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STILL no photos!
Eventful 24 hours though. Yesterday morning we had a date with the 9th May end-of-WWII celebrations where current Communist Party members held Stalin's photo aloft and sang partiotic songs to the motherland. The leader of this group looked like a force to be reckoned with (perhaps the estimed party leader's relative?) and the rest of the gang sang with rather less vigour but an element of fear. The celebrations themselves consisted of a march which we were unable to see and speeches we were unable to understand. I took loads of photos of someone who turned out NOT to be the President and Duncan just spent most of his time being stopped and questioned.
Anyway, all part and parcel. After this we headed to the taxi rank and took leave of Almaz, our charming guide we have had for the past few days. He saw us into a reliable looking, comfortable cab with a few others and we said our goodbyes. Another learn for us: when in Bishkek, don't trust reliable-looking, comfortable cabs. After a stunning four-hour drive over two passes over 3500m high and countless oos and ahs, we broke down. After having spent four hours in some of the most spectacular scenery we have ever seen, the car chose to clunk out in a rather less desirable spot with - NO JOKE - a brick s*** house. We got hours of amusement out of this but four hours later and no movement and we were beginning to get a little concerned about getting to Osh, our next stop.
To cut a long story short we ended up spending the night in a small town/village called Tortogul. But as Kyrgystan has a very nomadic history, quaint old towns don't really exist so they all look delapidated and ex-Soviet. Interesting yes, quaint no. Our lodgings were clean but that's about it. I considered moving to the floor at one point during the night as the bed sagged so. In the morning we headed out to a spot about 20 meters away where the water was (no running water inside and Mum - those same Chinese-style loos with a hole in the ground and...well...). Anyway so we got to this waterhole and noticed there was a 'stadium' to our right.
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