Southward, towards China.

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

The sunrise from the yurts near Song Köl, the remote caravanserai of Tash Rabat.

From Song Kol to Tash Rabat, via Naryn

A practical sink located outdoors, with views of the lake and mountains, greets us in the morning; followed by the usual breakfast at 8 am to depart at 8:30 am. We retrace at least half an hour of the last stretch from yesterday to turn left onto a road suitable only for off-road vehicles; we see and sympathize with four Westerners pushing heavy bicycles on a surface that, although not presenting major inclines, is in poor condition. At a first step, the Moldo-Bel, we find ourselves facing a plateau that obstructs part of the scenic view of the valley, compensated by the relaxing view of meadows that appear to be freshly mown, with shepherd's yurts scattered at a considerable distance from each other. This leads to another one, the Mels, located further down, where the road winds through a long series of turns to descend into the valley floor. We then had a pleasant meeting with a a dense group of camels, there will be around fifteen of them, grazing along the road; a little further on, you start to see the yaks, which are smaller than the Tibetan ones, with their usual thick fur that reaches almost to the ground.

Entering Naryn is not like finding yourself needing to contact a real estate agency to buy a house: quickly built apartment blocks, seemingly defying gravity with their concrete panels, and balconies that appear as open mouths, revealing draped windows. The entrances and gardens are perfectly in harmony with the rest of the area. A feeling of tenderness mixed with admiration arises towards some residents who try to beautify these eco-housing complexes by displaying rows of flowering pots on their balconies, a sign of those who refuse to give up against such ugliness surrounding them. It should be noted that in many cases, despite the decaying exteriors that appear uninhabited, there are well-maintained and human-sized interiors where aesthetic taste can finally express itself through carpets, curtains, furniture, and decorations. The only building that has been well renovated is that of the military police, even though it's in a brutalist Soviet style, which must provide an image of power and impeccable appearance. In the urban outskirts, you can see abandoned factory or apartment buildings that were left unfinished due to changes in regime. We also see signs for the famous Intourist agency, which during the Soviet era exclusively managed the entrance and stay of foreign visitors. We probably have the best lunch of the trip at a decent but somewhat remote restaurant where they cook. lamb skewers very tender and well-seasoned. From Naryn, we head south towards our next destination, Tash Rabat, along an important paved road that serves as a transit route to China, reaching its peak at the border located on the Torugart pass at 3,752 m; given the altitude, it seems to be closed for about a month when winter conditions make passage impossible, otherwise efforts are made to keep it open as much as possible due to its strategic importance. A large portion of goods arriving from China and destined not only for Kyrgyzstan pass through here. The landscape is monotonous, with fields of grass stretching along the roadside that seems like a straight line; we see many Chinese trucks traveling in opposite directions, carrying cars or containers. About 80 km before the pass, even though it's only about 30 km as the crow flies, and therefore at the Chinese border, we turn left onto a dirt road that once represented the route of the Silk Road, where a historic caravanserai is located about ten kilometers away. Due to our proximity to the Chinese border, we needed a special permit which we had to obtain in advance and will also need tomorrow at Köl Suu. A police officer approaches us with a very friendly demeanor, we exchange a few words that we know in Russian, and take a photo together. The flora features beautiful clusters of heart-shaped flowers, almost completely faded; those that are not faded have a lovely pink color. There are also flowering herbs with green bases and yellow stems, as well as a variety of hairy plants, useful for protecting themselves from the harsh winter conditions, in clumps, and succulent plants with long spines of at least three centimeters. Tash Rabat caravanserai This place holds a special significance for us because here we essentially reconnect with the Silk Road, which ended in Kashgar when we traveled through China starting from Beijing. The sad but beautiful Uyghur city located on the border of Xinjiang is just beyond these mountains and we wonder how it has changed in these ten years, where Sinicization will have made huge strides. Talking to locals, we learn that many mosques were destroyed in an attempt to eliminate the religious component, which was a key element of the local community.

We visited the interior of the stone building, with very thick walls that make it look like a fortress, although originally in the 10th century it was supposed to be a Nestorian monastery. It is located in a useful position for those about to face the Tian Shan mountain range or who had just crossed it, finding rest in every season. Entering, you feel like you're going back centuries, with rooms for travelers, the refectory and the stable. Simply built with local stones, it manages to have an appreciable size from an architectural point of view thanks to the arches, on top of which there is a hole to let in the light.

Sunset in the Tash Rabat valley

The yurt camp is located just a few hundred meters away, towards. the sunset time the sky clears and a walk to see the valley from above, where yak are grazing, takes on a special character. As night falls, you can still hear some animals lingering in the fields and the streams that have carved their way through the grass, trying to reach the river below.