After our conference finished on June 19th, some of us had a bus ride back to Bishkek. It is a four hour drive on the road. The bus was a little old, but we had a good driver. Along the way we made a pitstop for a toilet break and snacks.
Kyrgyz culture is similar to Tuvan and Mongolian culture in the sense that it is centred around horses, the nomads all still live in yurts and wrestling is a very popular sport.
Along the road back, we were forced to take a detour on a stretch of road that is quite bumpy. It is part of the highway that the Chinese are constructing. As the bus is a large vehicle it was legally required to take this road. On the way up we were in a smaller bus and took the paved road the whole way. One would think that they large heavy vehicles were being used to help pack the road down tighter before paving it.
Unfortunately the bus couldn't handle the stress. It hit some big rocks and one of these broke either the shock absorber or suspension. The road was already uncomfortably bumpy (PJ insisted on me standing to hold him). So we had a break down and were on the side of the road for an hour. The driver calmly went about fixing the problem and pulled out spare parts from the storage under the bus. (At one point I wondered if we would miss our flight home that night, but the driver did a great job.)
We made it back to the city a little late, but had a fantastic Chinese meal, the quality of which I have never seen in Russia.
Yurts at the truck stop.
Our bus break down.
Smoko.
It's a long time since I can remember eating at a restaurant with this many people.
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