Day 150, 24th October., Sosnovka
Getting the Russian visas before the section of the Chinese trip from Mohan to Irkeshtam was finalised, I had assumed we would be in China until the end of October and I added some more days on in case of accidents, breakdowns, problems with getting through borders etc. Consequently I played it over-safe and left us with 29 days to make our way from Irkeshtam to the Kazakh border with Russia.
Coming over the Tor-Ashoo Pass (3,586 metres and pretty pathetic by the standards of western Tibet) we bought two large jars of delicious honey at the side of the road for £5, and then I got stopped by the police and fined for speeding. He accepted a bribe of £5. He gave me an apple and told me it was “vkusno” (“tasty”). And it was. So no hard feelings. At Sosnovka, just before the road from Osh meets the busy east-west road to Bishkek, we stopped to buy some grub in a supermarket and, when there was a power cut and the shoppers whipped out their torches, we realised that it had become dark outside in a matter of minutes. So we parked outside the supermarket for the night.
