cyclingfurther

It has numerous discos next to Chopon Alta, the city we arrived, on the north coast. The first night, we went out and spent the night with a group of Kyrgyz students on the beach, sharing vodkas until the early morning, and properly celebrating the end of the first part of our trip!

After having tasted the Kyrgyz nightlife, we decided to go further, leave Chopon Alta, and give it try with the countryside. 40 km away, we hitchhiked and the guys lead to a house owned by a family of Russians, where we could sleep for 5 euros. The place is remote, and has a direct access to the lake, with a tiny beach and a handful of people. After sunset bathing with the family, we came back to our little soviet bungalow. We made a barbecue of duck shashliks with the group, and stayed out next to the fire for good few hours. Our hosts all have wives and kids, but it didn’t prevent them to go out to night club after emptying 2 or 3 bottles. We were tired and didn’t want to go out again, so we managed to skip this one. “Just don’t tell our wives and kids we went out, and tomorrow we’ll say we went to sleep at the same time”. All right, no problem man. Have a good one!

We were next to Gregorievka mountains, and found a group of people going deep into the mountain to pick mushrooms. We got into the car, which was 62 years old Bolga from the soviet era. We were 10 people in it, and the engine didn’t handle well our weight in those mountain paths…so we had to stop every 3 km or so to let the engine rest. One of the youngers in the car speaks english, and we asked him if we could stay with them for the night, in their camp. We negociated a deal with him (we’d give them around 7 euros for the night and food) and set up in their camp high in the mountains.

There were about 30 people from 3 generations, picking mushrooms and cutting wood next to their tent. Those guys spend the whole summer in the mountain, where they go back to their traditional nomad lifestyle during the good season. We rested during the day, took a swim in the cold water of a small lake nearby, and ate excellent food made by a woman in the camp.

At evening time, the guys told us “hey, lets go to the store!” -“Mmhhh, but we’re in the middle of nowhere!” -“Beside the second lake, there is a yourt sellling beer, vodka and cigarets!” -“No, not again, not today!” -“Yes, today! Davai!”. We headed up there, had to wait the shop owner to finish his prayers, and paid them 2 bottles of vodka for 2 euros. After a night walk in the trails, where we could hear chacals screaming, we  went back to the camp and shared few glasses before going to sleep. The stars were incredibly shiny and the sky reminded us of what we’ve seen in the Kazakh desert few weeks before. 

The next day was our last one before coming back to civilization, and we decided to trek and go even deeper in the mountain. Our friend proposed us to go to some waterfalls he heard about. We started following the river, in the path made by the cows and horses living there. We walked for 2 or 3 hours to get the beautiful, untouched waterfalls we were looking for. We took some time to enjoy the scenery, and took a -very- cold shower there. This point was the furthest we’d go in our trip. From now on, it will all about going backwards : first to Bishkek, then Europe and ultimately Belgium.

Tags: Cycling Further, Cycling Kyrgyzstan

The last ride of our trip in Central Asia was from Karabalta to Bishkek, approximately 60km. Nothing interesting on the way, but we were pretty excited as it was our final destination in Asia, and getting there was the result of 107 days of pedaling through eastern europe and central asia, for more than 5300 kilometers. After celebrating our achievement with a beer, we headed up to the bike shop to see how we could pack our bike. The guys gave us empty boxes and helped us packing our gear as well as possible. We did a pretty good job and just have to hope that there won’t be any damage in the plane. Bike packed, we could plan the last few days of trip we had in Kyrgystan to explore the Issyk Kul area, with its beautiful lakes and mountains.

Alexei

Tags: Cycling Further, Cycling Kyrgyzstan

Delayed with our little excursion in the mountains, followed by a u turn to the west, we decided to hitch hike to the north to catch up the distance. After waiting for a few minutes next to the main crossroad a truck stopped and agreed to give us a ride to Toktogul, 300 km further, for 1000 soms (approximately 15 euros). We got in the truck, fixed the bikes in the back, and took a seat behind the drivers, 2 friendly Kyrgyz in their early 30s. On the road, each cop we see is stopping us, requesting a bribe to let us go without problem. 50 soms (a bit less than 1 euro) is enough for the cops to be happy. In one hour, we were stopped 4 or 5 times by the police for no specific reason and bribed all of them. After few hours in the truck riding between mountains, we reached Toktogul, the hometown of the drivers, and one of them  offered us to stay at his place with family, where we could sleep outside, under the stars and next to the chickens.

Cirga our friendly driver and his family

Toktogul has a big reservoir of water, a lake with calm water surrounded by  big snowy mountains all around. The water is warm and swimming there has been a real delight. We didn’t take a proper shower for 4 or 5 days and washing/refreshing there was the only thing we wanted before getting back on the asphalt. A swim and a fish later, we started the ascension of a big mountain, with 50 km uphill. The road is good and the scenery starts getting breathtaking. We see many nomads on the way, living in their yourts and selling dairy products from their horses , mainly milk, cheese and butter.

Toktogul reservoir

This part of the road might be the most amazing place we cycled. Huge spaces, incredible mountains, and good conditions. We crossed two ranges of mountains, one at 3200 meters and the other at 3600 meters. Nomads welcomed us to stay with them and set up the tent next to their yourt. We witnessed and experienced their lifestyle, centered on the horses. From a very young age, they use them to commute, and nearly exclusively eat food made from horse milk.

How to make Kumizz

Tags: Cycling Further, Cycling Kyrgyzstan