June 25, 2013

Walk around the Iskander Kul lake

The title is somewhat misleading...we did not walk around the whole lake Iskanderkul. 
But we did have a nice walk after we arrived at the camp/tourist center.  The weather was cool and cloudy.
We went for the walk before dinner...starting from the camp going counter-clock-wise around the lake.  I think.  We turned left. :) 


  As I mentioned in my previous post, we were two families, all together 7 children with us.


Even though our kids love outdoors and actually ran uphill the first moment they got (see below), they are still just kids so no serious hiking during this trip! But if you came here with you bike, you could get all the way to the Panj Chasma (five springs) half way around the lake and enjoy ice cold fresh spring water straight from the five springs.   But you can go there by car as well, like we did the next day.  


We truly enjoyed the views.  The road is right next to the lake the whole time.  


There are so many different colors in those slopes!


But my favorite is snow on top of the highest mountains.  Now that would be an experience!


There were surprisingly many different kinds of flowers around the area.  I love flowering bushes...I was hoping there could be a way to take this home with me!



And this pretty was growing at the camp site. 






Here is couple of pictures taken the next day; we got sunshine! 
Some parts of the lake shore were artificially walled.  Maybe to prevent flooding to the camp? 


Next we will visit the "Five Springs" Panj Chasma and enjoy a lunch outdoors.




June 23, 2013

Lake Iskander Kul: travel and accommodation



It has been years that I have wanted to visit this mountain lake up in the Fan(n) Mountains.  I don’t remember how I first heard about Iskander Kul; it has been a popular tourist destination all along the soviet years of Central Asia.  The lake is named after Alexander the Great who roamed the mountains and valleys of Central Asia about 330 BC (I got those facts off the Wiki, I haven’t started history lessons yet with my kids!). I heard that during Soviet times there were buses that went there regularly as people wanted to visit this beautiful glacier lake, those were the times when the roads were paved and taken care of. 

Flowering bushes at Iskander Kul
The summer really is the best time to go; the roads are dry and the weather is warmer. This summer we finally had an opportunity to travel up to the mountains.  Our friends wanted to visit us and so we decided to travel to Iskander Kul together and spend few days there.  All together we have 7 kids under the age of 9, so this wouldn’t be a hiking trip even though the men are experienced mountainhikers.   This would be more of a low key family enjoying the mountains kind of trip.

Driving in Varsob valley
The place to catch a car to Iskander Kul is a taxi/car station above Vadanasos north of Dushanbe.  The boys were excited to travel in a Jeep and so we hired two cars that would travel together.  We started driving north through the narrow Varsob valley where the rocky Varsob river bubbles and bounces down towards the capital, Dushanbe.  Varsob, being close to the capital is full of sanitariums, guests houses, and some of them looked quite fancy with blue pools and green gardens when we drove by. 


After Varsob the weather started to feel cooler, we turned off the a/c in the Jeep.  My daughter commented on grey patches on the mountains and insisted they were ashes.  However, after staring at them for a while we figured that they were the remains of last winter’s snow patching the shadier parts of the high mountains around us. 

Also seen on the road:

Central Asian women going visiting with large dastarkhons in their hands

Stopping at the road tax station
Fleeting by a village 
Iskander Kul is off the main road M34 between Dushanbe and northernmost parts of the country.  The M34 road is well paved and there are several Chinese build tunnels on the road.  The tunnel that is not Chinese build was an experience; we call it the Tunnel of Horrors.  Long, dark, not ventilated and in a very bad condition made us count the minutes to get through it.  

Crazy driving in the long tunnel
The floor of the tunnel is flooded with water, apparently from a lake on the top of the mountain and full of bumps, holes and pieces of iron sticking out of it.  Our drivers skillfully guided their vehicles around and through the rivers of water and other obstacles while making me gasp with fear at couple of points.  The smell of exhaust made me seriously wonder if our baby should be in there at all…what if he doesn't get enough oxygen?  20 minutes in that tunnel felt like a very long time. 

We made it through the tunnel of horrors!
The whole trip took almost four hours including a lunch break in a tiny road side tea house where we ate soup, bread and tea. 

Looking south on the last pass before Iskander Kul
The last part of the road is a typical mountain road in Central Asia.  It winds up and down the mountains before reaching Iskander Kul.  When I first caught a glimpse of the lake I was struck by the color: light, milky, emerald green snug between the high peaks of Gissar Range.  I wondered about the color and heard that it changes through the year.  It's more green in the early summer and more blue later in the year.  

There is a registration fee required before entering the lake area.  Here we are waiting in the cars for the guard to write down our passport details. 

Registration at arrival
At our arrival to the Iskander Kul the weather was cloudy with a hint of rain.  Time to take out jeans and fleeces!  We had gotten a phone number for the owner of the camp center by the Iskander Kul lake.  I call it camp side as it looked and felt like 70s Finnish summer camp centers! It’s situated right next to the lake which was perfect for us; that’s what we came here for!  


Tourist center at Iskander Kul
The place has numerous little wooden houses, an outdoor toilet and shower house.  I was very thankful to see a large hot water boiler…cold showers (or no showers in that case) would have been too cruel in that weather!  The owner had bought the place a couple of years ago and they were slowly renovating and improving.  There was a grumpy grounds guy, a quiet cook, a friendly waitress and a serious cleaning lady among other people who lingered in the big ‘dining room’, playing cards, watching Russian TV and drinking ‘white tea’.


Dining room and bar where you can buy water and snacks
We settled into the two houses that we chose and asked for potato fries (kartoshka fri) for dinner.  Before dinner we went for a walk along the lake but I will have to make it into another post!  


Our house had 4 rooms
Our house had four rooms; three bedrooms and one sitting room with a TV on the wall.  Very basic, no decorations, but we had clean sheets and warm blankets.  I was happy to see an electric heater in one of the rooms...it was needed at nights.  

Next I will write about the springs, waterfalls and other things we saw at the Iskander Kul area.  

June 21, 2013

Visit to Iskandar Kul

We just got back from a three day visit to Iskandar Kul in the Fann mountains.

It was beautiful.
I love snow topped mountains.
I got sunburn.
It is lovely to be back home again.

Iskandar Kul in morning light
I will post about our trip in more detail when we have stopped celebrating the Finnish Midsummer!
Happy midsummer, everyone!

June 4, 2013

Uuden sementin laittoa

Vihjailinkin jo äitienpäivänä, että laitan kuvia sitten häätunnelmista.  



Mutta aloitetaanpa alusta. 
Häihin valmistautuminen alkaa yleensä remontilla.  Olen oppinut vainuamaan tulevat häät aika tarkasti.  Esimerkiksi kun viime syksynä katumme päässä oleva leipuri nosti leivän hintaa, mutta alkoi samaan aikaan käyttää halvempaa jauhoa, laskin yhteen yksi ynnä kaksi.  Hänellä on kolme poikaa ja yksi kouluikäinen tyttö.  Vanhin poika on jo naimisissa, mutta seuraava oli jo sopivassa iässä.  Ja kuinkas ollakaan, saimme kutsun toisen pojan häihin, joita vietettiin joulukuussa, ihanassa auringonpaisteessa.  

Samoin naapurustossamme kaksi naapuria on aloittanut talonsa ulkopuolen kaunistuksen.  Kolme miestä on seisonut telineillä rapsuttamassa vanhaa pintaa pois ja laittamassa uutta pintaa tilalle.  Olin ihan varma, että häät on tulossa.  Niinpä kun kävin kyselemässä ompelijalta, joka asuu ihan remonttitalon naapurissa, että onko tyttöjen kesämekot jo valmiina (eivät olleet, koska ensin ompelijalla oli kiire ja sitten hän sairastui johonkin mystiseen energianviejätautiin), sain kuulla, että molempiin taloihin on tulossa morsiamet.  

Ja vielä, vastapäinen naapurimme, jolta ostamme joka päivä 2 litraa maitoa ja jonka pojat leikkivät meidän lasten kanssa päivittäin (faktoja, joilla ei ole mitään tekemistä häiden kanssa, mutta mielenkiintoisia silti), on aloittamassa remonttia ja kuulin, että syksyllä olisi tarkoitus ottaa taloon toinen miniä.  Kaksi isoa hiekkakasaa on jo tuotu kadulle odottamaan sementin sekoittajia.

Ja sementti uusittiin myös meidän pihalla.  Se oli jo aika surullisessa tilassa ja mietimme keväällä että kuinka iso osa siitä pitäisi uusia. Paikattu kohta oli viiden vuoden aikana murtunut ja rapissut pala kerrallaan pois.  

Paikattu pinta näkyy vaaleampana kohtana
Murtuneeseen pintaan jäi kiinni pöly ja hiekka ja siinäpä oli rikkaruohojen mukava kasvaa. 

Surullisessa tilassa oleva pihasementti

Paikattu pinta lähti kevyesti jalalla siirtämällä liuskoina irti
Kun vuokranantajat pyysivät, saisivatko he viettää häät täällä, tiesimme, että uusi sementti koko pihaan on ihan must.  
Saimme kolmen miehen remonttiryhmän pihasementin laittoon.  
Yksi sekoitti sementin käsin:



Toinen mies kuljetti valmiin sementin kottikärryillä sementin levittäjälle...


...ja kolmas mies teki valuraamit ja levitti ja tasoitti sementin metrin mittaisiin luiskiin.

Tässä kuvassa näkyy taustalla uusi pinta ja etualalla pihan kamalin kohta.  
Ämpärissä on vanhan paikkauskohdan paloja, joita pojat innoissaan kaapivat irti ja keräsivät ämpäriin kun lupasin heille vähän jätskirahaa vaivanpalkaksi. 

Uusi sementtipinta taustalla
Ja tässä seisoo morsianjoukko uudella sementillä joka on ihana ja sileä kuin vauvan pep...poski.  


En ole ihan varma, kuka oli se "meidän" morsio näistä kolmesta tuoreesta miniästä, mutta hattupäinen tyttö on se, jonka häitä vietettiin täällä pari vuotta sitten.  

p.s. löydätkö ensimmäisestä kuvasta meidän esikoistytön? :) 

June 3, 2013

Kissanpentuja

Niitähän täällä, joka kesä nyt jo kolmatta vuotta.  
Kissaäiti teki poikueensa huhtikuussa rojuhuoneen puukasan alle, piiloon.
Nyt ollaan neljättä päivää saatu helliä ja paapoa karvapalleroita, jotka ovat kasvaneet niin, että eivät enää pysy piilossa emon yrityksistä huolimatta.


Kaikki neljä ovat ihan samannäköisiä kuin emonsa.  
Ja kaksi alkoi välittömästi ahmia kissanraksuja joita emolle tarjoiltiin.



Maitoparta



Päiväunilla rojuhuoneen pahvinpalalla.


Venytys!


Kunhan löytyisi hyvät kodit kaikille...meillä alkaa olemaan kissamittari täynnä!