Cycle complete!
I'd hoped it wouldn't reoccur but surprisingly after 7 months without any problem, all of a sudden my knee injury from NZ has come back to haunt me. When it struck first every rotation of the pedal was torturous and as I cycled out of Tashkent my mind flashed back to all those months ago in NZ. More in hope than anything else I thought maybe I could run it off but a whole day and 150kms later it was no better. I was taken in by a kind farmer and his family that night and when he was showing me around the farm, orchards and animals I found that I couldn't help but limp so as to avoid the strain. It wasn't looking good and so in the morning after a further 50kms I decided it was no use cycling any until it was restored to full strength. Previously this had taken a week back in Wellington and so I now envisage the same length of time, amd maybe a bit more, for it to mend itself here in Uzbekistan
After pulling in on the side of the road I wasn't having much luck trying to halt passing traffic that would be capable of carrying a bike. Strange as it would seem a man, surprisingly drunk at 9am and smelling of vodka, was also trying to hitch a lift. After 15 minutes he had managed to stop a truck full of bricks and when the driver beckoned him in I also tried my luck with him, to which he readily took me on board. Abdullah the driver appeared to be a very kind uzbek with a great smile and although he didnt speak English the journey passed of in good spirits. 3 hours later he dropped me on the edge of Samarkand and I pedalled in the last few kilometres to a hotel I had earmarked beforehand. I immediately sought out a physio or doctor and get him to examine the knee just in case it was something more serious. As it happened there was a a clinic opposite the hotel and so I managed to find a doctor to look at it. The examination proved rather difficult as nobody spoke english and so I had to rely to hand gestures to figure out what was going on, which as you can imagine turned out to be rather comical! I was sent for an xray for which nothing showed up and after looking at this the doctor concluded (I think!) that it was knee tendinitis. And so with confirmation semi complete I have resigned myself to one week of rest so that it will recover properly. I envisage the next week will involve a lot of laying up, ice and a whole stack of reading, Sherlock Holmes to be precise! I've done something similar before when I counted campervans vs cars, in NZ's remote west, but I couldn't help to pass up to prove an interesting finding here in Uzbekistan. For the non-stataticians among you I apologise however for those who enjoy useless statistics then sit back and enjoy!
I had noticed how there seemed to be a complete lack of variety in Uzbek cars and so while I cycled, for 30 minutes I endeavoured to count every car that passed me by. Here are the findings: Daewoo: 147 Chevrolet: 75 Lada: 7 Toyota: 2 Kia: 1 Nissan: 1 Clearly Daewoo and Chevrolet have won over a fairly uncontested market but why is that? If you think back to Europe there are 6 or 7 car makers which share ownership relatively evenly across most European countries. I say 'most' as there are some biased samples such as the incredible increase in BMW's as you cross into Northern Ireland, when compared with the south. Or is that just me? 😉 Anyhow one possible explanation is that Daewoo and Chevrolet readily adopted their cars so that they could use gas as fuel instead of petrol. As Uzbekistan is rich in gas and as it is fairly cheap in comparison to petrol then clearly there was a demand for it to be used as a car fuel. But who would want to put expense into modifying their cars to do this? I'm fairly sure I've bored most of ye at this stage so I'll finish up by presuming that it was because of Uzbekistans small population that meant it would not have been worthwhile for 7 car makers to spend money on modifying cars for so small a market. Instead just Daewoo and Chevrolet did so. Perhaps there are more reasons behind the stats but to figure out those I'd need to find an Uzbek who can speak English of which the statistical probability of finding someone who does is probably zero! While cycling across India I took note of some numbers which you may find interesting.
Numbers of bananas eaten: 111 Cups of Chai drunk: 77 Cheapest ice-cream: €0.06 Most ambulances seen in one day: 16 Number of punctures: 8 Cricket matches watched: 5 Nights slept in police stations: 4 Strangers who took selfies with me: Countless! It was never in the blueprint to have to voyage so far north my quest to avoid war torn Afghanistan however Kyrgyzstan came as a welcome surprise. It was my first taste of Russian influence on the saddle and it was a plesant thing to finally be in central Asia proper and to be done with problematic spicy curries and to move on to milder tastes with bread and kebabs reigning king of central Asia's menus.
When you come to Kyrgyzstan the first thing that will hit you is just how green it is. The country is literally sprawling in a soft green carpet which gives the impression of it being incredibly lush. On the grassy steppe and the rolling hills horses are widespread, and it's a regular occurance to spot skillfull men on horseback rounding up flocks of black and white sheep with such ease and experience. I must admit it made me wonder if it was a greener place than Ireland but as I thought about it, it didnt have the variety of green often seen back home, and so I've convinced myself that Ireland has won that battle. Secondly it must be noted how friendly the people are. I wouldn't have mentioned this point normally as it can be said that all places I've visited have been warm towards me however when EVERY SINGLE person waves and smiles at you as you cycle by, then you have to admit that there is something special here alright. I've been offered countless cups of chai, beds to sleep in and even a full on breakfast with horsemeat on one occasion! Food!!! Why should I leave the best till last! Cherries and tons of them abound here and they make a tasty snack at any time of the day. Just wish there was no pips! Shashlyk (Kebab) and Non (bread) are the staples here and if one needs some greens to make one feel healthy then usually whatever isserved will also come with a cucumber/tomato salad. So at least you're getting some of your 5 a day into you! But back to those kebabs, outside the front of most restaurants a charcoal bbq with several fresh kebabs will easily lure you to a chair and table from which you can order several of the delicious morsels. Generally served in 3 different ways they being; minced, beef chunks and lamb chunks each are sure to leave your stomach full and your taste buds well satisfied in the way that only a meaty barbeque can do so effectively (well for me anyway!) And is there any flaws to Kyrgyzstan.... Well its hard to think of any really. You combine all the points I've mentioned above, then throw in the unbelievable fact that it is visa free for 90 days and also contains some of the best mountain climbing ranges around. Oh now that I jog my memory there was one incident on the border on my first night which involved a drunk soldier awakening me at 4am... But that one's for another day I reckon! It's fair to say that I have had a few dodgy moments on my travels so far, most of these relating to traffic or to strangers in the night. However I doubt I will have few more unwelcome scenarios then the one I had on the Karakoram Highway in Northern Pakistan. When I mention the latter part of the previous sentence I imagine you'll be thinking it has something to do with terrorism or the like, however the fright was more to do with the elements than anything else.
The Karakoram is a wonderful, scenic tarmaced road which links northern Pakistan with north western China, however every year it is subject to some of the worst landslides worldwide. This year most of these were as a result of unusually heavy rains in April when the whole highway was shut for over a week with 100 reported landslides. Two weeks after these were cleared I ventured up the highway on the bike, witnessing the remnants of old landslides alongside some fresh ones. The weather that day was misty drizzle, much like we are accustomed to getting in Ireland. It was about mid morning when the incident occured. Cycling beside a towering cliff face with loose rock, without warning I see a flash of rock, smash just one foot in front of me, banging the railing and thundering down the ravine to my right. The thud was so loud that I let off quiet a shout and then fearing further rockfalls I absolutely pedalled for my life for the next 5 minutes! I reckoned with its size that it must have weighed about 20 kilo Quick glances behind showed more loose rock falling at a tremendous pace although none as large as the first rock which smashed in front of me. Thankfully there were no more calls as close as that one but it left a deep impression on me as to what could have been if I'd been a second or two faster, and I felt extremely grateful to God that it had not hit me or the bike. Maybe it was just me but I had always imagined that landslides moved rather slowly, but boy that rock certainly was anything but! If it had hit me on the head I was certainly a dead man. Anywhere else on my body and it would have left a crushed arm or leg. Hitting the bike would probably have resulted in serious damage to it, not to mind the resulting fall that would have ensued. Thankfully the fright was short lived, but it did make me appreciate how difficult it must be for locals who face this danger for many months of the year. |
The AuthorName: Daniel Ross Top Tips:
1. Constantly challenge yourself. 2. If you never try you'll never know what's possible. Archives
October 2016
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