Stage 111: From Ala-Bel Pass to Sosnovka

The night at 2500m altitude was as expected cold and I was glad to have my extra thick sleeping bag with me. Even making coffee the next morning was only possible with my petrol stove, Amans gas stove didn't work at these altitudes anymore. Ahead of us were 45 relaxed, slightly downhill kilometers before another pass with about 1000 meters of altitude awaited us. Compared to yesterday's climb, it seemed little to us, but it was much more compressed and steeper. Added to that was a little 'bet' between Aman and me. He had discovered a small mountain path that seemed much shorter to him than the switchback road. The old discussion about the 'way of the sheep' started again... This time the path didn't look dangerous, but I was convinced that my bulky bike would be better off on the road. So we parted ways and agreed to meet at a point just before the summit, where his path and my road converged again. About 800 meters of altitude later, we met again, I arrived literally five seconds before him. We both laughed when a short rain started. He saw that the road was the better solution for my bike and that he would have been faster on the road with his bike too. Maybe next time he won't choose the way of the sheep! A short, steep section further up, there was not a pass, but a tunnel waiting for us. That was fine with us, because even without crossing the summit, we were already at an altitude of 3200 meters. Unfortunately, the tunnel was closed, some car drivers were already waiting impatiently. In our minds, we could already see ourselves arguing with Chinese bosses again. After half an hour, the first horses, including herders, came out of the tunnel, but still nothing happened. We were also a bit worried about our safety, because the three-kilometer-long tunnel was only dimly lit and there were already hundreds of impatient car drivers behind us. At some point, a supervisor noticed us and after a short conversation, we were allowed exclusively into the tunnel. After a short time, we heard the cause of the closure. The bleating of the sheep echoed through the tunnel. 'Only in Kyrgyzstan!' I thought to myself as I made my way through the flock of sheep and past the potholes. I hadn't been driving out of the tunnel for ten seconds when the first cars appeared. Good timing! After that, we simply enjoyed the kilometers-long descent through valleys with steep cliffs before settling down for dinner a little south of Sosnovka in a roadside restaurant. Of course, there was meat and a lot of tea. We just set up our tents on the other side of the river opposite the restaurant and relatively close to the road. We couldn't have found a better place in the narrow valley, and the noise from the road didn't really bother us at night.