple juice that we added.We met a very sweet Han Chinese woman who was born in Cherchen. She explained and translated for us with the Uigher shopkeeper. She talked about how her family had moved there from across China for better economic opportunities, then also mentioned a 24 hour ice cream parlor. She had no idea how much joy that brought us. She'd probably never seen 3 grown men so excited about ice cream. We got directions, then walked over to it, only to find it open, but all out of ice cream. This was worse than the time we found the ice cream machine shop, full of wonderful ice cream dispensing machines...but no ice cream.A little broken hearted, we decided to return the following day. After a long dark walk, we got some sleep.

In Korla

In the morning we dragged ourselves out of bed for some complimentary breakfast. There were sesame breads with bean paste, eggplant, tofu, milk, vegetable dumplings etc, all very good. Next we grabbed bus tickets for the evening. That's what it's going to be like for a while, as we travel through towns, not necessarily known for points of interest, making our way west.This town is known for the oil industry. Most of the shops we saw were all selling machine parts etc. The day was somewhat relaxed. We left that night for Cherchen.

Korla

I went out to hunt down an internet cafe while the guys were sleeping. Phrase book in hand, I walked the streets, each person pointing me in the general direction until I found it. After updating some blog stuff and sending out some emails, I head back to the hotel and waited for the guys who had left in the meantime. They came back with bus tickets for that evening.

We had planned to go see a glacier that Tasawar had mentioned and we also wanted to see Tasawar again and meet up with Ubul, a drummer we had met in Beijing who was coming back to this area that day. At that point we were running low on time and could not get in touch with either, so we just relaxed for a bit then caught the bus to Korla. Thus began out turn south across the province, to eventually reach Kasghar.

The bus was very nice, and the scenery outside was breathtaking. We passed all kinds of rocky mountains, gravel trails, desert sand with rock formations poking out etc as the sun made the sky and clouds glow orange and pink as it sunk ever lower. Eventually we were driving in the dark, along a highway with virtually nothing around. We made a few stops along the way before reaching Korla in the dead of night.

There were still some general stores and hotels open. We trudged around with our backpacks, comparing prices, but ended up staying at the only place that could accept foreigners by law. I think it may be a licensing issue or something.

So, at around 2am we waited as the guy at the counter of our hotel filled out forms with our passport info...very...very...slowly.

Finally we went up to sleep, agreeing to get the passports back in the morning.