After a fair bit of soul searching amongst the group about whether or not to cross into Kyrgyzstan and follow the original planned route, here we are in Bishkek.  Some border entrances into the country have been closed and we were sourcing conflicting advice. The guides said “of course you should come to the country” while some of the group who had spoken with a Reuters journalist were of the view that we should come up with a new route. Anyway everyone had a chance to have their say and it was put to the vote, good consensus model stuff. The vote was four to eight and true to form Ken and I were in different camps, no “group think” with us, you know.

We hired a truck and driver to lead us to the border as the truck was insurance for Dave’s MGA. Dave decided to drive and stopped every 75 kms or so to check and if necessary top up his oil. The truck was extremely slow and   spewed out black smoke on all the upward sections of the road.  This coupled with strong winds and heavy rain must have made those in the open MGA wish for the sun to return—–it eventually did.

 Once at the border we were categorised into driver and passenger status. The passengers went through one process and the drivers and cars through another. We had a group visa carried by the guide and at one point  I ended up being interrogated about the lack of a visa in my passport. I smiled and spoke softly and tried to explain that someone outside had the group visa. After ten minutes of being yelled at  the official asked me if I was “Mrs or Miss”, I replied “ I am Mrs and I am a grandmother” He and his colleague laughed and let me through.

Once through, the six  passengers had a four hour wait as the drivers were still on the other side. The paperwork on the carnets was checked and Ken as first car through was asked to open the boot as they were checking for guns. With this our  guide, apparently  broke  into a fit of laughter and after much debate between guide and official the six cars were allowed through

Time ticked and the rain came down. For most of the time the passengers were  huddled under a lean to shelter about two hundred metres from the customs building, then we found the only  “restaurant” and fortunately Kerith had five US dollars to buy us a cup of tea and some bun to warm us up. Adam, our son was texting Ken the Collingwood/Geelong quarter by quarter scores but I had the mobile and  Ken was not there to  live through, from afar, all the trauma of the game. Interestingly, Adam didn’t bother to text the final score.

So we made it to Bishkek and we are staying in a very nice hotel which is a joint Malay and Kyrgy venture. The hotel looks out to the most stunning yes, snow capped mountains. Today we leave the cars behind and go on a bus tour of Bishkek and then back track by bus to Lake Issy-kul where we will stay at a resort before returning to Bishkek tomorrow evening.  Attempts will be made to arrange the replacement of Dave’s rear main engine seal on the MGA. This means the engine comes out for the third time. The blue car’s front shockers (new before the trip) have given up and replacements will have to be flown in.  Hard to predict which advance town to send them to as worldwide couriers tend to a bit flexible in delivery times in this part of the world