I spent the next three days eating as much food as I could, visiting the bazaar, enjoying cold beer and sorting out my GBAO permit, necessary to go through the pamir highway and whakan valley.
I had organised for a guesthouse in Bishkek to arrange my permit for me to pick up in Osh. I should have been able to go straight to the Osh GH and pick it up. Central Asia is rarely this straightforward. I hung around for a while, the person at the GH phoning around, checking his email and rummaging through a pile of other permits. Mine is not there. It was only meant to take 7 days to organise. I tell them I will come back tomorrow.
The afternoon is spent napping, eating, updating the blog and drinking cold beer.
The following day (22/8) I head to the bazaar with a backpacker. I find the cycling area easily and purchase a cheap pump. There are no expensive ones. My other pump has packed it in and decided it does not want to inflate any tubes with a wide valve.
The Osh bazaar is reportedly one of the biggest in Central Asia, is sprawls it's way up the river. I meander along, through the mechanical section and find the other section I was looking for, the dried fruit and nuts. I stock up on dried apricots, dates, sultanas and almonds, hoping that it's enough for the pamir but not really knowing.
Back to Osh GH again and still no permit. I tell them to email me so I don't have to wait around.
After a nap and a little bicycle maintenance, I try and fix my thermarest. I submerge the while thing in the fountain and can not find the source of the leak. I decide to send the thing to Charlie in Berlin and then get it replaced in Europe. A quick ride to the shipping company and I return with the thermarest because $US80 to ship something that weighs less than 500g is a bit steep. More cold beer is enjoyed in the evening as well as getting a haircut from an Austrian cycle tourist. Thanks Claudia!
Today is my final sorting day for the pamir. I wander back to the bazaar for a final look and then hit up the grocery stores, searching for jam and condensed milk in a bag. Success.
I have dinner at my favourite shaslik place, the man at the grill knows me by now. I gorge myself on what feels like 'the last dinner'.
22/8 Osh, 8km ridden, ODO 1402km
23/8 Osh, 9km ridden, ODO 1412km
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