Kyrgyzstan was the chosen ‘-stan’ for the high mountain terrain and easy visa access. We landed in Bishkek with a vague plan to buy some bikes and tour the country for 10 days. Bishkek airport is a terrible place to try and sleep. 0/10 would not repeat. Though I hear ‘the flight from Osh has arrived’. Buying bikes was surprisingly challenging. Eventually, we haggled two of the highest ‘Germanski’ quality bikes into our possession. No shoddy Korean bikes for us.

Where to go?!

Such was the difficulty of buying bikes that we barely made it out of the city before darkness. We borrowed the homeless’ soap and shelter for the night and hospitality extended to fresh cucumber for breakfast - perfect fuel for a day of uphill.

We headed to Ysyk Ata first, taking the back roads over an introductory pass at a few thousand meters. A friendly Kyrgyz and his adorable puppy invited us to sleep in his yurt. Further social integration was had in the open spa heated by natural water. It was us and the metropolitan middle class from Bishkek enjoying the lukewarm communal bath.

Realising straight up and over the pass was not possible we resigned ourselves to head back to the valley and around the main road to Kochkor. In Tokmok we had a major mechanical (wheel bearing failure). Fortunately, some overly friendly locals showed me the way to a souk where a man repaired the bearing with a hammer and screwdriver while Jordan entertained/guarded the valuables.

The lofty goal we decided on was to visit Song-kul. It is the highest altitude lake of its size in the world (3016m) and took 2.5 days of continuous uphill riding including ~60 miles of corrugated off-road gravel and a pass at 3800m to reach. The view back down the road we had just climbed gives some sense of the scale.

As we rolled down toward the lake at dusk a kind family invited us to stay in their Horse-dung heated yurt. Given the sub-zero overnight temperatures this was gratefully accepted.

The view down over the lake at sunset was spectacular, and yet the night sky was even more impressive. The band of the Milky Way was visible to the naked eye.

Unfortunately, we traded the last of our food and the majority of our small sum of cash for the warmth of the yurt, and therefore retreated the the previously known cashpoint in Kochkor. Keen to avoid cycling back down the main road we shared a taxi to Bishkek where we sold the bikes back for a small loss to the same people. We pondered what next in an underground snooker bar, then headed up to Ala Archa National Park. Most of the country struck me as very dry / desert-like, but Ala Archa was refreshingly green.

On foot now we headed up the valley to a few thousand meters. Incredibly during the Soviet era, there was a road and a ski resort on the glacier. Only rusted machinery remained.

At night Bishkek’s main square is lit with the Kyrgyz flag. Overall it was a great 10 days - the return to Western civilization was, as ever, greatly appreciated.