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A Huck Finn state of mind.
This entry was posted in Asia, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan and tagged Aeroflot, Airplane graveyard, Airport, Alpine, Antonov, Asia, Basmachi, Breakdown, Central Asia, Clouds, Container, Cube, Daewoo, Finn, Fuel, Gagarin, Gulcha, Hitchhike, Hitchhiker, Hitchhiking, Huck Finn, Huckleberry, Ilyushin, Kamaz, Kyrgyz, Kyrgyzstan, M41, Mark Twain, Marshrutka, Matiz, Mountain, Mountain pass, Osh, Osh airplane cemetery, Osh airport, Osh Bazaar, Pamir, Pamir Highway, Pass, People, Photography, Rubik's, Sary Tash, Shared Taxi, Statue, Summer, Switchback, Taldok, Taxi, Travel, Truck, USSR, Village. Bookmark the permalink.
Such a delight reading this well written and very entertaining post! I love how much you seem to have taken this adventure “in your stride”. The part describing the inside of the kamaz, is fantastic. I SO enjoyed it. The rubiks cube in one hand while navigating switchbacks that sounds a little on the hairy risky side of life. But hey hitchhikers cant be choosers. I happen to like hitch hiking if I know its a place that feels safe doing it, which sounds like this was and that you experienced some generous “hospitality” of sorts. Terrific post!!
Peta
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Hi Peta!
sorry to reply so late, for some reason WordPress decided this comment was spam when it very much wasn’t! Very weird.
Anyway, thank you for reading and thanks for your kind words. That day taking it in my stride was very much the only thing I could do: for starters I didn’t really need to be anywhere until the day after, the weather was gorgeous and I had lots of time… Murat and the cube was great, he was pushing the envelope a little bit but he’d shown earlier that he was a great driver. Thanks again for reading!
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Beautiful descriptive tale! So trite to say that reading it made me feel like I was there, but itvdid.
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Thanks Rich! 🙂
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Wow! Hitchhiking through Kyrgyzstan! Thoroughly enjoyed the story, and the photos. Kyrgyzstan is on my list, but I guess not this corner of it. Great seeing it through your post.
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Oh, I think you definitely should see a bit of Ferghana and the south. Perhaps it’s not as nice as Karakol and the surrounding mountains but it’s beautiful nonetheless.
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It’s always a delight reading your little travel missives, even if some of what you call heaven sounds downright uncomfortable (said the soft American.) I certainly can’t argue with the scenery, and the characters are a slice I rarely see in the style of traveling I usually end up doing.
But I’d have to say a guy doing a Rubiks Cube one handled while driving mountain switchbacks in an old Soviet truck that needs to be punched to cooperate takes the cake.
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Call me weirdo but I always wanted to go on a KAMAZ… to be going with a fella as colourful as Murat was a three-layered cake with added cherry on the top! Thanks for reading Dave.
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I’ve been known to tell Uber drivers to slow down, to stop texting, to change lanes, to turn down the music, etc. (politely, and they never seem to hate me for it, believe it or not), so you can be sure I would have told Murat that the Rubik’s cube had to be put away for later! Guys can’t nag (or don’t even feel the need to nag) the same way, I guess, and in your lucky survival, you got a great little story!
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Murat oozed savoir faire, so that was OK. Plus over there in the Pamirs if you ain’t a decent driver you won’t go very far… I guess it’s Darwinism at its best.
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BTW Lexi I just read about the events in El Paso; I remember you live in Texas, but I don’t know how close you are… hope no one you know has been involved.
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Nice of you to think of me and my new state, Fabrizio. El Paso is far in miles (maybe 750 and about a 10-hour drive … Texas is BIGGGGG) but close in my thoughts this morning. We have been there several times as a launching pad for New Mexico and west Texas adventures. It is the most wonderful mix of Mexicans and Americans and Mexican-Americans, many of whom cross the border each and every day and think of the cross-pollination and exchange of goods and ideas as no big deal … no, actually, as a positive thing! I’m so sad for them.
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Ah, in a sense it’s good to know that but on another not. It also seems that it’s a white supremacist terrorism too, which of course only adds salt to the wound.
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A typically quirky post-Soviet land adventure. Vehicle problems, hitchhiking, and a Rubiks Cube thrown in, because why not. Sounds like my kind of good time.
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Thanks Julie! I think you’d have enjoyed it too.
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What an adventure, what a wonderful tale. I was with you the whole way, and thrilled with your daring and freedom. I dream of travelling this way some day. I have a (female) friend who did it in remote China for 5 weeks. I just don’t know it I have the courage. We’ll see. In the meantime I get to read your adventures and be there vicariously. Wonderful.
Alison
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Thanks Alison! But “knowing” (online, of course) you I sincerely doubt you haven’t done anything of this kind!
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Moreso when I was younger I guess, and usually with other people around. I’ve always been adventurous.
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Just brilliant, all of it. It makes me wish to say that anybody who is unable to present their travels as you can have no business travelling in the first place. 😀
And that arch makes me think of this arch, have a look, a girl and her motorcycle found a rainbow too. I’ve checked, it’s not the same. 🙂 She is on her solo trip around the world:
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Hi Manja thanks for reading! I don’t think the link (the one of the girl on a solo travel) is there in your comment… and thanks for the kind words!
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This is strange. I can see her photo of the rainbow in my comment on your blog. Must be that it depends on our settings. Her Facebook name is RTW Roxy. In her last post she says that she spent two nights in Sary-Tash. The rainbow is in her penultimate post.
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Ah, Facebook… ain’t got that anymore, that might explain.
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Right… I think I found you there quite some time ago. Might have sent a request. 😀
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Oh I’ve been off it for a year at least now
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