Osh gosh b' gosh

I'm in Osh, the second biggest city in Kyrgyzstan.

We have just entered the country from Uzbekistan. Our three border crossings over three days went exceptionally well. We lost one rider during yesterday's border crossing. After having alerted the US embassy and the Uzbek police, he turned up at our hotel in Osh. He somehow made it to a border crossing 25km north of us and then took a cab once it grew dark. It was nerve racking, but it proved to us that we as staff are ready for just about anything.

Kyrgyzstan is a spectacular country, certainly one I will return to. The country is over 94% mountainous with the average elevation around 2,750m. There are plenty of mountains and passes. I am very excited to leave Osh and begin our four days across this country. China will be our last border crossing. It is hard to believe that we are halfway through our trip and we will soon be in China!

Slavik, our tour guide, was explaining some of the passes to us. In one area, our tour rented four yurts to sleep in. Slavik told us that we could only use one once we get there because the other three blew away during some high winds! The night time temperatures may to drop to -5C and the wind chill will be significantly lower. We have been further warned to change to offroad tires because of the poor quality roads we will encounter all the way across this country.

The guide books warn us of other perils of the road...Landslides, oncoming traffic, and drunk Russian drivers! The book recommends rear view mirrors so you can see a swerving driver both behind and in front of you. [with a Russian accent] What a country!

Our stay in Tajikistan was very pleasant. Our first day of riding brought us through a desert, river valley, and a Chinese road construction project. Apparently the Chinese are building many roads in Tajikistan. I took the opportunity to practice my Chinese with the road crew.

We are almost to our official half way point. It is hard to believe it has been nearly two months on the Silk Road. I need to take care of laundry before we start getting into the higher elevations. I hope all is going well and I will post again once I am in China!