Sunday 5th, August 2018
7 am
We woke up to a bright Sunday morning with a clear view of Son-Kul (Соң-Көл) lake.
As Matt was preparing breakfast a man wearing a yellow coat came over to talk to us. He only spoke Kyrgyz so we understood through hand gestures that "he wanted to borrow our knife". We gave him our Swiss army knife. We didn't think much of it because we generally lend people our things like a normal kind person would.
8 am
After breakfast, Pheng headed over to get it back. Here is the rough run down of that conversation:
[Pheng shows his open palm indicating for the return of the knife]
Borrower: Your friend gave it to me
Pheng: Matt – he said you gave it to him [Matt walks over]
Matt: No
Borrower: [shrugs shoulder] I have lost it
P&M: [Angry Russian mode on] You have it, please give it back.
His friend in the red shirt is more sensible and tries to get him to give it back. Our Italian friend who has been cycling with us for the past week joined in to get it back.
We noticed his eyes are strangely blood red. He might be on something? After repeatedly asking for it he says a few words and laugh, indicating this land is his, the knife was given to him, and at one point he flipped the knife out to threaten us. Then, he offered us 500 soms for it (NZ $10, the knife was bought in NZ for $120). We weren't having any of it, plus it would be hard to find it here in the shops. Pheng started recording the confrontation.
8:30 am
We went back to pack our things and try again afterward.
9 am
To our delight a 4WD drove into the little cove we camped at. We desperately greeted them and asked if they spoke Russian or English. They spoke Russian so we immediately told them the situation.
We thought he wanted to borrow the knife
мы думали, что хотят заимствовать нож
"No, no, no!" Exclaimed the driver as he walks towards the borrower.
We are very pleased they are trying to talk him into returning it. We returned to pack our things.
9:05 am
The driver walked over to us with our knife and said we must leave, now. We understood and sped up our packing. A fortunate ending.
9:30 am
We hopped on our bikes and started pedalling for the day.
Actually, the people here are great, so don't let this goon change your mind about visiting Kyrgyzstan. In hindsight we shouldn't have camped so close to his place but we did think it was just a storage shed.
To lighten the mood, here's some amazing photos we had from that spot the night before.
Thanks for the photos Daniele
