Day: April 23, 2006

I was on the road the whole day…..Another day, another stage, another 75 kilometers, another border crossed, another new country.

We left Uzbekistan at the city of Andijan.  This city, which is close to Kirghistan, was the scene of terrible riots in March 2005 which started in the region of Osh.  The Uzbek government found a way of ending the rebellion: massacring the population.  The massacre of Andijan was condemned by the international courts.

The city, which we are crossing today, is very green and owes its richness to cotton and oil.  It is strangely quiet.  As we leave, the road becomes hilly and we can see the Kirghiz Mountains in the distance.

Serge entered Kirghistan at the 67th kilometer.  Crossing borders has become a habit: we are no longer stressed or afraid.  We have noticed that Serge is a real laisser-passer.  We left Serge 13 kilometers before the border and he arrived as we were at the last check point of the Kirghiz customs.  The officers were on the point of having us fill in a declaration of all our material (it would have taken at least a day).  We were waiting to meet with the head of the bureau, explaining that Serge was arriving and that he has been running since Paris, etc., etc.  The attitude of our examiners changed completely and their faces became friendly.  Serge arrived, shook hands all around and before we knew it we were allowed to pass without hindrance. It took us only 2 hours to go through the two check points :  a veritable record.

Serge is happy to see mountains again.  He admitted that the scenery had become a bit monotonous.

This evening and tomorrow morning we will make preparations to live autonomously for some six days and to again find cold weather.  We were happy to have good hot showers in Osh after 3 days of camping in the heat.  We were all shiny like new pennies.

Before going to bed we reset your watches:  + 1H00.  Now we are 4 hours ahead of France.