Best Eastern Pinara Bishkek

... about being on a tight schedule and as politely as I can decline the offer and grab the chance, like, where can I pay? and worth every cent!
I pay my $190 and skip away from the consulate with a light heart and a lighter pocket.
I spend a happy evening at the lodgings swapping stories with others. Some have been here for some time waiting for visas for various countries and some have not been as lucky as I and have had applications refused.

... bedroom suite thing to myself for the sum of about $5, and it felt as though I was in Europe in the 19th century.

To get back to Bishkek in order to take the road south, I plumped for the ex-European bus. A 9 hour journey with a snoring Babushka next to you and awful Eurovision music coming from the stereo is possibly not top of my list of things to do again. Of course, I also picked the hottest day of my stay for a trip in a bus with little in the ...

I ride down to the animal market at 07.30. I follow the traffic. It's all heading there. There are thousands of people and animals milling around. Clouds of dust rise in the early morning light. People stand around sheep, cattle, horses. Sellers are looking hopeful. Buyers are feeling the animals shaking their heads and walking on. No need to get carried away just yet by making an offer. Lines of trucks are ready to transport bulk purchases but individual sheep are more usually ...

... translation service with the lady in the shop, we established that, yes, there is nowhere to stay between where I was and Korday (120kms on) but that I could put my tent round the back of the petrol station. Lovely.

Before long a small crowd of local children on bikes and gold-toothed locals had gathered. I will upload some pictures later of the hilarity that ensued, as it is easier to explain than write. So after the children had ridden around the forecourt on the ...

... boys then insisted on some other traditional games in a Kyrgyz vs. Tourists tournament. Tug of War was played (and won by the Tourists) and then the boys were challenged to some one-on-one shirtless wrestling (which the Kyrgyz won without exception). That night we watched the goat being skinned and then cooked for supper in our honour. We slept in one of two yurts, while the family slept in a tin caravan behind, and their herd of sheep and goats ...

18th July

Today was a drive day as we completed the circuit of the lake. We passed "Fish Town" famous in its day but not bereft of the one thing it needs. Fish. Too many fish were extracted in Soviet times and now the town in a large ruin. Circuit completed we drove along the river and through Bishkek (the capital) and up a valley to the Alpine Centre for the country. We pitched camp in a rocky campsite at ...

Paragliding association under extreme tourism federation of Uzbekistan at cooperation with «Pamir Expeditions» would like to invite everybody to take part in the first international paragliding festival on Lenin peak area:


Dear friends and guests of the festival! Project of this kind of grade is carried out here first time! This is absolutely new direction in history of extreme kinds of sports yet when paragliding and mountaineering are going to ...

Сombined program

Dear friends! Let us to introduce you not quite ordinary program which combines not only two different directions in kinds of active tours but offers unique journey around two mountain areas – there are Pamir and Pamiro-Alay as well. Horse riding part of this program is lying in area of wonderful Alay valley and leads to the foot of grand Lenin peak 7134m (Zaalay ridge), then your horse riding route ...

... yourself for the ascent.
Day 5 Acclimatization foray to Peak Khan-Tengry.
Day 6 Base Camp (4000 m) to Camp 1 (4200 m). The route begins from the BC located at the left-hand side moraine of the South Inilchek Glacier at the point of the glacier’s meeting with the Zvezdochka Glacier, approximately at 4000 m above see level.
Day 7 Camp 1 (4200 m) to Camp 2 (5300 m). You uphill along the Semenovskiy ...

... Soviet states of Central Asia, this improbable country has had a tumultuous past and today still suffers from an ineffectual government with entrenched corruption and nepotism, high unemployment (and underemployment) and a struggling economy.

Yet, this appealing and picturesque nation does have its pluses. It has some of the most liberal attitudes and the fastest privatisation programs in Central Asia, and it is now investing heavily in a thriving ...