27 September 2009

On the way back from Cambridge My GPS said "A14 closed" - so I stopped off at the "Kettering Vintage Rally and Steam Fayre". A very good event - excellent parking - no queues in or out - parking marshals were highly motivated scouts and plenty of them.






These are "Field Marshalls" - when idling they bounce on the suspension like a some great green car waiting to pounce - and you start them with saltpeter paper and a shotgun cartridge.



A Jag!


Not a Jag



A rather nice Swedish lady brings her collection of board games along to steam fairs - just because she loves seeing the reaction and making people happy "Oh yes, we had that game!" [Sadly no one would play 4000AD with me - I had worked out a killer pincer tactic - result - short game - which I would invariably win]



There is an ERF club - drivers loved these British made trucks so much - that they buy them up, restore them and the drive them to fairs at the weekend! This one is done up as a weekend camper - with a caravan on the trailer.

26 September 2009



A little trip back to Cambridge - to the engineering department (Institute for Manufacturing) and to Wolfson College...



25 years since my last visit!






Is Google making us stupid? - a stellar line up on the panel but I had the last word...

"It has been an excellent debate but we have all been wasting our time, I Googled the answer over lunch and it said 'no, don't worry'"

24 September 2009

Kyrgyzstan - On the Silk Road



Its a wedding party (hiding in the shadow)



Its a big brick tower



Some things never change



This, I think, is the new president - the old president went bad and was ousted in the "Tulip Revolution" (they have run out of colours and have switched to flowers apparently) - the new 'democratic' president (Kurmanbek Bakiyev) has set about changing the constitution in his favour (allegedly)


Kygystan - Cuisine!








23 September 2009

Kyrgyzstan - Karakol (Mostly)















Lunch on the way to Bishkek



If you won the fight - I think you get to put up a statue of your victim



Museum in the old town







The main church



Fire Station - at the Mosque

Kyrgystan - Cholpon-Ata



Hotel Aurora - a  "sanatorium" in Cholpon-Alta - very faded but the garden is very well looked after and the breakfast was authentic Russian - other visitors said the food was awful - either it has got better or I have lower standards (and there are so many fruit trees in the grounds - you could always feed yourself by foraging)



Lichen - what a lot of colours, frankly just as interesting as the...



(slightly) restored petroglyphs in Cholpon-Ata



The museum in Cholpon-Ata was (very) closed

Kazakhstan to Kyrgystan - a Quiet Border Crossing



Something is going to happen in (or by) 2030 - I wonder what



My first sight of the Tien-Shan



Border was (in part) DIY



The Kazakh side was all shiny and gleaming and with internet and automation - the Kyrgyz was a lonely bloke with a pen and a logbook

On the steppes of Central Asia



Last restaurant in Kazakhstan





Real steppe - the little black dots are little black horses





Charyn Canyon - boy am I glad I did not pay the $150 for the day excursion!

22 September 2009

Kyrgyzstan - A little trip to... Altyn-Arashan Health Resort



Yes - this type of transport was really necessary




Lovely location in the Tien Shan Mountains






Here are the facilities



...and here is the road

20 September 2009

Temirlan Stones, Kyrgyzstan



It is a big pile of stones in Kyrgyzstan - several competing stories but once more people are hanging ribbons on trees (like in Mongolia, Cyprus and Worcestershire).




View - in Winter - the stones are just above the "2009 Google" copyright text





Hotel Aurora - Issyk-Kul