Vomit, Vermin, and Variety

Today we arrived back from Karakol lake, some 200 kilometers south of Kashgar, and on the road to Pakistan (1/2 day journey further south). Before we left Sara's tummy was in all kinds of fits and we almost didn't go. It was Sara's decision what to do and she left it till the last possible second. With 12 minutes before the bus departed we took are belongings checked out of our hotel, took a taxi across town, and found the correct bus, paid extra for heavy luggage and took the final two seats at the back of the bus. We felt like we were in the Amazing Race. Side note there is an Asia Amazing Race with a Phil lookalike. The bus ride took forever to get started it seemed. After racing hard for 15 minutes we were tortured to a 20 minute fill up of the gas tank and two stops for food the first lasting 10 minutes, while the second lasting almost 45 minutes. All this within the first 1.5 hours of travel. Then up into the mountains we went. The highway had been replaced relatively recently but parts had already been swept into the torent river below and rocks littered the pavement in some sections. Everywhere along the route wire baskets were being constructed to try and keep the river from dragging the road into it. The bus driver navigated with one hand on the horn and the other frantically changing gears in some vain attempt to make up for all the time at the rest stops. I keep my thoughts on irrational fears such as the "Godfather" type character sitting infront of us with his family who was in my mind going to be the subject of an armed assult upon the bus. The driver's one hand was on the horn so to let oncoming traffic know we weren't even partly in our own lane. On numerous occasions I reached for something to stop the slingshot effect as we rocketed through and up the mountains following the river. About an hour in we stopped for a police check where the first batch of vomit from a small girl was cleaned from the aisle. Back on the bus and up the valley we went. At one spot we drove directly towards a 500+ foot cliff that rose directly from the canyon bottom and then proceeded to drive under it. And then after 3 hours of being on the bus we crested a bolder strewn pass into a wide valley with a lazy river and green valley bottom. Yaks, camels, goats, and sheep could be seen with their shepards. At the edge of this valley was a desert like rolling hills and even some sand dunes that rose to glacier and snow covered 6000+ meter peaks. Another hour up this wide valley and we arrived at Karakol lake, not before the little girl had emptied her stomach for the second time.

Off the bus and we were instantly hounded by about 5 men trying to get us to stay with them. We decided which direction we wanted to go and all but one of the men left us for the two Danish guys. Our guy led us to a traditional Kyrgzystan yurt beside the road. We went in and it was clean enough with carpets covering a dirt floor. The local english speak arrived to lay out the prices, what we wanted for dinner, and if we wanted a camel or horse ride. We decided on no camel or horse and that we wanted to just walk around the lake today. After we (tyson) drank some tea that they had offered we were off to go walk around. We were amazed at how big the mountains were and how they were not like the rocky mountains at all, they reminded Sara as the mountains she use to draw as a child with constantly high peaks in a zig zag way. The lake was not as nice as Namsto but the mountains were better then in Tibet. They were laced with snow that looked almost fresh. After coming face to face with camels and yaks so that Tyson could take pictures we stopped for a little lunch break of bread and some pastery like thing that was amazingly tasty. We had a little nap on the shore of the lake, and then got up and walked around for some more. At this point the wind was picking up so we decided to turn around and walk back to our yurt and dinner was soon to be had.

When we arrived from our walk, within a couple of minutes the lady who's husband had brought us to this yurt had offered us to get warm and come into thier families yurt. We were a bit chilly so decided to do this. While we warmed up there were 2 little kids, and one sleeping who were just playing around and doing their thing, they didn't looked phased by us one bit. We watched the lady prepare and cook dinner (which was amazing for some reason, it just tasted so good) it was rice, potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes in this pressure cooker pot that was all thrown together... it was the best tasting rice we had had since being in China.. and we have eaten alot of rice!! Before dinner, the lady tried to sell us things that she had in her home, and tourist things as well, we looked at them and bought some necklaces for really cheap, we felt this was how they made thier living so we didn't mind buying something small. After a dinner, the smallest child woke up and was very confused about us and why we were in his yurt. He was about 2.5 and really cute. We gave him a bouncy ball and he seemd a little less tense after that. We learnt some Kyrg language that we now already forget, and we talked about our families with some language barriers but for the most part we all understood. We showed them pictures of our families and talked about ages of people, and things of that nature. They offered to sell us some hats made from real fur, but Sara was feeling apprehensive for real fur isn't really her thing, and we wouldn't be able to get them accross the boarder into kyrgyzstan anyways. We graciously thanked them, and tried to explain that we couldn't buy them. After some fun picture taking, and learning more words, we decided to catch the sunset. There was a big cloud in front of the large mountain that wouldn't blow away, but even so we did manage to get some good sun setting light for photos. Once the sun was down we retreated to our Yurt for our sleep. It was much better then sleeping in the metal shed at Namtso, much warmer, still cold, but we had alot more heavy home made blankets and there was no dogs barking, just peace and quiet.

Tyson got up in the morning, Sara was not going to move from her warm blanket, and took some pictures of the sunrise. Which he then climbed back into bed after and fell back asleep for another hour or so. We wanted to walk around the lake more in the morning, but to our suprize the bus was an hour earlier then we had told it would be. Tyson was in the middle of drinking his tea, but we were rushed to get our stuff and load onto the bus.

Saga 2 of the puking diaries. The bus ride started ok, there was only one little kid and he didnt look sick so we figured good, should be fine.. wrong. About 30 minutes in, our first puke victim occured outside the window.. Anyone who knows Sara, knows that her and puke, or hearing puke or anything of the like don't mix. So she closed her eyes, had one headphone in, while Tyson had the other headphone in from the mp3 player and she closed her eyes and covered her other ear to muffle the sounds of the puke. So we continued along the windy mountain passes, up and down, and all around, and within another 20 minutes our second puke victim occurred, this time a different man who was thrown from his seat, to the nearest window seat so that he could do his buisness. To make a long gross story short 4 people puked on the way down, we were not hit, and most ended up outsie the bus, much to the anger of the bus driver who had to wipe it off. So neadless to say, mountains are beautiful, getting to them is not!! This tops the worse bus ride Sara has ever had!!!

We arrived back in Kashgar and went back to the Quinwak hotel where we had stayed before. The guy at the counter who wouldn't give us a better price last time we tried to check in was there again. We argued with him that we had paid 100 Yuan at his hotel before and wanted the same. He relucantly gave in. We went to our room to find the air conditioner and TV not working. They said they would get a guy in to fix the air conditioning in an hour, but the TV was a no go. While we don't speak Chinese or watch large amounts of TV, it is nice to watch some sports from time to time. So we requested a got a room change to a room that stank of mildew. This would not do so we went to the front and demanded nicely another room. They were out of single rooms and were not willing to give us a double (they said they were out, but the ledger infront of him said otherwise) So we said we would leave and asked for our money back and a taxi to another hotel. Slowely our money came out, and we went and collected our bags. The staff were completely unhelpful by this point. We gave our recipit in and asked for them to pay for our taxi since they promised us a room with working features that they hadn't delivered. The vermin at the front refused and we (tyson and him) got in a bit of a yelling match infront of the hotel. I feel if you sell me something that doesn't work you not only owe me my money back but are inclined to compensate me for my 2 hours and frustration. NO was all we got, for 5 Yuan or 75 cents. I may try and speak to the other front guy tomorrow morning about my issue, and if we do not recieve an apology will be writting poor things (and rightfully so) in Thorntree and other travelling websites. Anyways we've settled into a not so nice hotel at the same price and now it is time for dinner with Sprites.

(Sara is really hungry so pictures will have to wait until tomorrow)

Tyson and Sara (Sara wrote the middle)