It had snowed again a little bit overnight but not enough to cause a problem for us. Sary-Tash being at 3170m above sea level it was not surprising that the temperature sat around -10°C in the morning. Actually rather warm for this elevation at this time of year.
We left town on the snowy road out into what seemed like white nothingness. The Chinese border was only about 70 km ahead but there was another pass to climb on the way. We hoped for good wind and not too much snow!
The road was very quiet; aside from an occasional coal truck it was just us and the cold, glistening white landscape. It was quiet, beautiful, almost a bit eerie.
After about 20km we rounded the tip of a long hill and were met with forceful headwind. O NO!!! We decided to continue anyways but the wind slowed us down significantly. We tried to be optimistic and said that it may still calm down but reality had the opposite in mind. After 10 more kilometers of fighting against the wind we were quite exhausted, the temperature had dropped to -12°C (-22°C with wind chill) and we realized that we would not reach the Chinese border today. We checked out one of the flood water tunnels under the road for potential shelter but it was half filled with snow drifts and the wind was howling through it so we had no choice but to turn back. How frustrating. Brrr so cold! 10 kilometers ago we had passed a small building that serves as a rest stop for truckers so we decided to ask for shelter there. It was warm and cozy inside and the lady served us warm tea to drink and a bowl of vodka for soaking our hands in to warm them up. Our frozen water bottles slowly thawed next to the warm stove. For some reason the electricity did not work that night so some oil lamps filled the room with their warm glow as best as they could. The kind lady said we could sleep here and she served us a delicious dinner.
We prayed that we would be able to reach the border the next day because we had not planned on having to pay for accommodation for two nights in a row so we were completely out of Kyrgyz money with the nearest bank on the other side of a snowy mountain pass and credit cards as useless as a piece of cardboard in this cash only part of the world.
THANK YOU SO MUCH KIND LADY FOR YOUR HELP IN THIS HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT!
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