I woke up early to the wonderful breakfast of pancakes,watermelon and walnuts.

At 7:10 I was in the car, on a long journey on the Osh-Bishkek highway (also M41).

The road took me very close to the border with Uzbekistan, which you see on the left.

Before cutting away and continuing along the Naryn river, which has a peculiar blue-green/cyan colour.

Eventually, I reached the Toktogul reservoir,right after the country’s largest hydroelectric power and irrigation dam (Toktogul dam).

After the reservoir, the road follows Chuchkan river, which is aligned with hives so I stopped to buy honey 🐻🍯

only to stop a few moments later to buy a whole bucket of wild raspberries for just 550som (£6-ish).

I took a break to enjoy the view and spread the raspberries on biscuits. I also had time to play with the kite. I was wearing a local Kyrgyz hat, known as a Kalpak, which I bought at a shop near the big waterfall in Arslanbob. It has 4 white panels and is embroidered with traditional symbols.

Eventually the inevitable happens and I was stopped by the police for speeding.

In Kyrgyzstan, the police are littered all over the road, hiding in the shade, hoping to catch people out. This also appears to be a major source of income for the police as the speed limit is not always clearly displayed.

Ironically enough I was far below the limit when passing the cardboard version:

After my driving companion “dealt” with the police, I continued to Bishkek but the road quickly became painful:

With undisciplined animals…

An infamous long unventilated tunnel (where some cyclists have died from carbon monoxide poisoning)…

…And in general, Kyrgyz style of driving and bad roads.

I was relieved to reach Bishkek and dine at the fancy ” frunze” restaurant.

There was a lot of food to try.

Top = marinated cherry tomatoes

Middle = boorsoq

Bottom = duck meatballs 😋

Also eggplants stuffed with trout

I tried a samsi for the first time, which is also typical central Asian food. It was described to me as a type of samosa but ended up being more of a stuffed bun.

horse rib (delicious)

Yak steak

Saddle of lamb

Very much enjoyed my dinner at Frunze but at the time of publishing this post, I fell ill 😅

Today (30/07/2018) was a quiet day.

The owner of the guesthouse took me on a long walk, which passed near a small waterfall. There I met a special local teddy bear.

The owner of the guesthouse guided around the world’s largest walnut tree forest, covering almost 60’000 hectares.

Now I know what a walnut fruit looks like.

The forest also has many different trees, such as apple trees, which help sustain the village.

The village is situated near the Babash-Ata mountains and its waterfalls attract local Kyrgyz and Uzbek tourists, searching for blessings.

After the walk, I lazed around the guesthouse. (Hence a short blog post)

Plov for tonight! (Another local dish)

I woke up early with the intent of making it to Arslanbob, a small village near the world’s largest walnut tree forest.

The road is the same that connects Osh – Uzgen – Jalal Abad.

In a small suburb of Jalal Abad called 《progress 》…

…the car got itself a beauty treatment from a family team.

I arrived in Arslanbob in the early afternoon.

At the tourist information centre, I was introduced to a local (I am terrible with names) who took me to his Guest house. He is Uzbek, like most of the population here. His home is really nice and has a large flowering garden.

I had tea before heading off to the big waterfall. Tea consists of tea (obvs), bread, local honey (which is really nice) and homemade jam (also delicious).

I was piggybacked across the river. Thank you helpful travellers + onlooker.

The walk up to the waterfall is nice but difficult.

The other climbers are friendly and full of questions + willing to offer a helping hand.

I stopped at this viewing point, but you can continue upwards via a vertical climb (my limbs are too small).

Found this cute family in the barn of the guesthouse.

The owner prepared a feast for dinner that starts off with lots of sweet treats and the usual tomato and cucumber salad.

I finally tried manti! A delicious central Asian version of dumplings.

Today I left early for Osh, former Capital of Kyrgyzstan and a city on the Silk road. Bright light woke me up in time to see the sunrise over Murghab.

After breakfast, I rode quickly to the Tajik border. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it  had snowed overnight, making for frequent stops along the route for photographs.

Passing through Ak-baital pass again:

Karakul lake:

Cute sign post in Karakul village of a pedestrian crossing.

In the end I changed my mind about Tajikistan and left the country really liking the place.  I was really glad that I spent some time there.

This reminded me of kinder chocolate or tiramisu. They don’t usually eat desserts here.

Desperate chocolate cravings. 🍫🍫🤤

Cute kissing marmottes.

Snickers break/lunch after crossing the Kyrgyz border.

The road to Osh is very busy, with all kinds of travellers.

From entire herds being guided at horseback

to large haystack with forgotten pitchforks on top

And barn animals.

After a long drive, I checked in and swam in the pool at the Classic Hotel in Osh.

Before going out for dinner.

On the way to the restaurant 《Izyum》, I greeted Lenin.

More central Asian naan bread. This is usually served at every meal and it is said to cause bad luck if put upside down.

After having just a snickers for lunch, dinner quickly disappeared.

In the restaurant, there was a singer who sang local songs, leading to a pleasant evening.

Good bye Sary Tash!

I head to the Kyrgyrz border and enter the no man’s land between Kyrgyrsztan and Tajikistan.

A beautiful and quiet place, inhabited by hundreds of marmottes.

Upon reaching the Tajik border patrol, a few noticeable differences are observed with the Kyrgyz border patrol:

1. Unlike Kyrgyzstan, you need a visa, which costs 70$.

2. There is a “disinfection” process whereby a man sprays yellow fluid only on the wheels of the car. This costs 900 soms. (Later learnt that you could ask not to have this service)

3. There is also a 1200 som fee to pass customs.

4. It was mentioned that I was lucky to have a Kyrgyz car as otherwise a 120$ fee would apply.

In conclusion, Tajikistan has figured out how to solve any country’s immigration problem.

(Waiting in the cold with 2 motorcyclists from Switzerland and Holland)

(For some reason there were animal skulls on top of the customs office)

Crossing the Tajik border is time-consuming and I quickly drove off to Murghab via the Pamir Highway (M41, same road that I took from Osh).

The road starts off close to the border with China (on the left).

Above is when I crossed the Akbaital pass, 4655m altitude.

The road is very arid, with little vegetation, and although it’s well-known, I concluded that Kyrgyzstan was more interesting.

Arriving at Murghab, I passed a rather run down Gazprom petrol station

Murghab is a large town but desperately poor. I had a moment of worry when it appeared that there might not be any diesel supply in town and I might be stuck here forever.

(Interesting version of a side car)

The tourist information centre…

After going up down the 2 main roads several times, I eventually found the guest house I was looking for.

Also met some fellow travellers!

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 🍕🍕🍻