As some of you may already know, we were in Kyrgyzstan with our previous T3 Syncro in 2017. This last trip was, so to speak, our overlanding debut (you might call it like that). After we had just 4 months and our apartment and jobs at home were waiting for us, it was clear that we wanted to go again. So we're setting off again now. In this article we would like to give you a "brief" report from our trip to Kyrgyzstan with Günther.
It all started at home in Fällanden in early June '17. Before that, I had rebuilt and expanded Günther for about 2 years so that it would hopefully withstand such a trip. We drove towards Vienna first, but already in Lindau the rear drive shaft sheared off the constant velocity joint on a crossroads and we were helped by super nice people there (who also had a T2 and a T3) so that we could continue on the same evening. Via Vienna and Graz we went to Slovenia, where we noticed two porous cooling water hoses. We had these delivered to Dubrovnik and drove there with a duct tape repair (and even further).
After the delivery of the replacement hoses was delayed a bit, we quickly moved on to Albania and Greece. Time to change the tube was not really, so the repaired tube was still working. We crossed Turkey at a fast pace, because we really wanted to go to Georgia. A wonderful country, fine food and magnificent landscapes but also extreme conditions in traffic - not only due to miserable roads ;-)
We drove via Mestia and Ushguli through the Caucasus (unfortunately with very bad weather) and didn't even have the opportunity to see the Ushba. This made the route all the more exciting, a large part of which was unpaved or was currently under construction. Here we were very happy for the first time about our Syncro and its ground clearance and off-road capability.
Then we went on to Azerbaijan and from there we took the ferry across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan. Sometimes you have to wait more than a week until a ship is fully loaded and enough trucks want to travel with it. Fortunately, a ship left that same evening. However, buying the ticket was a disaster and lasted from 10 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon.
After a 72-hour overfeed due to a storm, we arrived in Kazakhstan, where we were welcomed very politely and pleasantly. Now we drove further north-west in order to be able to get to Tajikistan via Uzbekistan and finally to Kyrgyzstan. The evening before crossing the border to Uzbekistan (of course we already had a visa) we informed ourselves a little more about the travel conditions in the country. And in addition to exclusively horror stories about the border crossing in front of us, there are also problems with the gasoline supply (depending on the source) and with a 2-week visa, the 1300 km (our tank had a capacity for about 450 km) in the country were a bit too risky for us if no petrol can be found (locals drive almost exclusively on gas).
Thus, we spontaneously decided to drive through Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan, which was a good decision in the end due to the constantly rising engine oil temperature and the falling oil pressure.We made it to Kyrgyzstan where it turned out that our engine had a connecting rod bearing damage. Funnily enough, the diagnosis came from our friend Mitch, who suspected this via Whatsapp videos and descriptions.The search for a workshop was not easy, but at some point, with the help of a Kyrgyz friend, we found Maxim's workshop, who completely overhauled the engine for us - and at a Kyrgyz price.However, it also took about 3 weeks in which we went climbing with our backpacks to the Ala Archa NP or the Chunkurchak Gorge, among other places.
After Günther was running again we had an appointment with Benny from Dresden to work in the fields in the east of Kyrgyzstan, in the Ak-Shirak mountains. There we recovered temperature sensors for the University of Zurich, serviced the climate station and measured a glacier tongue. After two weeks in the field, the three of us drove a few more days further east to the Inylchek valley and then back to Bishkek because Benny's return flight came faster than expected.
On the way back to Bishkek we unfortunately had slight oil pressure problems again so we gave the bus to Maxim again. There the engine was removed for the second time and it turned out that the Reinz seal kit unfortunately contained an oil pump seal that was too thick and therefore no optimal oil pressure could be built up. So we were in Bishkek again for two weeks (over the time we really started to like it) and were busy with day or multi-day trips.
In the end we got Günther back and everything was fine, he drove very well and the oil neither got too hot nor did the pressure decrease. Slowly we had to start our journey back home, which took us again via Kazakhstan, but this time further north and through Russia. After a brisk return trip without any further breakdowns, we arrived at my grandparents' place in Schwerin after a good 3 1/2 months, where we stayed for a few more days before continuing to Dresden and finally back to Fällanden.
The trip, even if we drove a lot of kilometers in a short time, showed us that traveling by car is much more pleasant and slower than by plane. You can perceive the countries very differently, you can feel the vastness of the Kazakh steppe and you don't have to search long for a driver who drives you into the remote mountain corners. For us it felt a lot more free than any other way of traveling.