Day 26 We woke up not long after 7am and Gena got back to working on the car about 11am, and finally got the worn part out. Turns out it didnt need replacing, but can be fixed with a new ring of asbestos. Unfortunately with no way of communicating this to Andrew, we just had to wait for a message from him via taxi. By two we still hadnt received the part and we were getting antsy, we didnt really want to sleep another night there. And not long after that, our trusted mechanic pulled on the wrong part and drained our car of the little precious oil we had in the engine. The part never arrived. Instead we were offered vodka at 3pm, and had a jolly old time with the check-point boys. A few rally teams passed this day, and chatting to them was a welcome distraction. Jo got some enjoyment out pretending to be a guard as one Australian teams mistook him one. --- At the same time, Andrew was running around Osh, quickly discovering there was no way to get the part we needed. Instead he called on his new friend Kokune, and organised a tow for the car. Day 27 A note arrives from Andrew, spirits increase, weve got a tow! Andrew didnt have any luck finding the required part, so instead sent a mechanic with a truck get us to Kyrgyzstan. Our new friends quickly put the car back together, handing us a bag of spare parts and said problem! We said our final good byes to Gena, Miksha, Hakeem, Leon, and the brother we cant remember the name of, giving them our Halfords tool kit (much to the detriment of Andrew), a big knife and Bernts Samarkand chess set - where they work they need the distraction more than we do. At 12.30, more than a full 48 hours since we got to the check point we were on our way to Kyrgyzstan and away from the freezing cold of the Pamir. ... Three tow ropes later, we got to Sera Tosh in Kyrgyzstan where we reunited with Andrew, had a quick bowl of soup and some bread, and started the five hour drive to Osh to get our car fixed. -- Bernt and Jostein stayed in the car, dreaming of showers, internet and hotel breakfasts, all the things we knew the $3/bed hostel we were driving towards would not be able to fulfill. A hot shower was what we needed the most after or Tajikistan stay. Around 10pm, our truck driver started falling asleep and needed a rest, he only wanted ten minutes, but since he hadnt slept the previous night (he drove from Osh to pick us up from Tajikistan and back), Andrew convinced him to take two hours. Consequently we arrived at the hostel around 2am, and fell promptly asleep. Day 28 At 8am Bernt wakes up and surveys the site. No shower, but at least theres power to charge our phones, and weve got signal in Kyrgyzstan! We started looking for a mechanic quite early, but turned out to be more difficult than expected. At 11am we finally got in touch with someone Andrew met during his Osh adventures, who offered to pick us up from the hostel and take to a mechanic. Spirits increasing we waited patiently. So far we know that replacing the worn part out the clutch disc would fix our original problem, but last night our engine wouldnt start, and our battery was drained by the time we woke this morning. Our fuel gauge is also faulty, and we discovered that our ¾ full tank was actually empty, possibly pumping air into the system. Our car is now at a mechanics, and were all in a hotel getting cleaned. For Bernt and Jostein, this is the first time in over five days since water has touched any part of our bodies besides our face and hands. Yummy.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 10:09:02 +0000
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