Kustam did not speak much English but he managed to tell us he had seven children and a couple of grandchildren. We had to pay him about $110 NZ for the trip as well as pay for his meals and night's accommodation at the other end. He was then free to find more fare paying passengers for his return journey. The CBT office had let other travellers know that we had hired a car and they could join us if they wanted to share the costs but no one was about when we were due to leave.
The road from Naryn to Kazarman is closed from October to late June as it is an unpaved mountainous road and can be impassable at times due to rock and mudslides.
We had to make a huge detour, as part of a bridge had collapsed and was under repair. Luckily Kustam already knew about the problem.
The road was really rough and at times on the passes we were in misty clouds. We only saw a few cars and they were well loaded up with people. Most of the cars were also Audis.
There was a lot of subsistence farming and a few state farms in the bottom of the fertile valleys.
Kustam stopped at a small town of about 600 people where he knocked on the door of a closed shop. Soon a young man came out and motioned us to come into the house. A young 21 year old mother , Natalia, greeted us in English and moved her 3 month old baby in its rocking cradle into the corner of the room. She cleaned up and set the table for lunch for us. She sliced up a huge round of home made bread and fried up some eggs from her chickens. Kustam liked to point out that everything including the salad vegetables were home grown and not from China.
Natalia said she had learnt English at her local school and we were impressed with how well she spoke. While we ate lunch the television was on ,showing a presenter talking to three musicians playing traditional musical instruments and singing local songs.
We saw four cyclists struggling up the gravel roads and four motor bikers. A convoy of German registered 4x4s also roared passed us. As we neared Kazarman we saw two hikers with huge backpacks walking towards us. If they were trying to hitch a ride they would have to be very lucky as there was not much traffic on the road and the cars we saw were well loaded up.
Kustam delivered us to the Kazarman CBT coordinator's house. Bujumal telephoned some of the other CBT homestays to find us a room but no one was available so we stayed with her. A Mercedes Sprinter van arrived at the same time as us and on board were Sam and her husband Tony, two guides and their driver. We had met them when they were photographing a switchback that we had both travelled up and stopped to look back at.
Sam worked for a travel company in Bangkok and was doing a familiarisation trip in preparation for a VIP group that was due to come through a few days later.
Bujumal settled us into our rooms and prepared dinner for us all so it was nice to sit and chat and share some of Tony's vodka. A couple in their own Landrover Defender arrived at dinnertime to join us too. She was Swiss and her partner Belgian and they were coming to the end of a six month road trip.
Bujumal was a local teacher and had a huge vegetable garden from which she sourced some of the ingredients for our plov- rice meal. We ate outside undercover while the rain gently drizzled down.
In the morning we had semolina for breakfast and John asked Sam if we could hitch a ride with them onto Jalalabad. The guides checked with their bosses and the driver with his and in the end they said it was fine as they had enough seats in the Mercedes Sprinter.
Before we could leave we had to drive around the streets looking for a tyre shop to put some air in the Sprinter tyres. Everything was closed and it took a long time to finally find someone to help out.
Next stop Jalalabad, Kyrgyzstan.
The road from Naryn to Kazarman is closed from October to late June as it is an unpaved mountainous road and can be impassable at times due to rock and mudslides.
We had to make a huge detour, as part of a bridge had collapsed and was under repair. Luckily Kustam already knew about the problem.
The road was really rough and at times on the passes we were in misty clouds. We only saw a few cars and they were well loaded up with people. Most of the cars were also Audis.
There was a lot of subsistence farming and a few state farms in the bottom of the fertile valleys.
Kustam stopped at a small town of about 600 people where he knocked on the door of a closed shop. Soon a young man came out and motioned us to come into the house. A young 21 year old mother , Natalia, greeted us in English and moved her 3 month old baby in its rocking cradle into the corner of the room. She cleaned up and set the table for lunch for us. She sliced up a huge round of home made bread and fried up some eggs from her chickens. Kustam liked to point out that everything including the salad vegetables were home grown and not from China.
Natalia said she had learnt English at her local school and we were impressed with how well she spoke. While we ate lunch the television was on ,showing a presenter talking to three musicians playing traditional musical instruments and singing local songs.
We saw four cyclists struggling up the gravel roads and four motor bikers. A convoy of German registered 4x4s also roared passed us. As we neared Kazarman we saw two hikers with huge backpacks walking towards us. If they were trying to hitch a ride they would have to be very lucky as there was not much traffic on the road and the cars we saw were well loaded up.
Kustam delivered us to the Kazarman CBT coordinator's house. Bujumal telephoned some of the other CBT homestays to find us a room but no one was available so we stayed with her. A Mercedes Sprinter van arrived at the same time as us and on board were Sam and her husband Tony, two guides and their driver. We had met them when they were photographing a switchback that we had both travelled up and stopped to look back at.
Sam worked for a travel company in Bangkok and was doing a familiarisation trip in preparation for a VIP group that was due to come through a few days later.
Bujumal settled us into our rooms and prepared dinner for us all so it was nice to sit and chat and share some of Tony's vodka. A couple in their own Landrover Defender arrived at dinnertime to join us too. She was Swiss and her partner Belgian and they were coming to the end of a six month road trip.
Bujumal was a local teacher and had a huge vegetable garden from which she sourced some of the ingredients for our plov- rice meal. We ate outside undercover while the rain gently drizzled down.
In the morning we had semolina for breakfast and John asked Sam if we could hitch a ride with them onto Jalalabad. The guides checked with their bosses and the driver with his and in the end they said it was fine as they had enough seats in the Mercedes Sprinter.
Before we could leave we had to drive around the streets looking for a tyre shop to put some air in the Sprinter tyres. Everything was closed and it took a long time to finally find someone to help out.
Next stop Jalalabad, Kyrgyzstan.
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