Kyrgyzstan – A heavenly escapade

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THE DESTINATION

Seeing new places, meeting new people from different culture can be very refreshing and enjoyable experience. It really energizes the psyche and rejuvenates the body by cleansing the sludge brewed by the stressful and demanding work life. No wonder people save money for years to afford a trip of their choice. I like to travel across places with great natural beauty and serenity. I am not keen on going to the most popular tourist places as they become too convenient to visit and with the improving conveniences the original appeal of the places recede. In this human infested world it is not easy to find a virgin spot. Well at times just an unusual destination can provide excellent escapade. This time it was Kyrgistan.

Kyrgistan was the eastern most state of old USSR bordering China on the east, Kazakhstan on the north; Tajikistan on the south and Uzbekistan on the west. It is over seventy six thousand square miles of sparsely populated mountainous terrain. Central Asia is gifted with the largest and beautiful natural lakes, the one in Kyrgistan is Ysyk Kul, the fourth deepest in the world which extends about 120km east to west and about 50 km north to south surrounded by snow capped mountains. Kyrgistan lies at the juncture of two central Asian mountain systems Tian Shan and Pamir, therefore, subject to major earthquakes. Rough mountains however, also provide mineral likes gold, uranium. Due to lack of industrialisation the economy is not so good but the environment is very clean and natural. Lake water is used for irrigation during the summer. However, even at this level of use, water level of ysyk-kul receded by about 25 to 30 ft during the last century. The springs and falls from the mountains feed the lake. The water is slightly saline.

People are ethnically of Chinese origin but mostly (70%) Muslim. This was also the eastern most part of Turkmenistan; hence Turkish influence in business and language is visible. About 4.5milion people live here. Except in summer most of the country hibernates under cold, snow and vodka.

Most of the infrastructure of this country was built during the socialist rule. People are provided with basic facilities like housing, Medicare and education but after the end of socialist era people are living with very meager monetary income. My friend worked in the eastern hill town of Karakol. The town has a university, zoo, a mosque and a Russian orthodox church. The Chinese craftsman constructed the mosque in decorative wood. The architectural style is that of a pagoda and the original structure was built without using a single nail or screw. The wooden pieces were connected using various ingenious joints only.

THE FLIGHT

It happened quite dramatically. A lost friend contacted me by email after about sixteen years. He was working with UNDP in Kyrgistan. Knowing my knack he invited me to visit him there. Fortunately timing was good; my annual leave was just due and it was springtime in cold and icy Kyrgistan. Alas! Like all good medicine traveling too have some unpleasant side effects. All veterans are aware of the typical exasperation associated with the entire travel arrangements but this was way out of line. I needed to travel via Delhi to obtain the visa from Kyrgistan embassy. There are only two flights from Delhi to Bishkek, capital of Kyrgistan, of which one is a routine flight and the other is a special one that may not always be available. I had to plan in such a way that my stay in Delhi be one day only. It may be spring in Kyrgistan in May but Delhi was baking at forty degree Celsius.

As I boarded the TU 154 aircraft of Kyrgiz airlines in Delhi, the accumulated heat from inside the plane welcomed us. Not just absence of air-conditioning, there were more surprises like they did not serve more than a glass of water during the entire flight. I suspect the crew would save some to take away for their families. Most interesting was the rear part of the aircraft that was just the deck and some people were lying and seating about. I was told that this was a cargo plane first half of which was fitted with seats and the rear was a free space. Many suggested it might not be safe to fly a TU 154 anymore as these have high history of crashes and currently maintenance is also very poor. I just believed that I am not going to die yet.

I was lucky to see the magnificent view from the plane while returning by the day flight. As we started southwards from Bishkek I saw the snow capped Kyrgiz range glowing and sparkling and then the Pamir plateau. As we passed over Karakoram Range I could also view the confluence of Tibetan glaciers forming great Indus river system. Then there was this great experience! We were flying at thirty two thousand feet and the mountain below have an average height of about fifteen thousand feet, so all along I was seeing things at about ten to fifteen thousand feet down. My eyes and the camera were glued to the window and then suddenly an awesome mountain peak almost swept by my window. The view was overwhelming and almost scared me; reacting to reflex I moved my head away. The flight route indicated that it is either the K2 (28,251ft) or the Masherbrum (26,659ft). Imagine it appeared only about three to five thousand feet below us.

Not everybody was enjoying the feast I was going through. Like Shakespeare said, “ beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”. Different people enjoy different things. Most passengers were either businessmen from India or are flying in groups to Bishkek for the carnal fun of gambling, drinking etc. and they were not even aware of the things I was enjoying. Whatever it is everyone was enjoying.

DRIVE TO HEAVEN

You need a sponsor to enter Kyrgistan; I was sponsored by the president’s secretariat, which also protected me from the hassles at the airport. I did fill up the customs declaration form in Russian basically copying from an old visitor, the other choice was to pay twenty dollars to a Kyrgyz who cannot speak English; to fill it up. It was past midnight and driver Sattar was waiting for me with an Audi to drive 400km to Karakol. It just rained here and snowed in Karakol. It was cold and dark. I could not see anything. As we drove on at times I dozed off.

Sattar kept on smoking and driving. The road was practically empty at these late hours. Sattar knew few English words and I learnt few Russian words from him. But due to his enthusiasm and my eagerness our conversations continued. The other language of Kyrgistan is Kyrgyz, which has its roots in Turkmenistan. To my surprise I found a common word in Kyrgyz. “Dost” in Kyrgyz like Bengali mean friend. For next few days Sattar became my friend, philosopher and guide and he seems to have enjoying my company. We have one thing in common I preferred the Russian and English pop songs from the radio rather than the Hindi music preferred by my friend and his family.

During the wee hours before the morning I woke up and opened my eyes. At a distance a great wavy band of whitish cloud appeared all around me. Oh! It was not cloud at all, but snowy mountaintops. It was dark so nothing else was visible. I came all this way to see and feel the snow and the ice. As if to thrill me it showed up first like an apparition. Then on my right the great lake Ysyk-kul was gradually announcing itself. I took out my camera waiting for the sunrise. As the night was disappearing this heavenly place overwhelmed me. I was at the centre of an enormous amphitheatre. The blue water at the center caressing the little green valleys extending to the taupe mountains covered by ice and snow at the distant top. The snow sparkled reflecting changing colours as the first rays from the sun touched them. The sky turned sapphire blue and the crispy fresh air welcomed me at Karakol. I knew I was in for a vacation of a lifetime.

Next few days I drove around the lakeside roads to find interesting places like babbling creeks, naughty rapids, and serene green valleys formed by the inflowing rivulets. At night I spent hours mesmerised by the aura of magic created by the silvery moonlight on the snow. A week in this wonderful land was like a long ecstatic dream. It left my soul nourished, mind and body recharged and the magnificent views will remain ever vivid in my memory.

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