Bishkek 3: Ala Archa Park

After parting ways with Devin and Sara in Osh, I did one of the scariest things of my life: I took a plane ride in Kyrgyzstan. It seemed worth an extra $20 to take a 1 hour plane ride, rather than a 10 hour taxi ride up to Bishkek. Then I saw the plane. It was an old Yak 40 or similar Soviet model from the 70's or earlier that fit about 40-50 people. Before takeof, I decided I should base my level of concern on the people around me. The old couple across the aisle were tranquil and relaxed, in fact I think the guy was sleeping already. This made eased my mind until we started down the runway and as we picked up speed and the plane began to shake and the guy next to me (who, judging by his elbow in my ribs, apparently had no concept of personal space) sat bolt upright and grabbed the armrest with the intensity of someone who senses imminent death. "Shit" I thought "at least it's a cool story for the obits."
The flight went well and I obviously didn't die. We got into Bishkek late and I took a taxi to the only hotel I knew of, the Alpinist. The cost of the room was more than I'd spent on rooms for the whole trip... but it had a real shower and a soft queen sized bed, so I couldn't resist.
The next was rainy, so I got a hold of Frieder, my German buddy, and planned to meet him at his place. Then I wandered around Bishkek for a few hours. It's actually a very small city and there is not much to do.
Later I met Arriana, the office manager of the Alpine Fund, and she showed me their gear garage. I was heading to Ala Archa Park the next day for two nights and we made a plan for someone from the AF to pick me up when I got back down.
Ala Archa is a 40 minute drive from Bishkek and an alpine wonderland. It has been a national park since the seventies and was used as a training and competion venue for Soviet alpinists long before that. A 3-4 hour hike, 5 kilometers, takes you up through snow to the Ratzek Hut, 3200m. It's a a surprisingly large hut with several bunk rooms. Out back are some smaller huts for members of the Kyrgyz Alpine Club. The hut host invited me in to share tea and a smoke. His English was slightly better than my Russian, meaning he knew 20 words to my 10. We pointed out questions in his phrase book and would try to communicate and answer. It was fun. Later I retired to my bunk to read some Herman Hesse and sleep. The next day I followed a boot pack up the snow covered moraine into the most amazing alpine cirque I've seen. 14,000'-15,000' granite peaks with endless rock, ice and mixed routes. And that was just one of the cirques... and I didn't even go into the heart of it. This place blew my mind. At this point my kne was getting tired and hyperextending in a painful way, so headed back down to the hut. It was a beautiful day, clear and cool. I forgot my sunglasses and woke up the next morning with sunburned eyelids... and I call myself an outdoor professional, ha. The next morning I headed back down and caught my ride to Bishkek.
I had two days left but nothing to do, so I just wandered the streets of Bishkek and stopped ny the Alpine Club to say hi.
I finally got hassled by cops in the Osh bazzaar. Everyone had been warning of the police, saying they would ask for you passport and then require that you pay to get it back. Armed with this knowlege I made sure to give them a copy of my passport. Only thing was, I didn't have a copy of my visa. They didn't like this, or rather they used it as an excuse to search me. But they didn't find my passport or my money that I had hidden in me and eventually they just let me go. I guess it wouldn't have been real Kyrgyz travel experience if I didn't get hassled at least once.
I caught my flight at 6:30 the next morning, laid over in Moscow for 8 hours, then landed in NYC where my buddy Tim picked me up. We had a few beers and a pizza... I love America. Then I met up with my step-brother Adley for a couple more rounds and it was off to bed.
Caught my plane at 7 am and landed in Seattle at noon.
Trip's done and I'm back to reality, if you call living out of your car while searching for an apartment in Bellingham reality.
Hope you enjoyed the reports. Thanks for reading.
I'm out.

Dan