From Song Kul to Jalal Abad

Song Kul is beautiful but leftwith nothing to do except flying my kite, I leave a day early.

South of Song Kul is the Moldo Ashuu pass, a beautiful but ill-maintained road through the mountains. The views are spectacular.

And the road is popular with locals (met a friendly Kyrgyz family who insisted on offering a drink resembling vodka)

As well as foreigners

Above is a Russian who served in the Soviet army here and decided to drive all the way here from Russia in a beaten up truck

I also met a Czech, who knew more about cars than I did and burnt his finger whilst checking if my brakes were overheating.

Lunch break in a wedding ceremony-style decorated (and empty) cafe in Kazarman

Kazarman is somewhat nicer than other residential places nearby (there are traffic lights and shops) as it is situated near the Makhmal Gold mine, which accounts for 15% of Kyrgyzstan’ s GDP.

Eventually, at Jalal Abad, covered in dust, I learnt that there was no running water till 8pm and hopefully it works the next morning In Shallal (it’s very muslim). So instead the manager recommended going to the swimming pool.

Ended the day with pizza and beer at the pool 🍕🍕🍻