Kyrgyzstan - From Issyk-Kul to Karakol
Issyk-Kul is a another spectacular high-altitude lake in eastern Kyrgyzstan, nestled in the Tian Shan mountains. Its name means “Warm Lake”, because despite sitting about 1,607 metres above sea level and being surrounded by snow-capped peaks, it rarely freezes due to its slight salinity. Some highlights: It is the largest lake in Kyrgyzstan and one of the deepest lakes in the world, reaching a maximum depth of about 668 metres. The lake is approximately 182 km (113 miles) lon
3 days ago5 min read
Kyrgyzstan - Land of Lakes and Horses
After stocking up with fresh supplies at a large supermarket in Osh, we were glad to hit the road again. We were heading to Song-Kul, a high altitude lake ringed by mountains further north of Kyrgyzstan, which would take us two days driving to reach. We have been asked how we go about planning and navigating our routes on this trip. We’re not terribly good at forward planning in detail, but we have an overall route in our mind and tend to work out the detailed plan once we’re
Jul 287 min read
Kyrgyzstan - To The End of the Pamir Highway
We had to drive through 20km of no man's land to reach the Kyrgyzstan border post. The road condition was pretty dreadful and we were lucky to be doing it on a dry day. There were muddy rutted sections and we could see where the road had collapsed - we felt for the brave cyclists and motorcyclists who had to navigate this road. We were stopped at a checkpoint part way down, and all was OK until they spotted the Polish guy (sorry we don't know his name) in the back. They lo
Jul 187 min read
Tajikistan - Back on the Pamir Highway
Day 15 We woke early with nervous anticipation of what the day had in store for us. While we were getting ready for our test drive, Armin drove by much to our surprise- after setting off the previous day, he had also had some power issues and had returned to the Homestay in Langar. He had decided to drive all the way back to Khorog where there is a specialist garage to get the issue looked at before venturing on further. It would seem there is definitely a minority of overl
Jul 129 min read
