USHTURFAN/WUSHI 17.4. 2007

We woke up just before six. The sun is about to rise. It was a good nights sleep. Our plan for the day was, besides getting hopefully to Ushturpan or Wushi in Chinese – to get rid of our useless guide.

We have decided to offer him one of our donkeys. As a payment. Too good of a payment for that useless guy. He accepts and tries getting our newly bought donkey saddle on top of the deal. Absolutely not. He tries to put up a scene…but realizes it is a lost battle to begin with. The shepherd is our new guide. He promised to take us to the main road, which is supposed to be just behind the mountains. Whatever that means.. At 9.20 am we are finally on the move. The morning sun casts a beautiful light over the landscape. The weather is clear. No sandstorms in sight. I n fact no sandstorms at this elevation at all. Te night was very clear and the stars ever so bright and close. Somehow this place is not the slightest romantic. It is harsh. The living here is harsh and there is no way to get away from that. I do not remember the shepherd’s name –but the sound of him having dinner will not be easily forgotten. He sat on the felt covered floor. On his knees, bowing his head towards the bowl in a specific rhythm. Every time his mouth reached the food a strange whining noise occurred just as he sucked in the food. I was totally fascinated by it. Nobody else paid attention. Must have been the most natural thing for the neighbors that turned up out of nowhere. Nobody else had that routine. Most likely they were used to it. To me it sounded like a puppy, finally getting something to eat. His voice was very gentle. Not like the other Uyghurs who speak with staccato. His eyes were green. Somehow he was in tune with this rough surrounding This whole area looks dead. Not any sign of animal life. But according to the Shepard - there are a lot of wolves and eagles…and some strange variation of pigeons. Fascinating somehow – but I want to get out of here. Not my cup of chai.. Our caravan heads in the morning sun in a northeast direction. A shortcut says the shepherd, who runs back and forth, up and down without any hesitation. We ask about the next water hole. This one, close to his house was a tiny, tiny little well. His answer is that he will show us all the secret water places along this route. Hope so. After two hours we reach a small village by a dead riverbed. This must be the graveyard of rivers. Five houses in a row. We stop a villager that us with some water. Usually water is not on the menu. It is yoghurt, bread, tea… But here it water. Only for humans though. Five minutes later we continue- heading straight for the big mountain in front of us. This is the shortcut the shepherd said - might be but the wall of rocks in front of us does not look encouraging. The path is very narrow and it is steep. Surrounded by unfriendly bushes with big spikes. Up, up it goes. Amazing how these horses can climb.’ A winding steep path- that continues for I do not know how long. The difference in elevation is after one hour of hard labor about two hundred meters. So tiresome. Amazing horses, not to mention the little donkey Adil. Adils load is quite light today. The black stallion Carl carries all the animal food - four big sacks of hay. Gustaf, with the rucksacks and Filip 2nd the rest of the stuff. This pass is on 2500 meters. Still have some two hundred meters to go up to reach the next pass. Only problem is that there is a valley in between. And our legs are not in the best of conditions after yesterdays exercise. An elevation of 2500 meters has never been a problem for neither Kristian nor me. Now with these exercises up and down steep and narrow paths with loose sand and rough stones takes its toll. And also one has to keep up with the same speed as the horses. They do not go at an even and slow pace. So it is changing tempo all the time. Tiresome. Mohammet, alias Burt (as in Reynolds) is doing well. He is strongly built and in his forties. His outfit looks out of place in these surroundings – city wear, more or less. But it does not seem to bother him. Akbar two looks a bit tired, but he is doing fine. Probably it the continuous smoking that takes it toll too. He is twenty-five and used to mountain trekking. Lee, our Chinese guy is doing fine but also he looks a bit exhausted. Kristian and Burt reach the top of this pass with Gustaf and Filip II. I was there a bit earlier with the cameras – trying to document this on video and with stills. We all take a breath and look what is ahead – not so bad. The worst part is hopefully over. An hour and a half later we are at the highest point 2705 meters above sea level. Again the same trio with G and FII takes two breaths and enjoys the scenery - Beautiful and somehow comforting. The next few hours seems to be easier. Then we suddenly hear noises and loud shouting from behind. Oh shit! Carl, with the hay load made obviously one wrong footing. That is enough to loose control. The animal rolls over… and is about to continue to roll down the mountainside, Lee who has been leading C – is almost pulled with. Luckily a big bush a few meters down is the savior. The horse stops there and like a miracle he is up on his feet within seconds. The hay sacks have done their job! A good protection since Carl seems to be ok. Lee’s hand does not seem to be in good shape. According to the expression on his face. Fifteen minutes later this by now, rugged caravan moves on. Our guide, the Shepard is the only one that looks 100% as he runs up and down these mountains. It is incredible how fast he is – one minute down there, the next far above. Most likely he has to be this skilled - that is probably the only way to keep an eye on his goats. WE continue down on a more or less smooth surface for half an hour. Then it is the usual stony road. Again on dead riverbed. Only difference from the ones before is that this one is much worse, Big and edgy stones. Your foot soles can feel every step. This river continues for hours in between two huge mountains. It gets narrower and the only comfort is that the big and very steep mountains give a nice shade. It should not be so long way before we are out of these mountains and in the valley that leads us to our goal. At least that is what we hope. The river gets narrower for every meter we take. It is kind of spooky to be in a place like this. We have our late lunch break with the usual diet; old bread, water and some canned meat. We realize that we do not have so much water left. And no waterholes yet. Everybody looks really exhausted – with the exception of the Shepard. But owe continue – only to hit a dead end half an hour later. Oh no… The river continues yes- but it is to narrow. No chance of getting through with the horses and the donkey. We have to back!... for how long? After some two hundred meters, the shepherd stops and points up. Phew… another climbing experience ahead. NO choice and up we go. On will power more or less. These horses seem to do well. That’s a comfort. Only our grey donkey is having problems. The path is too steep. After an hour of pushing and pulling. And some rolling over we finally are in the valley that leads us to the end of this exercise. We reach a Kyrgyz farm around 4 pm. They offer us some water – but not for the horses. Water is very valuable in these areas. The Shepard has decided that this is enough for him. He wants to turn back and says that it is only to follow this riverbed and we are in Ushturpan. And that we will come to the road very soon. After some arguing he continues with us. For little less than two ours. Then he refuses to go on. More arguing and we finally let him go – no idea to use energy on a lost case. Promises are promises. But not here. We continue along this very wide and dry riverbed. It seems endless. It was supposed to be a few hours walk from the Kyrgyz place. After three hours of walking in this oven without any water.. It still seems endless. We keep on walking until the sunset. Put up our camp and we all go to sleep. Next morning when we are about to continue a Kyrgyz farmer shows up. He wants to buy our donkey. That suits us well because we do not need Adil anymore. He has done his part. After wheeling and dealing we agree upon a price – only to find out that this guy does not have any money. We walk in the cool morning with great hopes of reaching Ushturpan as soon as possible. Or at least a water hole – the animals need some water very soon. The Kyrgyz man said that we have about three hours ahead. Hmm- funny how the distance gets longer and longer. After little less that two ours we reach a farm again and we decide to go there and ask for water. And lucky for us they do share their water with us. All three horses eagerly drink – only the donkey does not. Donkeys can manage up to five days without water. This farmer family says that we have about five hours to Ushturfan….. About seven hours later we reach the outskirts of Ushturfan. Totally exhausted, hungry and thirsty. Our truck waits for us there. They have fixed a good place for the horses. And the donkey. We head for the best hotel in town. Or any hotel will do.

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