Kyrgyzstan

This time we were not relieved at the border crossing and crossed the border after 1-2 hours. We did not need to take out car insurance for Kyrgyzstan. After an overnight stay at a lake, we drove all day along a really huge mountain reservoir through picturesque landscapes. Unfortunately, Lena caught a nasty stomach infection and had to suffer from fever and vomiting all day. The beautiful landscape continued the next day and we reached even higher mountains. On a pass road, we towed a car transporter out of the meadow that had got stuck. The Mercedes 310 showed its power and the Kyrgyz people were enthusiastic as they did not know the 4x4 version. Here in Kyrgyzstan, all old Mercedes vans from Germany are driven, which were taken away from us through scrapping premiums and other expropriations. Here they are highly valued and serve their purpose for over 1 million kilometers. The Kyrgyz people would laugh themselves to death about demonization of diesel and do the only ecologically sensible thing and use the cars until the end.

After a mountain pass, we arrived at the high pastures with many yurts where the farmers live in the summer months. Horses, cows and sheep herds could be seen everywhere. On the roadside, you could buy a strangely hard cheese and we tried the kumis, the well-known fermented mare's milk that had already strengthened Genghis Khan's hordes. Simply a terrible taste.

Then we decided to take a shortcut to Lake Yssy Kol via a dirt road, as we now felt strengthened by previous experiences. In a beautiful valley, we enjoyed the increasingly rare civilization. Yurts became less and less visible, we had to cross streams more and more often, and the road steadily uphill. It started raining and there were no more people to be seen, it got colder and suddenly we drove through a snowstorm, the landscape turned white. We felt uneasy and suddenly the dirt road ended in a high snowfield. It was immediately clear that no car had driven here this year and that we would never get through even with all-wheel drive. So it was an adventure trip as we wanted it. But that meant driving back for 5 hours on a bumpy road, crossing streams, and driving uphill that could only be done in first gear.

Completely exhausted, we arrived on the paved mountain road, the main connecting route back, in the early evening. Since we wanted to spend the night comfortably and also wanted to get the mountain pass behind us, we continued on the mountain road at 20 kilometers per hour, sometimes in first gear. At 3500 meters, we crossed a tunnel without lighting with huge potholes, our stomach was empty, the air was thin, we just wanted to go down to warmer areas without rain and the danger of snowfall. With the engine brake, we drove several turns, the steep road through a gorge towards Bishkek and spent the night on the plain overlooking the Tien Shan Mountains.

The next day we drove past Bishkek through a very beautiful gorge to the plateau to Lake Yssy Kul. It looks like a sea, is 180 km long, 60 km wide, and is located at an altitude of 1600 meters. After Lake Titicaca, it is the largest mountain lake. There we spent 2 relaxing days directly by the lake in Cholpon Ata.

After the days of relaxation, we drove back to the capital. In Bishkek, we then took a hotel because of the bad weather and explored the city by taxi. We couldn't find any particularly noteworthy sights, but the bazaars were impressive, where we also did some shopping.

Although we only spent a week in Kyrgyzstan, it left a particularly intense impression on us, and we would love to come back here again. The breathtakingly beautiful mountain landscapes with the plateaus, the farmers in their yurts and their herds of cattle, the clear lakes, and the extremely friendly people really have a special charm. In this country, religion is not intrusive either, and at least in the cities, you can see many women in miniskirts. Apart from the corrupt police, the country really impressed us.