Earthquakes, blizzards and a coup d'etat

All of the above have happened here in the ten days since I left SF0. Earthquake was 700 km south of here near Tibet. Did not affect us We caught the edge of the blizzard. Bone chilling cold weather and a few flurries when we rode camels at Dunhuang. However the near civil war in Kyrgyzstan has caused us to change our itinerary. Called the switzerland of c Asia - We were going come in over a 14000 ft pass and negotiate its gravel roads in two six seater buses. First the stay in the yurt was off because there are no facilities at all and nocturnal trips in the dark in unseasonal snow sounded distinctly dodgy. Next there was the coup. Sounded as we would still go. A 10 pm curfew would not really affect us. We are too exhausted after these long days to want to put on our dancing shoes
But now we have been told there are no flights out of Bishkek the capital. Geoex works with a british group called Controlled Risks as well as taking advice from the us state department. Geoex has nixed Kyrgyzstan. We are bummed. I will still have unfinished business in C ASia. So today we take the Karakorum highway down to the border of Tajikistan and Pakistan. It is amazing scenic we hear. We are then flying back to urmuchi and to Almaty in Kazakhstan. More anon! Ttfn
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