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Kyrgyzstan

Mar
2004-09-14 15:23:35

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away from here and blows lot’s of dust in the air. The fear of the threatening dark thunder clouds just behind us is stimulating to cycle even faster. In a small village we pass, a young boy throws a branch at us and we really have a bad feeling. After 30km cycling through this spooky valley we reach a small village where we pitch our tent in someone’s garden. Finally only one drop of rain reaches our tent.

Heading for Son-Kol
15/08/2003 A lot of information has been given us to change our plans. Lake Son-Kol is now on our route and apparently some of our planned road are either non-existent or only made for horses. There are some roads that are connected on our map, but in the real world we would have looked like fools that we missed the dead-end signs or broken bridges. Anyway, talking with other cyclists and locals and studying detailed maps have changed our route slightly. We will go via lake Son-Kol towards lake Yssyk-Kol. Not through the mountains south of Yssyk-Kol unless we want to exchange the bicycles for horses and unless we would create new connections in the network of dead-end roads.

Off we go to the lake that is situated at 3000m and is surrounded by slightly higher peaks. The reputation is that there can be 4 seasons in a day here and we must be prepared for all of them. A lot of people form villages around the lake sped three summer months in yurts aside the lake. Starting at Baetov the road is paved for our first 40km and it feels like heaven with the exception of the fact that tar is so silent that all you hear is what’s not in place on your bicycle. Okay, let’s oil the chains and fasten the big nut of the steer. There are also some items that vibrate along with the Kyrgyz gravel tracks. After heaven we turn left to the lake expecting to ascent to 1800m. The gravel changes from a tennis court quality into Camel trophy stones that are not stuck in the road but waiting ...