Kashgar ( China) to Naryn (Kyrgyzstan) June 2016

Dag 44. Kashgar (Kina) til Naryn (Kirgisistan) via Torugart grænsen. 352 km

Vi kørte fra vores hotel i Kashgar kl 9.30, eftersom grænsen først åbner kl 11. Vi havde en følgevogn med, hvor den nye guide var i. Nåede første del af den kinesiske grænse efter en time, og ventede så ca 1½ time der, først fordi grænsen ikke var åben, og derefter fordi guiden havde glemt nogle papirer. Denne grænse er hoved grænsen. Vores bagage blev tjekket og vi fik vores pas stemplet. Så kørte vi 100 km i kinesisk ingenmandsland, ad ikke så gode veje, hvor vi ca hver 2. km skulle forbi en kæmpe fåreflok.

The sheep on the road - Fårene på vejen

Our guide in front- Guiden foran

Halvvejs ad denne vej, kunne vi ikke længere følge med guiden, hans chauffør kørte som død og helvede. Ved den næste grænse, hvor vores stempel skulle tjekkes, var der frokost pause, så der ventede vi en time og tog en lille middagslur. Videre til sidste tjek post, som var 5 km væk. Så var vi nået den endelige grænse, som er ved Torugart passet, som ligger i 3752 meters højde.

The Kyrgyzstan border - Den Kirgisiske grænse

Så kørte vi ca 10 km i totalt ingenmandsland til den Kirgisiske grænse, hvor der igen var frokostpause, ok, her ventede vi kun 15 min. Så igennem bil tjek, pas tjek og endelig kunne vi købe forsikring og køre afsted i det Kirgisiske ingenmandsland, hold da helt op, hvor er Kirgisistan et smukt land, flotte snedækkede bjergtoppe og lavere bjerge dækket med gule og lyserøde blomster. Nå, efter 45 min kørsels nåede vi endelig sidste tjek og følte at vi endelig kunne køre frit i Kirgisistan.

Wild horses - Vilde heste

Beautiful flowers - Flotte blomster

Vi var efterhånden godt sultne, men besluttede at køre direkte til Naryn, hvor vi havde booket hotel. Vi fandt vores hotel, hyggeligt lille sted og gik en tur i byen for at hæve penge og få noget mad. 

Click on the photo to see our album
Click på billedet for at se vores album

28th June distance 352 km, driving and waiting time 11 hours

We left our hotel, at 9.30 for the border.

The time difference to Kyrgyzstan is 2 hours.

Our guide had his own car, and we just followed him, for about 1 hour to the immigration border of China. We were first in line here, so we thought no problems, this is going to be a piece of cake. Shit no. We waited patiently, for 2 hours, and every time we asked the guide, “what is happening” he answered, “waiting for paperwork”. We soon found out, that our silly guide had left a few papers back in town.

We finally got to drive through to the immigration, and all we had to remove was, a few suitcases from our car, and walk through immigration. I then had to walk back to Blackie, and drive her through.

Passports stamped, all ok, immigration ok.

This was great we thought, until we found out, that our guide and his driver had also taken their car through. He then said, “follow me” and took of like a rocket.

The guide in front - Guiden foran

We even saw a camel - Vi så også en Dromedar

Sheep, sheep, sheep - Får, får, får

Beautiful landscapes - Flot landskab

We drove at break neck speed, for the next 100 km, through mountains, Sheppard’s with silly sheep on the road, massive potholes, freezing cold and gusting winds for the next 2 hours. I kept up with our guide’s car for the first one hour, and since we had already lost Louis, we slowed down in no-man’s-land. This was the biggest mistake, as a truck coming the other way, drove through a massive puddle and splashed mud and pebbles all over our car. We finally found our guide’s car, at the next Chinese border. The Chinese had just closed it for a lunch break.

We patiently waited in our cars again, until we suddenly found out, that our guide’s car was driving, through the gate. We followed him through this Chinese check point for another 3 km, till we reached the highest point of the Torugart pass, which is 3700 m, to a final Chinese check post.

Reaching the border - På vej mod grænsen

Here again, the gate was closed, but suddenly our guide waived us through, and we were finally out of China, what a relief.

We then drove another 10 km, in no-man’s-land, to the Kyrgyzstan border.

Here, an army officer, in heavy winter clothes, got us to wait again for the next half an hour, saying lunch break. We waited patiently in our cars, while he chatted with us in biting cold and freezing temperatures. He finally opened the gate for our 2 cars, and we crawled into at makeshift hall, which was the Kyrgyzstan immigration and customs.

The process here, were pretty straight forward, and our passports were soon stamped. We bought car insurance for Kyrgyzstan, and it was nice to hear the words, ‘Welcome to Kyrgyzstan’.

Finally Kyrgyzstan - Endelig i Kigisistan

The Yurts

We again, drove for about 80 km in no-man’s-land, till we reached the final check post in Kyrgyzstan. This country is so beautiful, that we soon forgot about all the hardship we had just gone through. We were amazed, by the fantastic scenery, and mountains around us. At 12000 ft with snow capped mountains, lakes, wild horses and freezing cold we descended the Toragurt pass. At the last check point, our passports were again checked, and we were finally tourists in Kyrgyzstan.

The amazing grave yards - De flotte grav steder

Pink and yellow flowers - Pink og gule blomster

Sheep - Får

We dashed back to our heated cars, and drove through the beautiful landscape. Since there were no restaurants in this fascinating place, we decided to drive straight to our hotel in Naryn, which was again a few hours away. We reached our hotel at 6.30 pm, Kyrgyzstan time. Checked in and walked into town, for dinner, at a beautiful restaurant, which served us some great food.