Difference between revisions of "2024-07-29 42 74"

Latest revision as of 03:46, 3 August 2024

Location

Outside the city limits of Bishkek.

Participants

Stevage
KT

Expedition

The pre-expedition

KT has been riding horses through the the Kyrgyzstan highlands for the last 18 days. I’m at the start of a long central Azian hiking holiday. We overlap for about 5 days, just enough to squeeze in a few days of hiking in the Ala Archa region and…a geohash?

But the schedule is tight. We’re meeting in Bishkek on the afternoon of the 28th, and going hiking on the 29th. There’s not a lot of flexibility!

And then, I check the geohashes and…it’s a miracle! The point on the 29th is only a 30 minute drive southeast from Bishkek. It’s very close to a road, and looks like disused land. Our hike is south. We can make this work!

Our plan: spend the morning efficiently gathering maps and supplies, pack, and take a taxi via the geohash to the Ala Archa area where we will first dump some of our gear at a hotel.

Attempting to acquire a map of the hike is a hilarious shmozzles. I’ve already had one attempt locating a map shop “GeoID” but apparently gave up too easily. According to the guide I was supposed to continue inside the unmarked door, past the security guard, up to the fourth floor, down to the end of the corridor, and there would be map heaven. Full of confidence, we attempt this. It is definitely, definitively, not there.

Second attempt, we go to one of two addresses we have for the “Trekking Union of Kyrgyzstan”. There is a hairdresser’s. No map shop.

Attempt three, we go to the other address we have. It’s not there. There’s a mosque with people coming in and out. In desperation I take a few steps closer and notice around the side of the mosque, a small sign: “Trekking Union of Kyrgzstan”. Arrows lead to more signs which have more arrows, some of which point in the correct direction. Eventually we arrive, and ask about the promised map. The map they have for sale is terrible. It’s worse than either of the two digital maps we already have. I buy a different map for a different region I’m going to later, and we give up and head back to the hotel.

The expedition

We summon a YandexGo (like Uber) and ponder how to explain why we are going to the point. To our good fortune, the driver is a young Pakistani man with excellent English and a good sense of curiosity and adventure. We try to explain geohashing without getting too technical, and he seems pleased to be part of it.

Passing the time on the journey he tells us colourful tales of business misadventure (business partners in jail now), misdeeds (friends in jail now), and his home life (living with his brother and his two wives, who hate each other and each want the other divorced). He’s studying to be a doctor,

Traffic is heavy but he seems to know some clever back ways. Bishkek seems to extend out much further than I expected. We are quite close to the point by the time it starts to feel very rural.

I ask him if he has been here before. “No, never”. Then he reconsiders. “Yes. My girlfriend lives here.”

We start to drive over a bridge and I suddenly realise we’ll end up on the wrong side of the canal this way. I speak up and our driver is very apologetic. He got caught up in his stories, and immediately reverses, much to the consternation of a car behind us.

Now we’re very close. There are distant fields of corn, and much closer fields of dead thistles. This could be a pretty savage bush bash!

Our driver has no concerns about the rough dirt road, and gets as close as possible, barely 20m from the point. It’s so easy! In the bright sunshine we stride out across short grass, giving the thistles a wide berth.

Success! Hugs and high fives. First geohash in Kyrgyzstan! We take a celebratory photo with our driver (alas, we didn’t think of dragging him to the point itself).

Then we embark on what turns out to be the much more diffficult quest of finding our hotel at Ala-Archa. But that’s a story for another day.

Photos

At the hash with KT
With taxi driver
View from the hash
View from the hash
Dried thistles near the hash. Thank god we didn’t have to go through them. That’s our taxi in the distance.
GPS proof
KT in the taxi
KT and the thistles of doom.
Trees
Structure of some sort - maybe wheat processing? It had silos. We’re not sure.

Achievements

Stevage and KT earned the Graticule Unlocked Achievement

by being the first to reach any hashpoint in the (42, 74) graticule, here, on 2024-07-29.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-<!-- If you did not specify these parameters in the template, please substitute appropriate values for IMAGE, LAT, LON, and DATE (YYYY-MM-DD format)
+[[Image:{{{image|2024-07-29_42_74_Felix Dance _1722374896723.jpg}}}|thumb|left]]
-[[Image:{{{image|IMAGE}}}|thumb|left]]
+{{meetup graticule|date=2024-07-29|lat=42|lon=74}}
+== Location ==
+Outside the city limits of Bishkek.
+== Participants ==
+*[[User:Stevage|Stevage]]
+*[[User:Kt|KT]]
+== Expedition ==
+===The pre-expedition ===
+KT has been riding horses through the the Kyrgyzstan highlands for the last 18 days. I’m at the start of a long central Azian hiking holiday. We overlap for about 5 days, just enough to squeeze in a few days of hiking in the Ala Archa region and…a geohash?
+But the schedule is tight. We’re meeting in Bishkek on the afternoon of the 28th, and going hiking on the 29th. There’s not a lot of flexibility!
+And then, I check the geohashes and…it’s a miracle! The point on the 29th is only a 30 minute drive southeast from Bishkek. It’s very close to a road, and looks like disused land. Our hike is south. We can make this work!
+Our plan: spend the morning efficiently gathering maps and supplies, pack, and take a taxi via the geohash to the Ala Archa area where we will first dump some of our gear at a hotel.
+Attempting to acquire a map of the hike is a hilarious shmozzles. I’ve already had one attempt locating a map shop “GeoID” but apparently gave up too easily. According to the guide I was supposed to continue inside the unmarked door, past the security guard, up to the fourth floor, down to the end of the corridor, and there would be map heaven. Full of confidence, we attempt this. It is definitely, definitively, not there.
+Second attempt, we go to one of two addresses we have for the “Trekking Union of Kyrgyzstan”. There is a hairdresser’s. No map shop.
-Remove this section if you don't want an image at the top (left) of your report. You should remove the "Image:" or "File:"
+Attempt three, we go to the other address we have. It’s not there. There’s a mosque with people coming in and out. In desperation I take a few steps closer and notice around the side of the mosque, a small sign: “Trekking Union of Kyrgzstan”. Arrows lead to more signs which have more arrows, some of which point in the correct direction. Eventually we arrive, and ask about the promised map. The map they have for sale is terrible. It’s worse than either of the two digital maps we already have. I buy a different map for a different region I’m going to later, and we give up and head back to the hotel.
-tag from your image file name, and replace the all upper-case word IMAGE in the above line.
-And DON'T FORGET to add your expedition and the best photo you took to the gallery on the Main Page! We'd love to read your report, but that means we first have to discover it! :)
+=== The expedition ===
--->{{meetup graticule|date=2024-07-29|lat=42|lon=74}}
+We summon a YandexGo (like Uber) and ponder how to explain why we are going to the point. To our good fortune, the driver is a young Pakistani man with excellent English and a good sense of curiosity and adventure. We try to explain geohashing without getting too technical, and he seems pleased to be part of it.
-== Location ==
-<!-- where you've surveyed the hash to be -->
+Passing the time on the journey he tells us colourful tales of business misadventure (business partners in jail now), misdeeds (friends in jail now), and his home life (living with his brother and his two wives, who hate each other and each want the other divorced). He’s studying to be a doctor,
+Traffic is heavy but he seems to know some clever back ways. Bishkek seems to extend out much further than I expected. We are quite close to the point by the time it starts to feel very rural.
+I ask him if he has been here before. “No, never”. Then he reconsiders. “Yes. My girlfriend lives here.”
+We start to drive over a bridge and I suddenly realise we’ll end up on the wrong side of the canal this way. I speak up and our driver is very apologetic. He got caught up in his stories, and immediately reverses, much to the consternation of a car behind us.
+Now we’re very close. There are distant fields of corn, and much closer fields of dead thistles. This could be a pretty savage bush bash!
+Our driver has no concerns about the rough dirt road, and gets as close as possible, barely 20m from the point. It’s so easy! In the bright sunshine we stride out across short grass, giving the thistles a wide berth.
+Success! Hugs and high fives. First geohash in Kyrgyzstan! We take a celebratory photo with our driver (alas, we didn’t think of dragging him to the point itself).
-== Participants ==
+Then we embark on what turns out to be the much more diffficult quest of finding our hotel at Ala-Archa. But that’s a story for another day.
-<!-- who attended: If you link to your wiki user name in this section, your expedition will be picked up by the various statistics generated for geohashing. You may use three tildes ~ as a shortcut to automatically insert the user signature of the account you are editing with.
--->
-== Plans ==
-<!-- what were the original plans -->
-== Expedition ==
-<!-- how it all turned out. your narrative goes here. -->
-== Tracklog ==
-<!-- if your GPS device keeps a log, you may use Template:Tracklog, post a link here, or both -->
 == Photos ==
-<!-- Insert pictures between the gallery tags using the following format:
-Image:2024-##-## ## ## Alpha.jpg | Witty Comment
+<gallery heights="300px" mode="packed">
--->
-<gallery perrow="5">
 Image:2024-07-29_42_74_Felix Dance _1722374878918.jpg|At the hash with KT
@@ Line 34: / Line 55: @@
 Image:2024-07-29_42_74_Felix Dance _1722374896723.jpg|With taxi driver
-Image:2024-07-29_42_74_Felix Dance _1722374911749.jpg|Power
+Image:2024-07-29_42_74_Felix Dance _1722374911749.jpg|View from the hash
+Image:2024-07-29_42_74_Felix Dance _1722374924530.jpg|View from the hash
+Image:2024-07-29_42_74_Felix Dance _1722374930774.jpg|Dried thistles near the hash. Thank god we didn’t have to go through them. That’s our taxi in the distance.
+Image:2024-07-29_42_74_Felix Dance _1722374951020.jpg|GPS proof
+Image:2024-07-29_42_74_Felix Dance _1722374964100.jpg|KT in the taxi
+Image:2024-07-29_42_74_Felix Dance _1722374988215.jpg|KT and the thistles of doom.
+Image:2024-07-29_42_74_Felix Dance _1722374999380.jpg|Trees
+Image:2024-07-29_42_74_Felix Dance _1722375038407.jpg|Structure of some sort - maybe wheat processing? It had silos. We’re not sure.
 </gallery>
 == Achievements ==
 {{#vardefine:ribbonwidth|100%}}
-<!-- Add any achievement ribbons you earned below, or remove this section -->
-__NOTOC__
+{{Graticule unlocked
-<!-- =============== USEFUL CATEGORIES FOLLOW ================
-Delete the next line ONLY if you have chosen the appropriate categories below. If you are unsure, don't worry. People will read your report and help you with the classification. -->
-[[Category:New report]]
-<!-- Potential categories. Please include all the ones appropriate to your expedition -->
+| latitude = 42
-<!-- If this is a planning page:
+| longitude = 74
-[[Category:Expedition planning]]
+| date = 2024-07-29
--->
+| name = Stevage and KT
+}}
-<!-- An actual expedition:
+__NOTOC__
 [[Category:Expeditions]]
--- and one or more of --
 [[Category:Expeditions with photos]]
-[[Category:Expeditions with videos]]
--->
-<!-- if you reached your coordinates:
 [[Category:Coordinates reached]]
+{{location|KG|C}}
---><!-- or if you did not reach the coordinates:
-[[Category:Coordinates not reached]]
--- and a reason --
-When there is a natural obstacle between you and the target:
-[[Category:Not reached - Mother Nature]]
-When there is a man-made obstacle between you and the target:
-[[Category:Not reached - No public access]]
-When you failed get your GPS, car, bike or such to work:
-[[Category:Not reached - Technology]]
-(Don't forget to delete this final close comment marker) -->


Mon 29 Jul 2024 in 42,74: 42.8508491, 74.7588332 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox