Kyrgyzstan the final stan.

We arrived  in Kyrgyzstan on the  27th of August and left to cross into China on the 6th of September.

Our first stop was in the capital Bishkek where we stayed in a dorm in a home stay.  We paid a visit to the local pubs and a restaurant dedicated to U.S President Obama! It  was then on to the more picturesque areas of the country. 

Our next stop was a bush camp near lake Issyk - Kol. This lake is 170km long and 70km wide. Its so deep it never freezes and is the 2nd biggest alpine lake in the world. It is also said to have a Loch Ness type monster in it! Snow capped mountains surround the lake.

The next place we visited was called Kora Kol where I had to purchase some more walking shoes as I  left mine at the home stay in Bishkek. This was a very small town but had a busy market hiding behind the quiet main streets.

Our next bush camp was at 7 Bulls Gorge (Jeli- Oguz). We spent two nights here camped next to a stream. We went for a 6 hour walk on the second day though the gorge over the rushing rivers, and up into the pine forest. There were people who lived in yurts here and many horses wandering about. We visited a waterfall and enjoyed the stunning views of the gorge.

  We then made our way to Lake Song-Kol, we had a night bush camping on the way where some locals took photos of us as well as blatantly stared and watched us eat our dinner. This is still very weird but we are getting used to it as it seems to be a common occurrence, I guess these tiny towns and rural places don't get many tourists especially ones in a huge orange truck!

 

 

 

 

Lake Song – Kol was beautiful. Here we stayed in Yurts, which was really cool. When we arrived at the yurts the men were skinning and gutting a goat which was cool. As soon as the sun went down it was freezing cold and we were at approx 3000m above sea level. There were 5 to 6 people in a yurt and we slept on mats like mattresses on the floor. It was warm and cosy.

    

We had our lunch made by the owners of the Yurts whilst here for the two days and was able to try horse milk which was a very odd  taste. Very Smokey and sort of sour. Nothing like cows milk. We all sampled it but could only manage a small sip each.

 

 

 

Around the yurts it was so pretty and it was nice to be able to relax and just enjoy the surroundings. There were horses, goats, sheep, and cows around the place, as well as some cute children. Many a photo was taken here.

We spent another 2 nights bush camping in Kyrgyzstan. Every bush camp we have had here has been in amongst stunning scenery either snow capped mountains, lakes and/or fast flowing streams.

 

Kieran

btw this was meant to be posted before China.