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.
