{"id":447,"date":"2012-05-14T09:53:41","date_gmt":"2012-05-14T01:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/le-mckernan.com\/?p=447"},"modified":"2015-03-28T00:57:07","modified_gmt":"2015-03-27T16:57:07","slug":"post-placeholder-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/le-mckernan.com\/?p=447","title":{"rendered":"Central Asia – Along the Silk Route 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"
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at Song Kul Lake, Kyrgyzstan<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2009, we were inspired to travel along the Silk Route after reading an interesting article in the Financial Times about a group that travelled across\u00a0the Pamirs in Tajikistan on horseback. \u00a0Whilst we were fascinated with the idea of traversing the Silk Road on horseback, both Bruce and I knew that this would be particularly ambitious since neither Bruce nor I could competently ride a horse.\u00a0 So as a compromise, we selected an itinerary that had some riding (and in the interim, we taking riding lessons before the trip)\u00a0but that the trip would be heavily weighted towards experiencing the\u00a0cultural and historical aspect of the region.\u00a0 And from that one news article, the seed for our 2010 Silk Road odyssey was sown.<\/p>\n

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Map from the traveller’s pack – courtesy of\u00a0Wild Frontiers UK.<\/strong> \u00a0(However, please note that we would NOT<\/span> recommend travelling with Wild Frontiers UK)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The above map shows the planned\u00a0route.\u00a0 Unfortunately, due to political unrests and the\u00a0humanitarian crisis in the Fergana Valley (and in particular, in Osh), our trip had to be amended to bypass this area. \u00a0As such, the alteration resulted in days lost in avoiding\u00a0the restive region and consequently, Dushanbe was dropped from the itinerary. \u00a0But that was not the only complication\u00a0— getting to the starting point was tricky as there were no direct flights from Hong Kong to Bishkek. Our actual route was: \u00a0Hong Kong —>\u00a0\u00a0Seoul (overnight stopover) –>\u00a0\u00a0Tashkent, Uzbekistan (overnight stopover) –>\u00a0Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.<\/p>\n

From there, our 21-days trip took us from Bishkek –>\u00a0Song Kul Lake\u00a0–>\u00a0Tash Rabat –>\u00a0Kashgar (along the Torugart Pass into China) –>\u00a0Naryn, Kyrgyzstan –>\u00a0\u00a0Bishkek –> (flight to)\u00a0Tashkent and then we drove thru the safe parts of the Fergana Valley (bypassing Osh) –>\u00a0\u00a0Kokand, Tajikistan –> Khodjent –>\u00a0Panjikent –>\u00a0Samarkand, Uzbekistan –> \u00a0Bukhara –>\u00a0Khiva –> Tashkent –> Seoul –> Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

Our first stopover in Tashkent<\/strong> was an eye-opener to life in an ex-Soviet republic.\u00a0 We were warned beforehand that the Uzbek custom officials can be ‘particular’ and thus we had to declare every single bit of our electronics as well as account for all of our foreign currencies to the pennies on our entry form otherwise we risk trouble when departing.\u00a0 Fortunately, we had no problems when we made our connecting flight to Bishkek the next morning, but, we have heard of horror stories about customs officials challenging people for the silliest things — in one case, a couple had their their wedding rings challenged because these were not declared when entering the country!<\/p>\n

Changing money was also another interesting experience.\u00a0 At the hotel, there were\u00a0signs everywhere reminding tourists that it was\u00a0illegal to change money anywhere except from a Uzbek bank.\u00a0 But, the moment the baggage boy helped us with our luggage into our room, he offered to exchange money and his rate was\u00a0better than the bank’s rate. \u00a0Mindful of the warnings, we’d politely declined. \u00a0 It was quite fortunate that we did decline because we later discovered that at the current rate, US$100 yielded two brick-sized wad of local currency.\u00a0 Impossible to fit discretely in a wallet or in our travel pouches, the local currency was transported around in big Ziploc bags.\u00a0 But, after a day of sightseeing plus dinner and drinks, we only had a few Uzbek sum left.\u00a0 To our surprise, we found it impossible to use the last of our Uzbek sums at the Tashkent Airport!\u00a0 The hunger for foreign currency was such that the Uzbekistan International Airport refused to accept it’s own local currency and thus if we wanted to purchase water, etc. then we had to pay for it in either US dollars or euros.<\/p>\n

The other interesting observation about changing money in Central Asia (not just in Uzbekistan) was that the money changer will only accept crisp, clean foreign bills.\u00a0 Any rips, marks or excessive folds in the currency resulted in the money changer refusing to accept it. \u00a0And, \u00a0whilst there was only one official published exchange rate, in practice, there were many official rates based on the size of the denomination exchanged — the lower the denomination, the poorer the exchange rate and conversely, \u00a0the higher the denomination, the better the exchange rate. \u00a0In other words, 5 twenty dollar bills have\u00a0a relatively poorer rate than 2 fifty dollar notes.\u00a0 As such and contrary to conventional wisdom, for travel to Central Asia, it was preferable to travel with the largest possible denomination of foreign currency.<\/p>\n

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Bishkek – Central Square<\/p><\/div>\n

We had a day to ourselves in Bishkek<\/strong> before meeting up with our travel group.\u00a0 Coming from Hong Kong where the weather is typically hot, humid and sky overcast (due mostly to the terrible air pollution), we were overjoyed to be bathed in blue skies and crisp, clean and cool weather.\u00a0\u00a0 The task we’d set for ourselves that day was to explore the city by foot and to find Lenin’s statue.\u00a0 After the fall of the Soviet regime, Lenin was moved from the his prime real estate and relegated to a less prominent position somewhere in the city.\u00a0 Armed with a map and good walking shoes, we’d started our exploration.\u00a0 After a few hours and a few misdirections, we finally found him — he’s now in the same square as the American University!<\/p>\n

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The next day, we meet our travel group and before setting off to rural Kyrgyzstan in a zill (an indestructible Soviet truck converted into a people carrier), we needed to pick up some essential supplies.\u00a0 First stop was the Osh Market<\/strong>.\u00a0 And, the Lonely Planet<\/strong> was completely\u00a0accurate about the corrupt\u00a0plain-clothed policemen on patrol at Osh Market.\u00a0 No sooner had Bruce taken 30 steps into Osh Market, someone grabbed his sleeve and demanded to see his passport.\u00a0 This was the beginning of a shakedown.\u00a0 Fortunately for us, our local travel guide was nearby and came to our rescue.\u00a0 The first step was to politely but firmly refuse to hand over Bruce’s passport and then politely and firmly refuse to ‘follow him’.\u00a0 The plain-clothed policeman wasn’t going to easily give up on his shakedown.\u00a0 So, the next step was for our guide to go on the offensive — our local guide then demanded to speak to the policeman’s superior officer.\u00a0 By this time, a small crowd started to gather around us. Using the power of the public attention, the local guide then shamed the policeman by asking him why he was targeting tourists especially given that tourists were presently very scarce at the moment (due to a recent violent uprising) and as a result he was hurting national interests.\u00a0 At this point, the police relented and Bruce was ‘released’.\u00a0\u00a0 Needless to say, we hoofed out of Osh Market ASAP.<\/p>\n

Before setting off on our road trip along the Silk Route, we needed a cultural hit and thus visited the National Museum.\u00a0 The\u00a0 Soviet propaganda from a bygone period was the highlight of the museum’s treasure.\u00a0 In particular, in the photograph below, it’s is said that the cowboy riding the missile is an avatar of Ronald Reagan!<\/p>\n

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The Kyrgyzstan countryside was as varied as it was beautiful.\u00a0 At times, the field of sunflowers evoked Provence, France.\u00a0 At other times, the Tian Shan mountain range brought back memories of Switzerland.\u00a0 But the occassional farmer’s market alongside the road was pure Central Asia — and the melons from this region were some of the finest (juicest and sweetest) melons we’ve ever tasted!<\/p>\n

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Traveling in a zill was an unforgettable experience.\u00a0 It’s difficult to express in words what it is like to ride in one of these (other than you need to have a strong constitution and no history of back pain). In lieu of words, there is a short video clip — please click on the below image to access the video.\u00a0 Whilst a zill was a characterful form of transportation, it was unfortunately slower relative to 4x4s and thus we spent hours (and hours and hours) in\u00a0it.\u00a0 The advantage with the zill was that we could go off-road (if necessary), but, the trade-off was that we spent more time in transit than really necessary.<\/p>\n

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Video – 43 seconds – external link to Facebook<\/p><\/div>\n

After a full day in the zill, we finally arrived at our destination at Song Kul Lake<\/strong> in central Kyrgyzstan. For several days, we stayed with a local family in one of their yurts.\u00a0 Nights in the central open plain were amazing — there was absolutely no light pollution and thus we saw the clearest and most remarkable starscape.\u00a0 And although it was August, a wood-burning stove was lit in each yurt for warmth.\u00a0 The smell of wood-fire always take me back to memories of Christmas in Yorkshire.\u00a0 And, so it was that on a cold summer’s night in Central Asia, I laid in bed thinking of mulled spiced wine, minced pies and other delights associated with XMAS. Surreal.<\/p>\n

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The sunrise that morning was glorious — the lake blazed in golden light.\u00a0 As we chowed down breakfast (local yoghurt, bread, jam and coffee), the family prepared their horses for us.\u00a0 This day was the culimation of one year of horse riding lessons almost every Saturday whilst in Hong Kong (at www.ceec.hk). As complete novice riders, we knew that it would be foolish to try to ride a horse for the first time in Central Asia so we started taking lessons one year out.\u00a0 And, that decision paid dividends.\u00a0 Although the horses were placid and agreeable, the terrain and the remoteness of the location meant that we had to be confident and competent riders.<\/p>\n

Once we returned from our day out exploring the area on horseback, the family that hosted us invited the locals over to demonstrate and showcase their national games including: horse wrestling, picking up parcels from the ground whilst in trot, wrestling, and ‘kidnap the bride’.<\/p>\n

Krygyz horse wrestling does not simply involve pulling your opponent off his horse.\u00a0 (That would be too simple.)\u00a0 The wrestlers use their horse’s heads to literally head-butt their opponent whilst at the same time the men would punch, whip, and pull at each other until the opponent is off his horse!<\/p>\n

To win at the parcel game, the rider must have amazing dexterity as he rides his horse whilst concurrently hanging off his horse in order to pick up a small parcel from the ground.<\/p>\n

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\"Kyrgyzstan\"<\/p>\n

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And, in ‘kidnap the bride’, the female has a head start. And if she manages to out-race her pursuer, then in round 2, she gets to whip her pursuer (assuming of course that she can catch him)!\u00a0 Although there was a fair amount of merriment in watching this game, ‘kidnapped bride’ is not something to be taken lightly as it is a present day threat for many women as it is still very prevalent in Central Asia.\u00a0 In fact, our hostess herself was once a kidnapped bride.\u00a0 Telling her story, she admitted that at first she was deeply unhappy as she was taken away against her will and not permitted to see her family until much, much later.\u00a0 But, after a few years, she came to the realization that she “married a good man” and thus she began to love him.\u00a0 Interestingly, when we asked the host (i.e. ‘the kidnapper’) what he would do if HIS<\/em> daughter became a kidnapped bride, he admitted that he would not like it at all and that he would do his utmost to stop it from happening.\u00a0 It’s difficult for us to be objective here as this is not part of our culture.\u00a0 But, looking at the family, they seem to be happy and content (they have two lovely children — a girl and boy).<\/p>\n

\"LeMc6222\"<\/p>\n

\"boys<\/p>\n

After the horse games, the local boys demonstrated to us their skill and dexterity in wrestling.\u00a0 And, to conclude the festivities that evening …. VODKA!\u00a0 During the vodka celebration, I noticed that whilst the local men accepted the women in our group as ‘Western Women’ and therefore different, the men were still vry traditional and not comfortable shaking the women’s hands when leaving.\u00a0 Instead, the women got a polite nod for ‘goodbye’ from the local men.\u00a0 But, the Western Women got double kisses on the cheeks from the local women (which the Western Men didn’t get !!!) so, in the end,I think that the Western Women got the\u00a0better deal!<\/p>\n

After a few days at Song Kul Lake, it was time to hop back onto the zill for Tash Rabat<\/strong> — famed for it’s caravanserai which is half-embedded into a hillside.\u00a0 According to the Lonely Planet, “local sources say it dates from the 15th century, although some sources say the site dates from the 10th century when it was a Christian monastery.\u00a0 Either way, historians agree that at one time Tash Rabat must have had significant Silk Road political and trade importance to justify the investment of the labour required for its construction”.<\/p>\n

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Tash Rabat Caravanserai<\/p><\/div>\n

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Tash Rabat Caravanserai<\/p><\/div>\n

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We stayed with the local ground keeper and his lovely family.\u00a0 The family had a small house and thus our meals were taken indoor (instead of from a dining yurt).\u00a0 As they had a working kitchen, the food was more varied and I vividly remembered a particularly delicious garlic eggplant mash with warm flat bread.<\/p>\n

In addition to earning an income looking after the caravanserai and for hosting tourists, the family also produced wool and felt.\u00a0 During the winter when there are no tourists, the family produced wool slippers, wool mats, felt wall hangings, etc to sell to the summer tourists.<\/p>\n

Sadly, our 2 nights at Tash Rabat was our last time in a yurt.\u00a0 From this point onwards, we would be in either hotels or homestays.\u00a0 A yurtstay is not for everyone as the amenities are very basis.\u00a0 But, we loved it.\u00a0 If the yurt is carpeted, then it is customary to leave your shoes outside, or, inside but by the wood-stove.\u00a0 Our sleeping arrangements were communal with the women in one yurt and the men in another. Each yurt is purpose-specific so there is one for sleeping and a separate one for eating.<\/p>\n

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Saying goodbye to Tash Rabat and the yurts, we’d hopped into the zill to reach the Kyrgyz-China border.\u00a0 We spent most of that morning traversing the Torugart Pass<\/strong> before reaching the border.\u00a0 Given Torugart’s reputation as one of Asia’s most unpredicatable border crossing, we were pleasantly surprised at getting thru border control without any hassle.\u00a0 But the border crossing meant that we had to exchange the zill for a mini-bus at the Chinese border as the zill could not cross.<\/p>\n

It is often said that Kashgar<\/strong> is a tale of 2 people — the local Uyghur and the Han Chinese.\u00a0 This saying is deeply rooted in truth as there were many times that I had to remind myself that I was actually in China.<\/p>\n

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yes … this _IS_ from China<\/p><\/div>\n

Although this is a politically sensitive region, we had no problems walking the streets and markets.\u00a0 And, once, when we walked thru Old Kashgar we were invited by a family to tea in their courtyard. \u00a0Although we were complete strangers, the code of hospitality was particularly strong and we were completely welcomed by this lovely family. \u00a0But the best memories of Kashgar was from the evening we ditched our group and elected to roam the streets of Old Kashgar under our own steam.\u00a0 What was particularly memorable was when Bruce and I purchased some hot buns from a food cart and as we were walking down the street munching away on our food, a man on a Vespa-like motorcycle came from behind us beeping his horns.\u00a0 When he got our attention, he said something to us that we could not understand and then handed to us a bag full of these buns.\u00a0 He then gave us a nod and then drove back in the direction he came.\u00a0 We were completely baffled but could only surmised that the food seller must have over-charged us originally.\u00a0 Either out of guilt, or, shamed by his friends, the food seller then sent his mate to find us and give us this bag full of hot buns.<\/p>\n

Videos from Kashgar:<\/p>\n

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Video – Pursuit of Dumplings – connect to external site Facebook<\/p><\/div>\n

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Video – Kashgar streetlife at night – external link to Facebook<\/p><\/div>\n

Sadly, the glimpses of Old Kashgar that we saw will soon be relegated to history as the local authorities are pursuing a wholescale forced<\/em> refurbishment<\/em> of the area.\u00a0 In place of the traditional low-rise houses with a courtyard as the heart of each home, the Uyghurs will be rehoused to modern apartment blocks.\u00a0 The government says that this is for the good of the Uyghurs, but, the Uyghurs disagreed. \u00a0Our local guide advised us that the apartments are viewed as nothing more than cell blocks. \u00a0The security cameras (to protect them) could be used to monitor the locals. \u00a0And more importantly, without a courtyard for their animals, these new apartment blocks are the death knell to the Uyghur’s traditional lifestyle.<\/p>\n

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We were exceptionally fortunate to be in Kashgar on a Sunday as this enabled us to visit the famed Sunday Market.\u00a0 Enroute to the market, we saw all sorts of vehicles transporting livestocks on the highway.\u00a0 Although never cruel, the treatment of the animals at the market can be discomforting to those who are accustomed to Western animal welfare practices.<\/p>\n

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After Kashgar, we had to recross the Torugart Pass enroute to Bishkek (via Naryn).\u00a0\u00a0 Succinctly, we had an ‘interesting’ border crossing.\u00a0 (I’ll save the details of this border crossing for another blog at another time.)\u00a0 The next 2 days was a blur as we were in the zill racing\u00a0to get to Bishkek for our flight to Tashkent.\u00a0 The original plan to visit Osh and the surrounding area was scuppered as the area was deemed unsafe for foreign visitors.\u00a0 And, that was a major disappointment for us because we wanted to experience as much of Kyrgyzstan as possible — but not from the window of a zill.<\/p>\n

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Once we landed into Uzbekistan, everything was also a blur as the ground crew bundled us into a caravan of cars and drove like maniacs to get us to our next destination in Tajikistan<\/strong>.\u00a0 Although we’ve been in ‘fast and furious’ car situations before\u00a0 — i.e., in India (but there is an element of “organized chaos” on Indian roads) and in Turkey (crazy, crazy taxi drivers!!!)\u00a0 — \u00a0 the situation in Uzbekistan was one of just pure manic driving.\u00a0 Fortunately, our car had functioning seat belts.\u00a0 (Unlike the time when we were in Cambodia — our taxi driver noticed our discomfort when we’d realized that the seat belts were not working and he said — and this is a direct quote — \u00a0“don’t worry … if we crash, we will crash slowly”<\/em> !!!) \u00a0 At the first pit stop, we had a quiet word with our tour leader and she then had a word with the drivers.\u00a0 From then onwards, the drivers drove a bit more responsibly.<\/p>\n

The border crossing from Uzbekistan to Tajikistan was staff with young men (boys?) with guns.\u00a0 Fortunately, these boys were sweet — they even tried to flirt with some of the ladies in our group.\u00a0 But, I think we had the last laugh — one of the ladies in our group is an ex-SAS soldier and therefore knew an unloaded gun when she saw one — but we didn’t let the boys\u00a0know that we knew.\u00a0 First, that would have pricked at their pride, and second, it would not have helped us cross the border any faster.<\/p>\n

Once we passed border control, we were bundled into another set of cars and trundled off.\u00a0 The Fan Mountain<\/strong> has some amazing landscape — noticeably, some of the passes on this mountain range are particularly treacherous as we saw many skeletons (trucks and cars) littering the side of the mountains. Nonetheless, our drivers zipped thru this that area rather quickly(!).\u00a0 We also observed that there were A LOT of Chinese construction workers toiling on the main Tajikistan highway (and many Chinese trucks carrying goods into the heartland).\u00a0 It is clear that China is building a modern ‘silk road’ thru Central Asia and nowhere was more obvious than on the main road thru the Fan Mountains.<\/p>\n

After many hours in the car, we’d arrived at our first homestay.\u00a0 A characterful homestay would have been the perfect antidote …. but, this was not to be.\u00a0 Although these homestays were 10x more comfortable than our yurtstay, I can honestly say that I prefer the yurts because it had more charm and more importantly, we had more interaction with the local family.\u00a0 Our homestays in Takijistan (and Uzbekistan) can only be described by the following routine: arrive in the evening, tidy up, eat, drink and then sleep.\u00a0 It was in essence nothing more than a hostel. We had very limited interaction with the local family and that was a huge disappointment because\u00a0the idea behind a homestay is to get-under-the-skin of a place.\u00a0 To make matters worse, neither the tour operator nor the ground crew did their homework as some of the places that we stayed were wholly inappropriate.\u00a0 As it was too late to ameliorate the the homestay arrangements, Bruce and I just had to grin and bear it.<\/p>\n

After a few days in Tajikistan, we headed back over to Uzbekistan again to hit the “must see” on any Silk Road itinerary — Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva.\u00a0 These three grande dames didn’t disappoint.\u00a0 But, sadly, Samarkand<\/strong> was quickly becoming a bit too Disney-fied.\u00a0 The old and characterful streets have been bulldozed over and these were now wide, tree-lined boulevards.\u00a0 Furthermore, everything was too clean and too modern.<\/p>\n

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Video: Samarkand at sunrise (external link to Facebook)<\/p><\/div>\n

But, if you scratch the surface, the old blood still pulses. \u00a0 And so, we scratched.\u00a0 We heard that it might be possible to climb in one of the towers in Samarkand if you tip the guard on duty for access.\u00a0 And the guard gladly gave us access — and left us alone to explore the tower.\u00a0 The problem is that this place was DANGEROUS<\/em>\u00a0(note: \u00a0no health & safety regulation\u00a0in practice). \u00a0The internal tower was very dark\u00a0(fortunately, we were well prepared with head torches), there were huge gapping holes\/pits, and the stairs did not have any safety railing.\u00a0 And once we were under the tower itself, only 1 person can realistically climb the tower\u00a0because\u00a0the steps were very steep and the passage was very narrow. At the top, the openning was tiny and the view was restricted.\u00a0 How the guard must have bellowed with laughter knowing that we put so much effort to see so little!\u00a0 But, the upside was that because it was very early in the morning, we were the only tourists and thus had the full place to ourselves to roam around at will!<\/p>\n

\"Samarkand\"<\/p>\n

In Bukhara<\/strong>, we visited several craft shops.\u00a0 Despite my herculean attempt to resist, I’d cracked (no surprises here) and purchased a few embroidered cushion covers and a gorgeous large duvet cover.\u00a0 These are definitely not machine-embroidered — because after the purchase, I found a small bit of dried apricot stuck onto the duvet cover!\u00a0 I love the idea that someone was snacking whilst stitching my duvet cover.\u00a0 It just made me love this piece even more!<\/p>\n

In Khiva<\/strong>, we’d stayed in a hotel that was once a madrassa (religious school) with a courtyard at the center of the complex.\u00a0 Khiva is an UNESCO protected old town and as such it avoided the Disney-ification of Samarkand.\u00a0 Like a grade-listed building in the UK, there are restrictions around what could be done to the old forted city — but, it does not stop modernity.\u00a0 Thus and although we were in an ancient and protected city, it didn’t feel quite authentic.\u00a0 Perhaps the huge amount of tourist tat (presumably for our benefit sadly) overwhelmed the quiet charm of the city.\u00a0 Happily, the quiet charm was still strong outside the tourist area.\u00a0 We walked along the fort walls of Khiva and we were enchanted by the residential neighborhood.\u00a0 Inspired by the site, we decided that we would return to the fort wall again at sunrise the next morning to try to capture the magic of the residential area.\u00a0 Sadly, as this was at the end of our 21+ day trek and as we were tired, this sunrise walk unfortunately did not materialized — we were too comfortable in bed that morning.<\/p>\n

My favorite memory of Khiva was when we’d encountered a woman in the street carrying a beautiful handmade and hand-painted cradle.\u00a0 We spoke to her and discovered that the cradle was for her 3-day old grandson.\u00a0 She was beaming with joy and pride.\u00a0 So much so that she allowed us to photograph her smiling — this is very unusal in Uzbekistan.\u00a0 This is because most people have gold teeth and when it comes to being photographed, they will almost always smile with a closed mouth.\u00a0\u00a0 This was my last portrait shot on the trip and it was the shot I wanted — a beautiful smile to go along with a beautiful memory of a happy grandmother!<\/p>\n

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Uzbek grandmother<\/p><\/div>\n

In summary, this trip was a great first-taste to Central Asia.\u00a0 Despite the strenuous border crossings, bureaucracy, and shakedown at Osh Market,\u00a0 the overwhelming kindness and hospitality of the people in Central Asia trumped all the negative aspects of this trip.\u00a0 As such, Bruce and I are still very excited about coming back …. and perhaps, this time we would do the Pamirs on horseback!<\/p>\n

Photo Albums:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Song<\/a>

Kyrgyzstan<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Khiva,<\/a>

Uzbekistan and Tajikistan<\/p><\/div>\n

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+ + + +<\/p>\n

We’d traveled with Wild Frontiers UK<\/strong> (www.wildfrontiers.co.uk) on their ‘Silk Road Odyssey’ package.\u00a0 Based on our experience with this company, we would\u00a0 N O T<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 recommend Wild Frontiers UK to our friends and family.\u00a0 To understand why, please see my OP-ED<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But, we would recommend the Kyrgzy local guide “Tommy” (full name: Artem Volkov) who can be reached at fenrir83@mail.ru or at +996 555 99 33 15.\u00a0 He was awesome!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2009, we were inspired to travel along the Silk Route after reading an interesting article in the Financial Times about a group that travelled across\u00a0the Pamirs in Tajikistan on horseback. \u00a0Whilst we were fascinated with the idea of traversing the Silk Road on horseback, both Bruce and I knew that this would be particularly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,17,22,18],"tags":[44,52,46,353,47,349,45,32,34,33,49,42,352,43,350,27,28,50,51],"class_list":["post-447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kashgar","category-kyrgyzstan","category-tajikistan","category-uzbekistan","tag-caravanserai","tag-horse-riding-in-central-asia","tag-horse-wrestling","tag-kashgar","tag-kidnapped-bride","tag-kyrgyzstan","tag-lake-song-kol","tag-silk-road","tag-silk-road-odyssey","tag-silk-route","tag-song-kol-lake","tag-song-kul-lake","tag-tajikistan","tag-tash-rabat","tag-uzbekistan","tag-wild-frontiers","tag-wildfrontiers-co-uk","tag-yurt-stay","tag-yurts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/le-mckernan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/le-mckernan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/le-mckernan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/le-mckernan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/le-mckernan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=447"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/le-mckernan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11791,"href":"https:\/\/le-mckernan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions\/11791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/le-mckernan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/le-mckernan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/le-mckernan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}