Day 8. Sunday, August 6th . Rest day – Naryn
For dinner yesterday evening most of us riders went to an impressive multi-restaurant and entertainment venue up the road. The very welcoming staff spoke no English, and all the menus were in Kyrgyz and Russian. But with much hilarity and Google translate we more or less eat what we thought we’d ordered. The food was delicious and the price a mere $7 or so each. It was a fine way to begin our rest day and our stay in the splendid Grand Khan Tengri Hotel.
I had a fascinating conversation this morning over breakfast with Vadim, our Kyrgyz guide who lives in Bishkek, the capital. His Ukrainian grandfather fought for Russia in the First World war, was captured by the Germans and imprisoned in Eastern Europe. At war’s end, he began walking home but caught typhus on the way, was given up as dead and thrown in a mass grave, he hollered and a local woman pulled him out, nursed him back to health and he finally got home. Dissatisfied there, he and his wife went east and settled in Kyrgyzstan where he lived til he was almost 100. Vadim remembers him well. (And this was the beautiful view from our breakfast table as he was telling me the story.)
I took the day off seriously, expending physical energy only on a bit of bike maintenance in the company of a few other riders with the help and advice of Ryan, our mechanic (he’s in the green T-shirt with his back to the camera).
I also took a short local trip to lunch, and to a pharmacy for more lashings of high factor sunscreen. The temperature was a wonderfully moderate 25c.
Others were more adventurous, visiting, for example, the very beautiful Blue Mosque in town. Thanks Jerry, for the photo!
So, 6.15am or so tomorrow morning, we’re back on our bikes…with four days of unpaved roads, a third of which has a lot of climbing – and camping for three nights in a row at fairly high altitude.
Rod
Lynn was terrific, central, to performance
of DEATH O A SALESMAN I saw in company w thers
from church. Matinee show on Sunday.
The whole drama should be, is , central to
the psyche of american education.
Do you think it has made any impact on
personal & business behavior…… ?