Hiking day today. Drove and hour and forty minutes (west and south; probably only 30 miles) into the Tian Shan Mountains. The last part of the long long drive was on a winding, steep dirt road and we were loaded into a tight bus with jump seats down the middle, all in use. Several of the high (12,000 ft), jagged peaks were covered in snow. The Tian Shan range boarders both China and Kyrgyzstan. In fact if we'd continued up our trail just a few miles further we would have reached the Kyrgyzstan border. We'd been told to bring all sorts of clothing including fleece hats and scarves, raincoats, etc. but the day turned out to be lovely and none of our gear was needed. The hike was pretty, first up a very steep incline and then along a high meadow, then again up through a gradually narrowing gorge. I turned back before Scott did. While Scott didn't quite summit Everest, he did continue until a snowbank blocked the trail. Yes that's true, a snowbank in September left over from the prior year. Had lunch at a restaurant affiliated with a small (read: basic) park lodge.
The trip back down to Almaty was far more interesting that the trip up. Our little bus strained to hang on to the road as it wound down the hairpin turns on an unfinished dirt road. Dust blew everywhere. We passed a gulag where Japanese prisoners where held for over 10 years and released in 1956. Our Kazakh guide Sasha said that he remembered seeing the prisoners being marched through town and taken to the train station.
Suddenly after a few more treacherous turns we reached the bottom and stopped. We were told that the driver needed to "cool the brakes" and change gears. He opened the back of the bus and worked for about 10 minutes. Someone told us he was changing from 4-wheel drive back to regular drive. While he worked we stood nearby and watched local life. Several SUVs were parked in a line near a small exposed pipe with water gushing from it. Each driver held a huge plastic container which he filled with water from this pipe. Apparently this is a good source of clean drinking water in the area. Meanwhile back in downtown Almaty there is financial district with tall glass buildings that look like any downtown American office complex.
Lastly, I wanted to include a funny story that happened to Larry the other day. He went to a little store nearby to buy things for the room and while trying to pay, pulled out a $1 US bill. A man standing in the store reached out his hand took the dollar bill from Larry. After a moment a woman came out and stood at the cash register. Suddenly Larry realized that the man who'd taken the dollar from him didn't work in the store! So he paid the storekeeper for his purchases and afterward it took a bit a cajoling to get his dollar back.
Shame they don't take American Express in the store. Watch out when you give your luggage to strange looking porters. Don't ever use a valet to park your car.
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