Osh

Once Marydean and her driver, Alexi, showed me the correct road to Osh, the balance of the ride to Osh was very pleasant. The road left the old Osh-Isfara road within sight of the Uzbekistan border post. I just didn't see it in the dark, and it is not well marked. It is a new road, under construction to avoid the border crossings as I said earlier. It makes it faster and more convenient to make this trip. If one knows what one is doing, Isfara to Osh should be an easy one day trip. For me, two days. 

The road passes through some beautiful country. 

Later, in the broad valley, the road surface is not so great, but the vegetation is beautiful. 

Just before I got to Osh, the road lifted into brown hills again. At one point, a little boy, angered about something, came running up to the road and pegged the bike with an apple. Hope he feels better. 

I rode down into the town, and stopped to find a hotel. The Osh-Nuru looked like my best bet, at least on the internet, with secure parking, etc. and the pictures looked good. The bath looked clean and modern. They photoshopped it. Here is my bath. 

Up under the water heater you can see the wires for the electrical service hanging there. On close inspection, the wires are twisted together, with one or two wraps of tape. Scary. 

I met another biker, Luke, an Australian riding from Singapore where he works to Ireland, his father's home country. We had lunch and then walked down to the market. This is a real market, and I love it. 

When you walk down this street, you are in the middle of it. Everything is for sale there, and the spices on offer fill the air with their scent, as does the bread, the fruit, and the vegetables. Then there is the smell of food cooking, and petroleum products for sale, and not to mention the rests of a certain failure to diligently attend to personal hygiene. Nothing like an open air market. In Asia. In the summer. 

After the market, I went back to the hotel and napped. Just as I was stirring, there was a rapping on the door. It was Malcom and Sara, the Australian couple riding from Ireland to Vladivostok whom I met on the road as I was returning from my attempt to ride into the Pamirs. They had seen my bike in the parking lot. They 

gave me half an hour, and then we met to go have dinner. 

As we were talking in the parking lot, a car pulled in and a woman got out. She walked up and asked where we were from, and conversation ensued. Dee Brown, a police advisor for OSCE, told us of a restaurant she liked, and decided she would have a beer with us while we ate. 

We had a nice time at the Aztec, and I even had fajitas. They were good!  But there were no tortillas. Turns out I was supposed to order them as extras. Live and learn. 

After dinner, I said farewell to Sara and Malcom, and to Dee. I had two things on my schedule for Friday: getting the moto to Patrik at MuzToo, and going to immigration to get my status figured out.