Tag Archives: Osh

Osh to Sary-Tash

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We left Osh in the early afternoon after the last à la carte meal for the following days (horse steak anyone with grilled vegetables anyone?).

Today we had a mere 185km on fairly reasonable roads ahead of us. However we were also looking ahead of quiet a climb … from Osh at just 960m above sea level up to the day’s destination Sary-Tash at an elevation of 3170m. To get there we even had to go higher – passing the Taldyk Pass at 3615m.

The climb could certainly be felt on the way with the temperatures slowly falling and the outside moving more and more to the less hospitable side. Initially we were looking at fertile land with loads of green and settlements – eventually the surroundings got more rocky, with grass being pretty much the only green around.

Also for us things were now turning more basic … as – for the next nights – we were now looking at homestays, guesthouses or simple hotels for accommodation. The days of flush toilets, reliable hot showers and without noodle soup were clearly numbered.

Exploring Osh

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We made it into the city of Osh, at around 250,000 inhabitants Kyrgyztan’s second biggest city (after – of course – Bishkek).

We had a couple of hours to kill before meeting up again for dinner. I ended up doing a walk around some of the town’s sights together with some folks from the group.

We first headed South along Lenin Avenue towards the square with a Lenin statue, as  well as the Kyrgyz flag – straight in front of the building of the city and county administration.

From here it was downtown. We made it to the Archaeological Museum, which featured an interesting collection of – well – everything … from artifacts from the stone ages to more recent mementos from Soviet times. It felt a bit, as if we were the only visitors of the day.

With Osh’s main attractions (i.e. Peak Sulayman-Too and the market) being included for the following day, we decided, that it was time to finally get an introduction to the Baltika numbering scheme (in other words: we had a pre-dinner drink).

Toktogul to Osh

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Today we had a distance of 330km ahead of us, we started along the lake until we got to the dam and the power plant; we now did follow the river, to finally hit the border to Uzbekistan.

We continued along the border and eventually made it to the city of Jalal-Abad, where we had a late lunch. We were now looking into an uneventful, postprandial ride to Osh, where we arrived in the late afternoon.