We said it before and we’ll say it again – China is massive. It’s taken us a good two weeks to drive the 6,200km mix of fabulous expressway and stretches of no roads from the Myanmar-China border to the China-Kyrgyzstan border in the west. Note that, as of now, this was the quickest route out!
Kyrgyzstan is country number 4 of 13 for us on this mammoth drive, but the entry is a bit unusual. There’s over 100km of ‘no man’s land’ between China and Kyrgyzstan and this includes the fearsome Torugart Pass. Luckily all that threatens us today is some chilly wind, and in time we’re at the actual Kyrgyz border. Unlike the Indian shed, the Myanmari cottage and the extravagant Chinese office building, the border crossing feels a lot more militaristic here, but still very friendly. We’re stamped and through with Immigration and Customs and are now well and truly in Central Asia.
We spend the night in the town of Naryn, treated to an altogether different style of hospitality. The food too has changed drastically – roast chicken, grilled trout and kebabs are now the staple. This definitely isn’t China anymore.
Central Asia sojourn
Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek is where we headed to next and it was scheduled as a stop for rest and recuperation. Of course, rest we did not; we had a new city to explore. Prominent sights on our list of must-sees included the city’s central area, Ala-Too Square, the impressive old Parliament house and the Victory Monument which was built in memory of those who lost their lives in World War II. As it turned out, we were out on the town on a very auspicious day. Decked-up brides and beaming grooms were to be seen all across the city and never too far from an enormously stretched SUV – seemingly the rental vehicle of choice for Bishkek’s newly-weds. The city isn’t too big, so the sightseeing didn’t take all that long. We did put the remainder of our time here to good use by giving the Kwid some much needed TLC. The car received its routine 10,000km service that got it a new air filter, an oil change and a throttle body clean-up. While the car was prepped and good to go, some of us weren’t quite as eager to leave… the superb shashliks are still playing on our minds.
The next morning was to be an early start but things didn’t quite go as planned. Nature was to blame. It had snowed through the night and it was snowing at the time of departure too. After much contemplation, we had no option but to get into the heaviest of our winter wear, brave the cold and get down to the job of scraping off the thick layer of snow on the Kwid. Thankfully, the plucky Renault showed its mettle and started at the very first crank. Just as well because the day’s journey was to have us cross into neighbouring Kazakhstan and time was of the essence. The trip until the border wasn’t easy, thanks to the snow and slush on the roads, but the Kwid on Ceat snow tyres managed just fine. A rear windscreen wiper and defogger would have been immensely helpful in this setting but the single wiper up front held its own in these testing conditions. Also, thumbs-up to the Kwid’s heater; it may have been built for an ‘Indian winter’ but it kept us cosy enough to focus on the job at hand.
Immigration and customs offices are places of serious business, but there was some comic relief for us in the relatively tense environment at Kazakhstan border control. The Kazakh immigration officer scrutinising our documents broke into a huge grin when he got hold of our videographer Mrityunjay Chakraborty’s passport. The reason for the excitement? The immigration official thought it was yesteryear’s movie star Mithun Chakraborty in front of him! It was a big deal because Mithun and his song ‘Jimmy Jimmy’, are extremely popular in this part of the world. I kid you not! And it didn’t end there. Just post the border, the owner of a small coffee shop we stopped at first gingerly confirmed if we were from India and then pointed excitedly at her TV. A popular Indian soap opera with Russian subtitles was playing. Incredible! Our movies and television shows really are our greatest exports.
Kazakhstan is the richest of the ‘stans’ that formed from the disintegration of USSR, and the wide and superbly surfaced expressway that welcomed us into the country certainly indicated so too. The road was deserted but also extensively patrolled by radar gun-armed police, so one eye was always on the speedometer. We reached Shymkent – our halt for the night – well into the evening but the feeling was of being in a vibrant city; the neon signs of the multiple eateries around town certainly made it seem so.
Uday Singh
Saptarshi Mondal
Viraaj Bhatnagar
