The border village of Sary Tash

Right next to the hotel in Jalal Abad is the bazaar, which I visited early in the morning to gather supplies

I bought bread and very very dry dried apricots and pistachios for the road to Sary Tash, a small village near the border with Tajikistan.

Foreigners attract a lot of weird looks here.

The route goes through Uzgen where I drove past another bazaar.

Lunch break in Osh, the 2nd biggest town of Kyrgyzstan and also an important checkpoint of the Silk road.

The restaurant (or institution) had apparently been victim to a battle of the dishes. At the time I ate there, the restaurant was empty so fortunately this didn’t happen.

Osh is a lovely city to stay in and nicer than Jalal Abad. Due to the strange borders decided by Stalin’s “divide and rule” mentality, a high proportion of the population is Uzbek.

On the way to Sary Tash, I stopped at a car repair in Gulach to check the tire pressure

The road to Sary Tash is very long and slow to finish but eventually I arrived.

A little boy led us all the way to a guest house

On the sign posted for this guesthouse showed shower facilities but I wasn’t quite expecting this…

And the room was slightly more cramped than the picture suggested

I met a group of cyclists from Grenoble and Lyon + a hitch hiker from Taiwan who had arrived from Tajikistan

Everyone is exhausted (cyclists and passengers)

27th July 2018 0

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 🍕🍕🍻

26th July 2018 0

Song Kul

Song Kul is a large lake, swimming with fish and surrounded by herders’ hurts and their large herds of horses, cows and sheep.

The herders only stay the summer as the lake is at high altitude (3016m) and very cold otherwise.

There’s not much to do other than horse riding…

Trekking uphill for better views of the lake

Or relaxing among the edelweiss

The absence of phone connectivity and limited electricity supply meant that overall time passed quite slowly.

If you wake up in the middle of the night, you’ll see a brilliant starry night sky, which showcases the centre of the milky way.

Song Kul is a wonderful place to enjoy the views and remove oneself of the buzz of online life, as well as everyday conveniences such as radiators, showers, toilets with a flush….