We reached the village of Kyzart and from there we decided to hike up into the mountains to get to the alpine lake of Son Kul. It took us one day to walk there and we spent the night in yurt camp at the shore of the lake to be able to enjoy the landscape while we were there. The lake was still mostly frozen and it felt a bit like being an arctic explorer there. I (Jonas) had to take the chance to go for a quick dip in the lake, cold exposure is supposed to be healthy, right? It was cold but also fun to push my boundaries a bit. Next morning we started our descent back to Kyzart and enjoyed one day off in our lovely homestay to relax and recharge.

From Kyzart we kept following the road to the little town of Kochkor where we wanted to visit another alpine lake called Kol'Ukok. At lake Son Kul it was already quite popular to trek to the lake by horse, but they only offered three-day treks and without any riding experiences for most of us, a one-day horse trek to lake Kol'Ukok was enough time to spent on a horse. It was a really cool experience to travel on a horse that way, especially when it got steep and rocky once we got close to the lake. The weather was not the best and it even started snowing when we were at the lake, but it was still a good time there.

Then it was time to say good-bye to Sarah and Jonas as they went in direction of lake Issyk Kul to return to Bishkek eventually and we headed South on our way to Tajikistan. The first pass to Naryn was still pretty easy with the road being nicely sealed but it got more challenging from there. From Naryn to the city Jalal-Abad via Kazarman means two steep mountain passes and some more smaller hills on unsealed roads. The bumpy roads meant slower speeds on any kind of road but we were determined to push through and face the challenge. It took us three days to get to Kazarman and the effort was worth the scenery we passed along the way. We found some amazing wild camping sites along the way, making it even more enjoyable. From Kazarman we took two days to get over Kaldamo Pass and finally reached Jalal-Abad. From there the road to Osh was a properly sealed road again and we pushed through a 135km day to get to town. On the way we were overtaken by Daniel, a Kiwi guy bikepacking from Istanbul to South Africe via the Pamir and we decided to hang out in Osh together. He was gradually catching up with us over the gravel road and it was time for rest days, especially as a few rainy days were forecasted anyway.

Keep cycling and always a tail-wind,
Vroni, Droni & Joni