Our personal security guards: Abdul Karim and Azamat Ali

It was nearing 5:00, two hours before dark and the time that we normally like to start looking for a place to camp for the night. We were on a long stretch between villages and saw what looked like a promising spot hidden in the trees on the shore of Issik Kul lake. As we scoped out our potential site from the highway, we were waved over by a Abdul Karim.

I'm going to be very honest here, even if I don't like to admit this about myself, but if we were to judge a book by it's cover, this would have been a man who made us want to turn and run. Decked oun in camouflage, dark skinned and with a sgraggly beard, he's just the kind of man that we are taught to fear in western media.... We warily followed him into the compound where he was the head security guard, each of us thinking the same thing: that we'd give him a chance, but that we would be assertive and leave if anything at all made us uncomfortable about the situation.

He lead us down to the lakeshore where there was a beautiful camping spot right on the beach. He told us that we were welcome to camp there and offered us a radio so that we could communicate with him and the other two security guards if we had any problems through the night. Then he disappeared and left us to set up camp. We enjoyed a great dinner while the sun set over Lake Issik Kul and just as we were finishing up, Abdul Karim came back with his fellow security guard Azamat Ali and his huge guard dog, Tarzan. Azamat Ali was very excited for us to take pictures of him and his dog on the lake-shore, which we promised to share by email.

We offered to share some food with them, but they declined since September is Ramadan and as muslims, they were not allowed to eat between 4am and 7pm for the month. We had a brief converstation about religion in our respective countries and Abdul-Karim told us that most security guards in Kyrgyzstan are muslim because they are know for their honesty and for not stealing or harming people. He explained that there were many different religions in Kyrgyzstan and that they all got along well with one another and was happy to hear that the same was true in Canada.

At 8:00pm, just as we were ready to retire to the tent for our nightly knitting and reading (such an exciting life on the bikes, I know!), the two of them were back, this time with a third security guard in tow. We pulled out our sleeping pads so there was sitting room for everyone. Abdul Karim had a loaf of bread and a jar of milk mixed with oil for dunking it in and we all shared it together, and then we shared a bar of chocolate with them, all the while talking about our trip and our country and asking them about theirs, with the help of our phrase book, our picture book and very limited english and kyrgyz. It was a great evening of sharing and we went to sleep that night feeling extremely secure under the watchful eye of our three personal security guards!

Christine