The Battle of Talas

Based in Osh in the early 1990's, I needed to inspect factories in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek to see if they could supply the kit I needed for a NGO programme in the central Tien Shan mountains. There was only one route from Osh to Bishkek through the Tien Shan which at that time was difficult even in summer.

With heavy snow on the ground and no local flights operational, the only alternative route was considerably longer. Andijan to Tashkent and then through Kazakhstan via Chimkent and Taraz then back into Kyrgyzstan to Bishkek, effectively circumventing the Tien Shan range.

Fuel was purchased from vendors with glass jars by the side of the road. And then sliding from side to side into banks of deep snow I headed towards the Kazakh border and Chimkent. Away to all sides the snow lay deep and continued to fall.



Soon the snow was blowing horizontally

Back then Chimkent was still a lead smelting centre for the old centrally planned economy. Large clouds of dark brown smoke emitted from huge chimneys offered a distant welcome. One can only imagine what it was like to live there.

Between Chimkent and Taraz a local bus stopped. It was one of those moments captured in time as an old lady alighted and marched off into the deep snow with no destination in sight, The wind chill outside was more suited to a polar explorer.

Off into a polar landscape

The next way point on the journey was Taraz. Nearby in 751 AD the defining battle of Talas was fought between Arabs and the Chinese Tang Dynasty which changed the course of history for Central Asia.

The Abbasid Caliphate won and Chinese influence and Buddhism thereafter faded in Central Asia, with a corresponding rise in the influence of Islam . There is also a belief that Chinese paper makers captured during the battle facilitated the transfer of paper making technology to the Muslim world and later to the West. Until that point the Chinese had kept the manufacture of paper a state secret. 

Then finally I arrived back in Bishkek which is one of the most welcoming cities in Central Asia. Of recent construction, it remains a time capsule of Czarist and Soviet town planning with wide boulevards and a central monument to the Kyrgyz hero Manas.

Manas

The Epic of Manas is a poem of over 500,000 lines recalling his leadership of the Kyrgyz around the 16th Century, making it the third longest poem in history (after the Mahabharata and the Tibetan Epic of King Gesar). 

Traditional Kyrgyz storytellers known as the Manaschi, recite the Epic. Those few that can recite the entire Epic from memory are revered as Great Manaschis.

A winter in Osh - Kyrgyzstan

For over 2,000 years Osh has been a landmark of Central Asia.  Alexander the Great passed through on his way towards India and it was a key trading centre on the Silk Road. It is also one of the few cities left from the old days that retains its statue of Lenin in the central square.

Osh is a gateway to the Pamir Highway that leads to Kherog in Tajikistan and then finally on to Dushambe. It is an epic journey.

I have since been back many times but that first winter in the early 90's was a real shock after Africa. The cold and wind chill ensured every field trip required careful planning.

The old order had departed back to the Russian Federation taking its expertise and Kyrgyzstan existed in a surreal twilight zone, quite unsure of what was going to happen next. 

People made the best of a difficult time. Dances were held in the Hotel Osh. The heating had failed and in that sub zero freezer, people danced dressed in thick fur coats and hats. Stalls out in the snow sold shashliks and plov and champanski and beer. Soft drinks and beer were hopeless as they froze in the bottle before you could swallow them. Some local vodkas were drinkable, but many tasted suspiciously of diluted diesel.

Above Osh is the Sulayman Mountain, Kyrgyzstan's world heritage site. A mosque on the top was built by Babur a decendant of Tamerlane. Streams of ribbons attached to branches mark the way to the top, left to invoke prayers and wishes, particularly by women hoping for children.

On top of the Sulayman Mountain

Osh Market is one of the biggest in Central Asia and that winter it was encased in thick ice which made staying upright virtually impossible.

The crowd was so dense it was also virtually impossible to fall over, so when you began to slide it was a human version of pin ball as with increasing speed you bounced off the Kyrgyz around you until someone would grab hold until you regained your balance. Most fruit were  seasonally available and non existent in winter. The pickled variety for winter consumption left a lot to be desired.

Bus stop in the shape of the national hat

When spring arrived the city was transformed into a carpet of blossom. The snows finally melted and travel into the surrounding mountains was at last possible.

Travels in the Celestial Mountains - Kyrgyzstan

The Tien Shan Mountains are aptly named.

The range links the Pamirs in Tajikistan, The Hindu Kush in Pakistan and The Alti Mountains of Mongolia. More importantly it cuts Krygyzstan in half .

The Tien Shan Range

In the early 1990's only a difficult route through the centre of the Kyrgyzstan from Osh to Bishkek existed.  In the harsh winter of 1994 when I set up and managed Save the Children Fund's first Central Asia Programme it was easier to travel from the south to Bishkek via Tashkent in Uzbekistan then onto Chimkent in Kazakhstan and finally back into Kyrgyzstan; effectively circumventing the range.

Travel across the Tien Shan from Osh to Bishkek is one of life's great experiences.  Villagers rarely saw outsiders let alone foreigners and the welcome was always overwhelming.

SCF's first programme in Central Asia

Often the villages were completely cut off by snow in winter and eventually we borrowed helicopters to move supplies.

Travel in the Tien Shan by horse was possible but only from late spring onwards.

The range reaches to Lake Issyk Kul near  Bishkek.  Set at 1,600 m above sea level, the lake  is one of the highest mountain lakes in the world.

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan has changed since I first visited in the early 1990's, but remains a magical place. Back then it really was stepping into an alternate reality. Communism had gone away and suddenly a forbidden world was accessible after so many years of isolation.

I was one of the first westerners in the south of the country, establishing and managing the first programme for Save the Children Fund in Central Asia. Within the English department of the University I found interpreters and researchers. The geologists based in Osh, who knew the mountains, provided the field workers. Rarely have I seen such a team - they were immense in every way, and the driving force behind them all - Alfia, remains a close family friend. The one word she would never accept was 'nyet'.

The government buildings I visited were long corridors of empty offices in pristine condition. Phones rang on identical polished desks in identical rooms but no one was there to answer, they had all left. It really was surreal.

The mid winter weather was the hardest challenge after Africa. The cold was unrelenting and just daily washing when you had to break the ice on the water indoors, was a challenge. You could see why they all drank vodka; beer froze solid in its bottle before you could swallow it.

Kyrgyz horseman in the Tien Shan

None of that mattered once you got to the Tien Shan mountains and Lake Issyk Kul, the sheer scale of the place is majestic. Endless peaks and Krygyz men hunting on horseback with full sized eagles on their arms. The hospitality of villagers who rarely see an outsider let alone a foreigner is overwhelming.

An eagle ready for hunting

It is a place where I have made many friends and to which I return as often as I can.

There is often talk of marketing the country as the Switzerland of Central Asia, but this is to do an injustice to Kyrgyzstan. This land is on a far grander scale.

The national hat of Kyrgyzstan -the 'Al Kapak' for sale in Osh market.

Central Asia - first steps into a new world

It has been a roller coaster ride for the region since the Russians pulled out.  Some countries like Kyrgyzstan have taken tentative steps towards democracy, whilst others have veered sharply towards repression. Tajikistan is breath taking, but remains unstable, particularly  in its eastern province.
Now the old colonial power is making a concerted attempt to re-establish its influence in the region.

All the Stan's have one thing in common, they are a panorama of stunning landscapes and amazing peoples.

In the early 1990's, I was one of the first westerners into southern Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan after the fall of communism to establish what became a regional programme for one of  the more effective British NGO's.
The Tien Shan and the High Pamirs are utterly unforgettable but my lasting memory from the first few weeks was an outdoor shashlik (kebab) stall in sub zero temperatures. The vendor passed me a beer and in the seconds it took to open the lid and bring the bottle to my lips the contents had frozen solid and tragically remained undrinkable.

Central Asia in winter is not for the unprepared.