https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/blog.php/21602-Life-in-Urkadurkastan Kiwi Biker - New Zealand motorcycle community en Tue, 28 Apr 2026 21:07:32 GMT vBulletin 20 https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/images/BP-Brown/misc/rss.jpg https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/blog.php/21602-Life-in-Urkadurkastan https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/2242-What-a-weekend Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:08:39 GMT 18 months since my last blog...guess this one is o/due I was going to write about the trip up to site yesterday....cept the story starts in Rolleston 2 weeks ago...on the way to the airport to return to work. Suitcase was a little light for the return, so off to the supermarket to stock up with... 18 months since my last blog...guess this one is o/due

I was going to write about the trip up to site yesterday....cept the story starts in Rolleston 2 weeks ago...on the way to the airport to return to work. Suitcase was a little light for the return, so off to the supermarket to stock up with essentials....gluten free pasta, gf biscuits, gf caramel slice, gf....you get the drift, GF foods are scarce here in Urkadurkastan....then to Henry's for a couple of bottles of Bundy for the Aussie contingent over here. One std, one OP.

Saterday night was a farewell for Dan, a yank from Tuson AR.....always good for a round of golf on his first full day off because I can beat him when he is hung over. Dan was drunk Friday night as usual, late morning it was time for golf...I started with a black coffee, salad and took a couple of Iced teas and a bottle of water for the round. (Its hot anddry) Dan started with a double baileys and coffee, and Eds big breakfast washed down with a Corona, then off to the first tee with a screw up....small coke bottle 3/4 full of frozen lemonade and Grapefruit juice topped with 100ml vodka....18 holes later the 3 coronas, 3 screwups and 2 coffees and baileys were getting the better of him. Back to town for a shower and quiet lay down before going out that night. No sooner had I put my head down and the door bell rang....Hey mayte....in that way only a yank can sound when he is trying to sound aussie....you got anything to drink as he swept by me and spotted two bottles of Bundy in the kitchen...buggar....and off came the top of the std. (we live in the same apartment building) (its not all one way with Dan, he picks up his share of the tab)

2 hours later it was off to Blonders....an Austrian styled Kyrgyz bar, for Dans farewell...remaining 2/3rds liter of Bundy in tow...there were about 30 at the function....including a couple of Dan's "Ladies of negoiatable affection" friends. And everyone had a good night. Sunday started of the same as Sat....a round of golf when Dan was finally comatose then a feed....we went our seperate ways about 4 pm....I was driving to site Monday morning so no drinking and early night for me...asleep by 9 pm for a 5 am start....

9.30pm...ding dong..."hey mayte"...where is that other rum the OP? Here you go...now Fark OFF!...I did not get much sleep after that and the 5 hour steady drive turned into a slow 7 hour dog tired crawl, stopping every hour for a coffee and sugar fix just to stay awake.

I arrive at site to be questioned "where is Dan, what happened to Dan last night? No one had heard from Dan all morning, he was not answering his phone or door bell and people were starting to worry....finally about 3 pm his phone was answered with a "huh?" Guess he liked the OP

One of the things about working at a dry camp, the body has 9 days to dry out (or 28 days if you are FIFO.) Dan is leaving us for a mine in south America....home every night....alchol available every night...I am worried for Dan. ]]> LBD https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/2242-What-a-weekend https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/1196-Dining-in-Urkadurkastan Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:35:44 GMT Well....been back in Krgyzstan for about a month or so. Holiday back in NZ was good, but for the weather. Dining....Mining camp food has only gone down hill in the last year. Sat night steaks are now Sat night Steak Casserole...fish Friday is now fish cake friday and lunch buffet is now a... Well....been back in Krgyzstan for about a month or so. Holiday back in NZ was good, but for the weather.

Dining....Mining camp food has only gone down hill in the last year. Sat night steaks are now Sat night Steak Casserole...fish Friday is now fish cake friday and lunch buffet is now a selection of ...1....soup. With the increasing price of gold, and reported mine profits increasing, I must wonder why? I actually know the answer to that...The HR managers performance budget is directly linked to cost reductions in his department which includes the camp mess....Bloddy Saffa!

The Kyrgyz culinary culture varies from Urduck ( a meat and potato Caserole)to manti (greasy mutton in pastry, boiled, with a mint and corriander dressing) Lagman (fried or boiled noodles) and variations of the Turkish plove (which I am quite partial to). A local speciality is Shashlik...marinated meat on metal skewers grilled over usually coal embers. Other dishes include onion a little bit of meat and seasoning wrapped in flakey pastry and baked or the same in batter and deep fried.

Fruit and vegies are readily available, tomatoes, apples, potatoes apricots, strawberries, rasberies, melons and sweet corn all locally grown in season.

But to the point, tonight I took my good lady out for dinner. We chose the Kalina...formerly known as the Vogue Kafe and restaraunt, 3 blocks from our apartment. This is one of the top eateries in the city.

We left home at 7 pm and had a slow walk down through Urkendek Park. It is well dark by 6 pm. Lights lit the path, their luminesce glowing in the mist between the stark winter bare oaks. The temp was around freezing and there will be a good frost in the morning. Dispite the low temps, couples were still sitting on the park benches making romance...clouds of fog hovering around pairs of fur lined hoods.

15 minutes walking and we reach the restaraunt and push the door open. The first glance is quizical...who is coming in the door. This quickly turns to welcoming smiles when the commercial reality of paying custom dawns. We are shown a couple of tables and allowed to chose.

There may have been 10 others in the establishment when we arrived and maybe 20 when we left 2 1/2 hour later.

We ordered our meal and a bottle of imported Chianti...The alternitive is a moldavian wine which never fails to dissapoint.

The meal was fine although what you get is nothing like the same name on a NZ menu.

She had a tounge salad entre, a Salmon and cavair main and a tiramisu desert.

I had a chicken cesear..(with Quail eggs) a steak with mushroon sauce. (Think a few thin strips of beef) and a gateau. (The best steaks here are horse, marinated, tender and a good size.) Rare does not feature in Kyrgyz cooking styles.

There were several smokers in the room, including a large sweet smelling hooka that did the round of the clientele, but the ventilation was good enough that we never noticed the smoke at all.

Total cost, was USD 90 plus 10 tip. Not best value by Kyrgyz standards, but is was near the top shelf in the country and we think the value would have been compareable with average to good dining in NZ.

And thats it from this central asian galloping gastronomic restaraunt critic..... ]]> LBD https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/1196-Dining-in-Urkadurkastan https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/1099-Holidays-waaahhhoooooo-!!!!!! Sat, 03 Oct 2009 02:37:56 GMT This is it…the moment I have been waiting for since Feb…HOLIDAYS. For me a holiday is a little different….instead of a trip away it’s a trip home to the familiar…Speights, Vegemite, road signs I understand, good fenced roads, no hoiking goubbies on the foot path, low altitude, Battered Blue cod,... This is it…the moment I have been waiting for since Feb…HOLIDAYS.

For me a holiday is a little different….instead of a trip away it’s a trip home to the familiar…Speights, Vegemite, road signs I understand, good fenced roads, no hoiking goubbies on the foot path, low altitude, Battered Blue cod, Pepper steak or venison pies, television I can understand, people I can converse with….and my bike.

These breaks, 3 times a year are necessary to re focus and recover. Will take a little adjustment. If I am stopped by the police, I need to remember not to hand him a 300 som ($10) bribe and ride off….When riding, my sole focus is, not to avoid potholes and wandering stock (Although be alert for these) I can enjoy the ride.

It is autumn here now, in the town it is quite pleasant, colours are changing, cool at night. But its getting colder at site, pick the coldest NZ winter conditions, we get that every second or third day at site. It’s a 1 km walk (or ride) to my office. I usually walk whatever the weather. This morning was about minus 5 and light snow or Sneg as it is known over here….But tomorrow I escape ..Waahooo!!

8 am its to security and into the Van. For the 500km ride across 80km tundra, down the pass, 130km around the lake, 90 km through the gorge running the gauntlet of corrupt police around every bend, and 200 km across the plains home to my wife, who I have not seen for 9 days. A small feed and scotch or glass of wine and by that time I am ready for bed and a good …nights sleep. (What else had you in mind )

It takes 3 or 4 days for me to adjust to sleeping at altitude, but when I get down to low altitude, its lights out Larry. Maybe I am not as tough as some others but when I get home I cannot go out for a feed and a few drinks, my red blood count is high because of time at altitude with the low air density (oxygen levels) and all I need to do sniff an open bottle of Baltica 6 and I am asleep.

Baltica 6 is the nearest I can find to, but almost completely unlike Speights old dark.

Tuesday Morning, Manas Airport, queue for security, queue for check in, queue for passport control. Then to the BMI lounge for the 1 hour wait. Kyrgyz queuing is a chaotic art form that naturally falls to order. No structured English queues….just a mad shove and jostle for the little opening like sand falling through the orifice of an hour glass, you get through in the end.

Boarding call and another queue. Then the Taxi past the rows of US military aircraft and take off. Alma-aty, then London and civilized queuing. 9 hours so off to Hounslow for a bit of browsing and English newspapers. London…Singapore…Sydney…Auckland…Christchurch, and more sleep.

Manas is a large US air force base that is used as a stepping stone into Afghanistan. Tonnes and tones of supplies and hundreds of personnel travel through Manas to and from Afghanistan. I have to admit I am pleased that the US military personnel do not get leave passes in Bishkek. The place would be a mess. As it is, you sit in a taxi and the driver is a little cold…sooner or later you always get the one word question…Americanski? I shake my head “Nyet…Nouve Zealandia” It like flicking a switch, the smile comes on and you would swear the driver and I had been buddies for years.

Friday Morning 9th, To Casbolts where Craig and Jim have my baby prepped and primed and ready to go. Sort out some details, try on some new boots and head for Te Anau. Saturday sort some stuff out around the house, Sunday Teretonga track day. Monday Chch, Tuesday Palmy, Wed North of Auckland, Thur Cape Reinga back toAk, ATNR. Friday Turangi, Sat and Sun Rusty nuts GC, Monday Picton, Tuesday Karamea Wed Chch. Thursday recover, drop the bike back to Casbolts until my next visit. Friday depart Chch…

March break and the Rusty nuts 10 000km challenge is only 4 ½ long slow months away….. ]]> LBD https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/1099-Holidays-waaahhhoooooo-!!!!!! https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/1054-An-AB-supporter-in-Urkadurkastan Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:17:08 GMT Due to one popular request... here is another installment... Most of those readers on the KB site are at least moderately intelligent…cough cough…and would have fully absorbed all the subtleties of the commentary, on the threat to world peace and how we in the modern world tackle the problems of... Due to one popular request... here is another installment...

Most of those readers on the KB site are at least moderately intelligent…cough cough…and would have fully absorbed all the subtleties of the commentary, on the threat to world peace and how we in the modern world tackle the problems of instability and the threat of wars….I am of course speaking of that parody on world politics that hit the big screen…”Team America World peac……World Police” From where I draw the fictional name Urkadurkastan.

This is of course, not the fictional world of Urkadurkastan, rather it is one of the most corrupt and yet surprisingly peaceful places in the world. The Kyrgyz republic. A million miles from NZ, geographically, politically, socially, culturally, cullinary….and sporting wise.

Serious moment….We live in Bishkek the capital well to the north and east and away from the area where there is a little border unrest between the Tajiks/Uzbeks and Kyrgyz. We are safe in the town where there is only the normal petty crime…rolling a drunk expat for his wallet, spitting on the foot path, bribing police, shooting political opponents etc, nothing you would not find in any well adjusted 1st world country…A direct comparison with NZ? We feel and probably are safer in Bishkek than Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch….which does sadden me to realize. Enough seriousness….

Rugby is still the iconic NZ sport….The iconic Kyrgyz sport, is riding a horse and trying to wrestle a headless, freshly slaughtered sheep from another rider, in a group of other riders all bent on getting their hands on the sheep, none of whom want to relinquish the sheep when they get their hands on it. And all the while, riding hell for leather around a distant rock in a field then back to an imaginary finish line….almost if not entirely unlike rugby, where someone on KB likened the scrum to one man trying to push two men’s heads up three men’s bums….wonderful image that.

I did ponder what the headless sheep made of it all…but not for long. The head was having a detachment experience, very possibly an “in cooking pot” experience while its body was otherwise occupied.

There is another game, a ball game with an inflated leather ball that is making inroads to the Kyrgyz sporting scene. Two teams of players on a rectangular paddock with a net at each end…attempt to score points by dramatic acting performances depicting injury and being hard done by. The best performances have the players rolling round on the ground holding their legs, pointing an accusing finger at an opposing player and wailing at he ref….looks very strange to me, nothing at all like rugby where that sort of carry on would see player heckled from the field in tears, to jeers of “Get outta here ya girl….”

Rugby…that’s right…not many Rugby supporters here in Kyrgyzstan….1,2,3,4….? About 25 all up on a good day. 4 resident Kiwis (including spouses) and 3 rotational ones (all 3 from Rolleston area?)
Three poms…One who owns the pub and who I formally referred to suicidal… naming a pub the “American bar” in an Islamic country. The other two poms could loosely be referred to as no 1 pom’s entourage.
About 8 of our neighbours across the Tasman (and they don’t let up on abusing this Kiwi. The other resident Kiwi is a more little isolated from this trans Tasman rivalry banter, being the company VP and all….he gets more of the sucking up type banter)
Then there 7 odd Saffas…that’s …7… odd Saffas and not 7 odd…Saffas…making up the 25.

Forgot one…Angry Mike another pom, ex SAS whose seen some action and as a result of something that happened, has come a little…a lot unhinged. Avoid at all costs when sober…vacate to a different part of town when drunk and only approach with caution in the company of an fully prepared armed offender squad when he is comatose on the foot path after a big session….if you must.

Rugby rivalry between us is as fierce as our patriotism…sss on fire mate! Something tike a Tri-Nations or dare I mention a world cup and things heat up…and its all on at the American bar during a game, or if at work, then usually at the canteen, every meal break before and after a game for about a week till the next game.

A popular wager is not $ or shouts…sure there are plenty of those. No the prime wager sees the losing team supporter wearing the winning teams supporter jumper for a week…at work and at play. Me, not one to make an un calculated risky wager…only a sure bet bloke me…and keen to see a Saffa wearing an All Black jumper, naturally I backed the All Blacks…not against Wallabies but against …gulp… the Springboks……not looking to good are we?

One image I cannot clear from my head…Deon, the Saffa I had the wager with, wearing an apron standing behind the ironing board with a Springbok jumper draped over it, in front of the TV with the last AB/Wallaby game playing, running the iron back and forth during quietly humming away to himself…cmon Aussie cmon …..

Of course the AB’s will whoop the Saffa’s this weekend in Hamilton, that goes without saying, And my wife in black, wearing her Tiki, hand made from nearly black Bruce bay greenstone and I, wearing my AB supporters jumper, will be down at the bar, midday Saturday with all the Aussies and Saffas and we will have a jolly time….unless Mike turns up.

And when the national anthem is sung and the haka is performed, I will be standing, and be unashamedly holding back a patriotic tear….You don’t realize how special and precious NZ is till you have been away for a while…. ]]> LBD https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/1054-An-AB-supporter-in-Urkadurkastan https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/855-Wed-May-20th-Suicidal-Englishman Wed, 20 May 2009 05:19:24 GMT Well I am glad that week is over. At least all the new equipment we brought for the Tribology lab is working, now to start getting results. I do get nervous when the management make statements like…We can now run the equipment until the oil analysis tells us it is time to repair. Driving down... Well I am glad that week is over. At least all the new equipment we brought for the Tribology lab is working, now to start getting results. I do get nervous when the management make statements like…We can now run the equipment until the oil analysis tells us it is time to repair.

Driving down today Kiwis in one car Aussies in another…no Kiwi baiting today. Wife tells be it is 25 to 30 in Bishkek today, it was snowing at the mine last night. I have been up here..4000M for the last 10 days, time for a break…only 4 days. Little scotch, big sleep tonight, dentist tomorrow for a culturally correct Kyrgyz gold crown. Maybe a little golf at our little golf course, trip to super market, Friday afternoon pool session at the American bar….Now why would any clear thinking person name their business the “American Bar” in an Islamic country? You would almost have to have a death wish. And it is owned by an Englishman, …Indian restaurant Friday night, maybe more golf on Sat depending on Friday nights dinner reaction. Burger, fries and vodka screw up for lunch, vege out for the arvo. Sunday may be the Alamadin Bazaar browsing for treasures like the whopping great glass bottle with the glass stopper, over 2 foot high for 50 com ($1.50), and back to work Monday.

Living here has its quirks. 9 or 10 days on and 4 or 5 off for 3 1/2 months then 3 week holiday.
Endless cycle of work, recover, work, recover work, holiday, work recover, work, recover, work, holiday….etc ]]> LBD https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/855-Wed-May-20th-Suicidal-Englishman https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/824-Are-these-Kyrgyz-kinky-or-what Sun, 03 May 2009 12:21:51 GMT The answer is _or what _but you will not find out till the end… When my wife and I first arrived in Urkadurka land it was summer, temps to 45C, kids running everywhere, I got that thirsty onetime I was tempted to buy cold fermented horses milk available on every street corner …I actually wanted... The answer is or what but you will not find out till the end…

When my wife and I first arrived in Urkadurka land it was summer, temps to 45C, kids running everywhere, I got that thirsty onetime I was tempted to buy cold fermented horses milk available on every street corner …I actually wanted the somewhat more palatable sweet barley water but things got confused in the translation…Anyway as newbie’s do we headed off to for a wander around a popular market called the Dordoi bazaar.

We walked down one lane at the bazaar and did a double take…We are not the kinkiest of couples but we know French Maids outfits when we see them...and here they were, rows and rows of them all different vendors all different sizes form the most petite to the not so petite…I think my wife's hand went to her mouth to suppress a giggle…we did an about face before we stumbled across other……paraphernalia. (I did say we are not really the kinky types)

We carried on exploring the rest of the Bazaar…I can see where the word bizarre originates. This place is huge, we did not see more than 10%, it must be near 30 acres in size, all shipping containers staked 2 high, side by side, openings facing the walkway with both sides of the 4m wide walk way lined with containers, then a roof over the walkway…cannot let rain stop commerce, not that it rains here of any consequence.

There were sunflower seeds to Russian sable hats, Chinese appliances to Turkish carpets, Wasabi to water melon… you can buy anything and every thing here ……as we had already found out!.

A few days later I started work up at the mine site for a nine day stint well away from civilization. About a week later my wife said to me I was in for a surprise when I come home…What could that be? Good, interesting….kinky? She would not elaborate.

The trip home was still at the interesting stage….two years later it is well past interesting….1 hour of steep windy gravel then 4 hours of the roughest sealed roads in the world. After about ¼ hour on the seal we arrive at the first village/small town Kaja Say. Kids are back at school, and school was just finished for the day so they were walking all over the place. Pedestrians often share the road with cars and trucks with assumed equal rights, travelling in random directions…school kids were no different. The girls all had neat and tidy hair in pigs tails high on the back of their heads with white ribbons contrasting against glossy black hair, the shiniest black shoes and white socks, white blouses and black pinafores which, had I seen hanging up, I would have sworn were kinky French maids out fits…. ]]> LBD https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/824-Are-these-Kyrgyz-kinky-or-what https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/788-Friday-17th-April Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:53:43 GMT Two mistakes in quick succession, am I a slow learner or what? 26 years married life and I should have learnt to budget double the cost of any accessories I want. It goes like this....I realize the bar ends mirrors I have are to wide, find an better option and decide to buy them while in Spain... Two mistakes in quick succession, am I a slow learner or what? 26 years married life and I should have learnt to budget double the cost of any accessories I want. It goes like this....I realize the bar ends mirrors I have are to wide, find an better option and decide to buy them while in Spain instead of Mail order with freight customs and customs agent costs. So I make contact with the bike shop CafeMoto in Malaga Spain and order the bits. Today we Visit the bike shop, drool over some of the Aprillias, beemers and on and on...Pick up and pay for the parts look at some old Bultacos and a cucilo(spelling) and walk out the shop...and receive a round of THEY COST YOU WHAT???? That was the first error.

Second was to stop and a tourist fashion shopping area immediatly afterwards...oh dear...
"But Sweetness...(all dripping in honey) this does not cost anything near what one of your mirrors cost....I can expect to get this line for the next week of our stay in the south of Spain, what a silly boy I am. ]]> LBD https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/788-Friday-17th-April https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/772-Thurday-9th-April Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:44:55 GMT The trip down was unusual in that none of the normal dramas took place and, baa for one small “discussion” regarding some 20 000 merino sheep NZ once sent to Kyryzstan as a gesture of friendship to improve he std of the Kyrgyz stock, there was very little kiwi baiting…phew. It was a quick trip down... The trip down was unusual in that none of the normal dramas took place and, baa for one small “discussion” regarding some 20 000 merino sheep NZ once sent to Kyryzstan as a gesture of friendship to improve he std of the Kyrgyz stock, there was very little kiwi baiting…phew. It was a quick trip down 5 hrs exactly. (I had thought it was Australia that sent the sheep)
Thursday started in the typical going somewhere by plane fashion, alarm at 2 am, no hot water for showers, and loving wife’s n’th birthday. (On the matter of disclosing spousal ages, I feel a little like Aunt Dolly when she went to mention the dogs name and said loving wife will likely read this) After a cold shower and quick cuppa it was into the van at 2.45 and off on a ½ hr drive to Manas air port. Through security before the check in counters, check in, passport control, more security then a 1 ½ hr wait for the flight to Istanbul, then Madrid and Malaga where I am writing this.

The romance of travel? It’s gone! Lost in a world of airports governed by the commercial realities of large numbers of small margin travelers, drab functional terminals, full of mistrust, over the top security, lack of courtesies, long slow queues, tired travelers and airline staff even more tired and the insufferable automated numb customs officials. It leaves one feeling very much as a sheep being drafted around the yards, just another….

Back to those 20 000 sheep sent to Kyrgyzstan (from either NZ or Australia) to try and improve the breeding stock.
I have it on good authority, first hand, from some of the shepherds, come machinery operators I work with, that the sheep were very palatable. ]]> LBD https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/772-Thurday-9th-April https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/762-Tuesday-the-7th…the-trip-down Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:56:59 GMT It has been ten days since my last…. several things actually. Today I head home to Bishkek from site. :banana: We depart site at midday for the 5 to 6 drive that is anything but pleasant. There will be 4 of us in the car today, Dave, an Aussie from WA, Mal, another Aussie, from Melbourne, Sean... It has been ten days since my last…. several things actually. Today I head home to Bishkek from site. :banana: We depart site at midday for the 5 to 6 drive that is anything but pleasant. There will be 4 of us in the car today, Dave, an Aussie from WA, Mal, another Aussie, from Melbourne, Sean from….oh shit! I am outnumbered 3;1… I am in for another 5 hours of kiwi bashing...bugger!:( There is only so much I can take before it wears me down, let’s hear it one more time for the Kiwi rugby league team…
Last blog I mentioned Simon the Cook from Manchester, the quintessential Pom, well if there ever was a clichéd Aussie yobbo its Sean. Sean has been here a couple of years now. He started on a 4 week on/off rotation but worked 4 on, 4 on, instead, greedy bugger, but then he has paid his house of in Aussie in those 2 years. Never short of a yarn and a great repository of Aussie sports trivia (and kiwi defeats) he can be pretty entertaining, although I would rather not be in his company when the kiwi bashing starts. Now that he has paid off his house, he is only waiting for his license suspension to end before he returns home….last time he was home, about a year ago, he had just got his license back….and this time he managed to keep hold of it for all of about a week…over the limits, both drink and speed at the same time, on a double demerit point Easter weekend will do that. 12 months is almost up... The other reason he is still here is to give his liver a hard earned rest.
Living at altitude has some peculiarities; you dehydrate fast and need to drink bulk water. And you dehydrate even faster on the way down to low altitude, if you are not aware/prepared, it can make the first beer a real killer. It would not be the first time I have crashed out with half a pint and a pounding head.
The other thing about living at altitude is that your red blood count goes up high and when you get down to low alt. with 50% more oxygen than you have had for some time , and with all those extra red blood cells to move the oxygen molecules around, when you get home to your wife after 10 days, it’s a case of Honey I’m home and I have lots of…..energy.

It will be to the security gate at 11.45 for the baggage x-ray, pat down for hidden 20kg bars of gold bullion we may have secreted away on our person, a sniff of our water bottles to make sure we are not trying to smuggle vodka out of the dry camp…? And it will be on the road to do battle with cattle, sheep goats, horses, chickens donkeys camels, suicidal Kyrgyz drivers, the roughest roads you will ever find….and 3 Aussies bent on kiwi baiting nonstop for 5 hours. ]]> LBD https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/762-Tuesday-the-7th…the-trip-down https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/752-Friday-3rd-april Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:46:57 GMT depressing food day....It started with Blackshears triple pizza n coke spectacular save from its tank top perch while avoiding a metal encased maniac on the road...from there it deteriorated into who is having what for dinner tonight and how many beers it takes to prepare... I did not need to... depressing food day....It started with Blackshears triple pizza n coke spectacular save from its tank top perch while avoiding a metal encased maniac on the road...from there it deteriorated into who is having what for dinner tonight and how many beers it takes to prepare...

I did not need to read that, I am at day 7 in the dry camp. It was mid afternoon and my mind drifted in an unalcholic induced manner to tonights dinner. Its Friday! I don't like Fridays cause of dinner at least not the last 18 months, since Simon left.

Simon was a cook. Its hard to be a chef when you are feeding 3000 per sitting. Simon is from Manchester and did a fairly good battered fish (I use the term fish with a good degree of license) Simon was the quentessential pom of the mad dog and Englishman variety...he would go running in his lunch break from the camp, up the hill down a track back to the camp. About 5 km...all at 16 000 feet where the atmospheric pressure is 9.3 lbs. Most of us struggle to walk and talk at the same time up here. Jogging...here have a Tuis

Back to the food, so Friday is fish Friday and in in the true spirit of cost saving, we now have a baked fish thing named salmonella ....sorry ..salmon...on Fridays, every Friday for the last 18 months. And meat loaf, chips (made with greenish potatoes.) brussel sprouts, gravey and a pasta and sauce dish I have never tried to identify and Borsch of course. All this at the baine maree in the western styled food side of the mess. At the Kyrgyz side of the mess there are all sorts of deep fried and boiled to death meat things dripping with fat. I can feel my cholestrol climb at the thought.
Mutton dumplings, great local delicacy just dont let them cool in your mouth...you will be scraping the congealed grease from the roof of your mouth with a spoon.

Then there is the shared salad bar with beetroot and corn salad, chunks of tomato salad, lettuce leaf salad, raw fish salad and my fav, Carrot and garlic surprise salad. (called that because I have had it every friday for the last 2 1/2 years and the garlic concentration still surprises me.)

What I would give for a good thai green chicken curry with lots of coconut creme....

Back to the tripple pizza save. (By the way, Saturday is pizza and steak night up here.) The posting carried on describing the NZ national Friday night culinary expectations...Roasts, spuds and gravey, some sea food dish (dririder 87) back to a discription of the 3 pizzas, then we get to a goat curry.... any curry...please.

There are several supermarkets in Bishkek some have a good range of imported foods...herschys caramel topping, ketchup, some yank brand of rolled oats. Sanfords and sealords mussels.(wasn't that a surprise) but after 6 months of exaustive searching, the coconut creme or milk, canned or dried still eludes us. Got all the spices, no drama there, shrimp paste, fish oil, fresh galangal all here. Coconut derivitives...Nuh.

After Kiwi grahams goat curry, we had ham and cheese rolls then along came ducatilover with the typical good taste of all ducati owners...he is having...JUST A NICE SIMPLE GREEN THAI CHICKEN CURRY....He was posting that while I was posting what I expected tonight. The bastard.

And to add insult, when I mentioned my coconut delima, he invited me over for a curry without checking my location. (or maybe he did and thought this is a safe bet)

yer a hard creul man ducati lover, got a mind to red rep you in revenge...

0800 838383....large supreme with anchovies and extra supreme on top please....my address for delivery is.... ]]> LBD https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/752-Friday-3rd-april