Tjup - Sary Tölögöi

On Saturday morning (October 26, 2019), around eight o'clock, I escaped from the dormitory at Nice Hostel. The air was literally thick, making it difficult for me to sleep all night. My attempts to improve the situation by leaving the door open were quickly undermined by an older, stubborn fellow resident who was presumably the main cause of the problem, in addition to the running heater. So, I enjoy the fresh, cool morning air in Karakol while having breakfast with Rango. After that, we pack up our belongings. Since we had no luck finding fishing bait the night before, we try again at the bazaar and manage to buy three small metal baits. Then we drive along the Karakol River out of town. We want to see if we can catch any trout. A local recommended this spot to us. On the way there, we encounter a barrier and a price list of admission fees. Both Marcus and I find this unreasonable, so we decide to go to a different fishing spot. We drive back to Karakol, refuel, buy coolant, and then head to Dschergalan. Near Orlinoe, we park Schrotti and spend the next two hours fishing. Once again, we don't catch anything, but it's still a beautiful afternoon. Then we continue towards Tjup. We decide to take a shortcut and end up on a rough dirt road. Schrotti is used to these road conditions by now and handles it well (with Marcus behind the wheel, of course). After the off-road adventure, we continue along a well-built highway to Tjup and then back towards Issy Kul. We set up our tents in the early evening above the shoreline, make another unsuccessful attempt to catch some fish (hope dies last), and finally end the evening by the campfire.

For Sunday, we spontaneously decide to make another detour to Karakol. Marcus forgot his towel at the hostel, and it's market day at the livestock market. Unfortunately, we start the day quite late, and by the time we reach the market around half past one, the spectacle seems to be over. There are only a few cattle left, and there's hardly any audience to be seen. Then we pick up Marcus' towel at the hostel and hit the road again. As we leave the city, we are stopped by a police officer who is clearly looking for ways to get money from us. In the end, we manage to settle the whole thing with just 1 dollar and continue on our way. As we head northeast, we pass through Tjup again and a few smaller villages. We stop for some coffee and pastries. I also buy some mutton before we find a camping spot near the village of Tölögöi on the Tjup River. Since it gets chilly in the evening, we decide to set up our yurt. In the past few weeks, we have gathered various wooden poles, ropes, and enough tarps to create a small, roughly 2x2x2 meter shelter. We gather firewood, light a fire inside, and enjoy the evening in our dwelling, warm and cozy. Occasionally, we have to ventilate due to the smoke, but overall, it serves its purpose. For dinner, we enjoy a cabbage goulash with potatoes and some mutton, and Rango is happy with the leftover piece of shoulder meat, bone included.

As we sit down for breakfast on Monday morning (October 28, 2019), we decide to spend another day at our campsite. We work on our yurt, collect firewood, and relax in the afternoon sun. In the evening, we are visited by three young men from the village who stay as guests in our humble abode for a while. We learn a little bit about their lives and are invited to try a regional specialty, which can best be described as "black Kyrgyz". The men are around our age, and two out of three are married with children. A family of five lives here with a monthly income of about 130 euros, earned through livestock farming (10 cows and a horse) and supplemented by self-sufficiency with vegetables and fruits. The three men agree that more money would be nice, but they still lead a good life here. Shortly after the three guys leave, we decide to take down our yurt as the wind picks up, and retreat to our tents.