Kyrgyzstan

This time we were not scalded at the border crossing and passed the border after 1-2 hours. For Kyrgyzstan we did not need to take out auto insurance. After an overnight stay at a lake we drove all day along a really huge mountain reservoir along picturesque landscape. Unfortunately, Lena had a bad gastrointestinal infection and had to suffer all day with fever and vomiting. The beautiful landscape continued the next day and we came to even higher mountains. On a pass road we dragged a car transporter from the meadow from the fixed had. The Mercedes 310 he showed his strength and the Kyrgyz were thrilled because they did not know the 4x4 version. Here in Kyrgyzstan drive all the old Mercedestransporter from Germany by scrapping premiums and other expropriations were taken away. Here they are highly valued and fulfill their purpose to over 1 million kilometers. The Kyrgyz people would laugh at diesel devils and make the only ecologically sensible and consume cars to the end.



After a pass we came to the high pastures with many yurts in which the farmers live in the summer months. There were horse, cow and herds of sheep everywhere. At the roadside you could buy a strangely rock hard cheese and we tried the Kumis, the well-known fermented mare's milk had already strengthened the Dschingiskhanshorden. Just a terrible taste.



We then decided to take a shortcut to Yssy Kol Lake over Piste as we felt tempered by previous experiences. In a beautiful valley, we enjoyed the ever rarer civilization. Yurts became more and more rare to see, we had to cross streams more often and it went steadily uphill. It started to rain and there were no more people to see, it was getting colder and all of a sudden we drove through snowdrift, the landscape became white. We were queasy to mute and the slope suddenly ended in a high snowfield. It was immediately clear that this year had not driven a car and we would never get through, despite all-wheel. So an adventure trip as we wanted it. This meant, however, 5 hours Rüttelpiste, Bach crossings, gradients that could be driven only in the first gear back to drive back.



Completely at the end of our strength we came back in the early evening on the paved Passtrasse, the main connecting line. Since we wanted to spend a comfortable night and also wanted to bring the pass behind us we drove on the pass road with 20 km / h, partly in first gear. At 3500 meters we crossed a tunnel without lighting with huge potholes, our stomach was empty, the air was thin, we only wanted to go down to warmer areas without rain and danger of falling snow. With engine brake we drove several turns the steep road through a ravine direction Bishkek and stayed overnight in the plain overlooking the Tienschangebirge with snow-capped peaks.



The next day we drove past Bishkek through a very beautiful gorge to the plateau to Yssy Kulsee. It looks like a sea is 180km long, 60 km wide and is located at 1600 m altitude, he is the largest mountain lake after Lake Titicaca. There we spent 2 peaceful days directly on the lake in Cholpon Ata.

After the rest days we drove back to the capital. In Bishkeck we took a hotel because of the bad weather and explored the city by taxi. We could not make any noteworthy sights, but impressive are the Bazaars where we also bought strong.

Although we spent only one week in Kirisistan it leaves a particularly intense impression on us, and we would like to come back here again. The breathtaking mountain landscapes with the plateaus, the peasants in their yurts and herds of cattle, the clear lakes and the extremely friendly people really have a special magic. Even in this country, the religion is not intrusive and at least in the cities you can see many women in miniskirts. Apart from the corrupt police, the country really did inspire us.