This rural border crossing at about 2000m above sea level was the fastest so far. Noone in line infront of me, the passport control guy tells me, I’d have 90 days without visa in Kazakhstan, but I’m quite sure it’s only 30. Doesn’t matter now anyway.
I enter Kyrgyzstan for the 2nd time and am looking forward to cycling some nice passes through the mountains.
I follow the river Tyup to the eastern shore of lake Issyk-Kul.
In Karakol I meet the german couple I met in Bishkek before. We eat breakfast together and wait out the rain.
My initial plan was cycling along the southcoast of Issyk-Kul, but now I take a detour to lake Ala-Kul before.
I cycle to the entrance, pay the fee of 400 SOM (5€) and cycle up 16 km and 2500m altitude.
On the way up I meet a german guy in a Jeep. He tells me that it’s very muddy and I will not be able to cycle there.
Soon after it starts raining again, but I’m still ready to tackle the challenge.
I eventually make it. Since I did not put on rain clothes, by now my clothes, me and my bike are clean. And I am pretty cold. I quickly pitch my tent, change clothes and crawl into my bigger sleeping bag, which I haven’t used since russia.
The next day I cycle the last 300m, leave my bike at the yurt camp and walk up to lake Ala-Kol. It starts sunny.
About 4km in, the weather changes. It doesn’t stop raining/hailing/snowing until 8pm. Only a few times there are 5 minutes without precipitation. My feet get wet soon, eventhough my shoes are advertised as waterproof.
I planned on going up and down the same day, so I didn’t pack stuff to stay somewhere. Halfway up I already think it’d be too much – it’s harder than I had expected.
I eventually reach lake Ala-Kol. Unfortunately the view is a little disappointing, it’s a beautiful lake anyway.
Since it’s just hailing and snowing and a thunderstorm all around me, I soon decide to go back down. Halfway back to my bike, I I am invited for tea by some locals, who had set camp there and try to dry their stuff on the fire. I cook a meal myself and then go down. Back at 2500m, I am again invited for tea by some guys from Bishkek. After warming up a little I get my bike, pitch my tent and try to unfreeze my feet. They invite me for dinner, just before I turned on my stove.
The next day I can barely move my legs and therefore have to take a restday. Around lunchtime one day later, I still struggle to get out of my tent, but cycle down, back to Karakol and then a little westward.
The next day I am invited to lunch by a farmer. Right next to his field he made a fire in some hole and put a big wok on top. About half an hour later together with further relatives we sit down in the shadow on a blanket and eat the traditional Kyrgiz dish Dimlama and drink tea.
He and his sons admire my bike and I explain all its features.
I continue along Issyk-Kul and pitch my tent somewhere on a rocky beach.
In the morning, I go for a swim in the crystal clear water and chill out a little. Then I again cycle along Issyk-Kul and pitch my tent, this time on a beach with less rocks and more sand.
Again I go swimming in the morning, chill out a little and cycle to the nearby Fairytale Canyon.
Then I go to a nearby Cafe. The guy there is saving for a bicycle himself and placed a tipping jar on the counter.
“TIPS saving for a bike to become a bike traveller”
It’s empty so I put in some starter money.
For the first time I ran out of battery, so I stay for some time, charge my powerbanks and chat with the becoming traveller.
The road becomes very bad. They are currently building a new road, so at some parts it’s the worst, but later on some parts are already finished.
This time I don’t stay directly on the beach, since that is quite crowded. The next day I look for a good spot at the beach and plan on staying there another day.
I end up at a spot with a sandy beach, but not much shadow and the water is not the most clean. But it’s far away from the road, so I can’t be seen and it’s quiet (except for the breaking waves).
Today I’m leaving Issyk-Kul behind. The landscape reminds me of the steppe in Kazakhstan. I arrive at the reservoir Orto-Tokoy and from the road it actually doesn’t look bad, so I cycle down in the hope to find a spot for my tent. But I soon realize it’s not suited at all. Mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere, not much shadow available, rocks everywhere and the water is not too inviting either.
I continue along the river Chu and raise my tent on a meadow just before Kochkor.
The next day in Kochkor just while I pack the supplies I bought at a supermarket, another two bicycle travellers arrive at the supermarket.
Estelle and Hugo from France, just started one day prior at Issyk-Kul. We have very similar plans for Kyrgyzstan and Tadjikistan.
Hugo wants to cycle back home, while Estelle will accompany him for about 3 months until Iran or Turkey.
Around 30 km later we meet another British couple on their bikes. They tell us about a good fish restaurant in Sary-Bulak, where we wanted to eat something anyway. Now we leave the main road and take a detour to Naryn. We make it to about 2700 m altitude and set camp on a meadow. It seemed like a nice place but we get eaten alive by mosquitoes. So after taking a bath in the river we decide to escape into our tents early.
After leaving my tent, uncountable insects fly in my face. I pack everything fast and go up to the road, in the hope there will be less. Then I brush my teeth, put on sunprotection creme and wait 2 minutes until Hugo and Estelle are ready too.
We have a climb of 700m over 35 km to reach pass Dzalpakbel at 3334m infront of us. Afterwards it’s going down again. The rough terrain makes it a little uncomfortable and the scenery isn’t too great until the pass, even more so since it’s very dusty, and we can’t look far.
At around 12:30 while we take a break and refill our water at the river, before we will leave it, a car stops and Estelle asks for a ride. Hugo joins her. We plan to meet again in the evening.
I continue cycling up the pass, which takes 2,5 hours, 3334 m – my new altitude record by bike.
The scenery has become more beautiful and it’s not that dusty anymore. After 35 km I arrive at their chosen campsite, where they just started to set up camp.
It turns out, skipping a part was the right choice for Hugo, since he got sick from the food or water like everyone does in these countries. They skipped 17 km, and just started cycling again 3 km before the pass.
While we continue towards Naryn, the landscape reminds Hugo of the french Alps.
To regain strength we eat lunch at a Yurt. We also receive the typical Kyrgiz hat, which is actually not that practical for us cyclists, but I decide to keep it anyway. There is not many places to eat or restock in this area. When we finally reach a little village with a shop, they tell us it will be opened the next day. Atleast there is a stream nearby, where we can fill up our water.
Passing cars can be quite annoying on this road. They pass closer and faster than necessary and the closee we get to Naryn, the more traffic there is. We are breathing the road and put on our OP-masks we still carry because of Covid-19.
In Naryn we all stay for 2 nights and then make our way to Son-Kul. After one day we arrive at Zhany-Talap and sleep at some house. We actually planned on staying on the meadow, but since noone came I put my tent right behind the house on the flat concrete. We have water and electricity.
This day is gonna be a tough one. More than 1600m climbing.
At the end of the day we arrive at Son-Kul lake and place our tents between two Yurt Camps. We can use their toilets and showers and eat at the Yurt.
We spend another day there and then make our way down through a beautiful valley and a coal mine.
We continue together until lunchtime. Then we go separate ways. Estelle and Hugo go the direct way through Kazarman to Jalalabad. I will go to Jalalabad over the reservoir Toktogul.
Soon after we split, it starts raining. The road consists of soft gravel in washboard form. It feels like riding on sand. I have a strong headwind and after 4 hours only made 20 km.
I see rocks coming down on the road right infront of me and decide it’s better to wait a few minutes. A little while later a car stops and the man asks me if I need a ride. We stuff my bags in the already full trunk and throw my bike on the roof and fix it with rope.
Then with his whole family we are 8 people in a car for 5.
Am am still glad to skip this part. The road and weather were pretty bad for 60 km. Then I continue on my own.
The next day I climb Ala-Bel Pass. The way up is not spectacular, but the way down leads through a nice valley with steep mountains on both sides of the road. (Unfortunately my phone’s camera was only taking bad pictures.)
I pitch my tent about Halfway down and the next day cycle further along Toktogul.
I have a strong headache and fever and stop close to the lake. It lasts 2 days and is then replaced by stomachache.
I make it to the town Kara-Kul and stay 2 nights in a Hotel to recover. On my restday, I change the tube of my rear tire (it had lost very little air and I had to pump every 3 to 4 days), check all screws and perform an oil change on my Rohloff hub.
I still feel weak, but continue my way. I am now in Valleys for some time, so the temperatures daily reach 38-40°C. The landscape is boring until I climb some little mountains again to reach the city Gul’Cha. On the way I get invited to stay at someone’s home and happily accept. I was gonna look for a campsite now anyways. Unfortunately I earlier ate a bad tasting, little expensive dinner. Now I get some great plow as second dinner, but am already stuffed after a few spoons.
In the morning I continue through Gul’Cha, where I eat and restock and turn towards Taldyk Pass.
I find a great spot for my tent along the river. I see a car parking there. I walk around the corner and say hello to the three guys sitting there, drinking vodka and beer.
I wonder who of them will be driving…
To make things a little better, I drink a little of their vodka. Soon after I raised my tent, they try to leave. It takes them a while (about 4 tries) to get back onto the road. I hope everything goes well.
In Germany I would not have let anyone drive like this and I wonder why it makes a difference to me here.
While I am finishing my Pelmeni in a cafe along the road, the first cyclist of the Silk road mountain race (SRMR) stops infront of it for a little break. I chat with the peruanian Rodney Soncco for 5 minutes, before he continues.
From now on, I expect to see many more riders. I didn’t expect the first encounter so early, but also did not expect the distances in between the participants to be so large already. Rodney already has a lead of about 1.5 hours at this point.
So over 2 days I meet almost every rider. Additionally I meet a Swiss bike touring couple, who started where I am going.
I climb Taldyk Pass and then cycle to Sary-Tash where I eat together with some orgas and photographer of the race. (For the racer, who initially planned on joining me, the service unfortunately took too long, he will eat somewhere else.)
I chat so much with all these fellow cycling enthusiasts, that it gets dark before I make it to Tulpar Lake and Lenin Basecamp.
It is very cloudy and therefore there is no good view onto Peak Lenin. So I just go past the Lake and Yurt Camp and raise my tent with a good view onto Peak Lenin and Lake Tulpar.
The next day the sky clears up at about 5pm and only then I start trekking to a great viewpoint infront of Peak Lenin. Unfortunately, shortly before I reach it, the clouds are back and it starts hailing.
Actually I had in mind to climb Travellers Peak the next day, if the weather is good. But I have food poisoning again – welcome to Kyrgyzstan 🙂
I feel quite lucky, when just after I got back on the road cycling towards Sary-Tash, a car stops and they ask me if I needed a ride to Osh. One of those 2 even speaks english.
I end up staying with the drivers family. The next day we go to the Basar and I buy a spare chain and tube.
Then I cycle to the nearby border to Uzbekistan.