Saturday 6th August.
Arriving into Osh airport, I joined a mass of people in a sort of line to get through passport control. After 20 minutes of not much moving, people got impatient and started pushing in. A woman got very angry about this and a bit of a verbal fight broke out. The police and airport staff didn’t seem to mind, must be a regular occurrence.
Ever worried that my bike wouldn’t make it, while I was waiting, I saw my bike box and bag come off the carriage. Good news. This wouldn’t be the case for 10 other or so riders who were on the same flight. However, in the end, they managed to get their bikes.
Into the country, i’m pleased I prearranged a transfer from the airport with the hostel as I was greeted with many taxi drivers punting for business. Always an experience for the senses, no matter what country you go to, the exit of the airport.
Luckily, the driver had asked for a photo of me before arriving and I had one of him, so I soon found him and off we went.
The drive to the hostel was only 20 minutes or so and a good sleep deprived haze introduction to Osh. Lanes didn’t seem to matter whilst driving.
Arriving at the hostel, I was allowed my room straight away, so jumped at the chance to get some sleep even if it was waking up time.
After a few hours sleep, I set about exchanging money which was straightforward and getting a sim card. Under £5 for a month of unlimited everything, sounded good to me.
I then went back to the hostel and got chatting with Nathan and Sam, who were also here to race Silk Road.
I then slept a bit more then we went out for food to a Turkish place with Nathan, Sam and a French touring cyclist who had cycled all the way here from France! And was trying to get a visa to go to India next.
Sleep didn’t take long to come when back at the hostel
Sunday 7th August
Sam and Nathan were headed up the first part of the race route to acclimatise, I planned to do that tomorrow, needed to recover from jetlag first.
Sunday was spent picking up a few last bits, food, lighter and fuel for stove and then chatting to a few people in the hostel. One from Germany and another from Netherlands who were travelling solo.
We played pool and then went out for food. When we left the hostel, we came across a wedding and were asked if we wanted to join. We said we would after we ate. Unfortunately when we came back, they had all gone.
We went to a grill place with an open fire and had some very tasty grilled veg. A couple of singers came on, we first thought they were karaoke, however, we asked and they were entertainment. Pretty good. We then laughed when we were charged on the bill for their singing. We didn’t mind as it was only about 30p. Back to the hostel and bed.
Jordan Matthews 