The Silk Road Lodge Bishkek

... front of the queue. Visas, I am told by the security guard, are on Tuesdays (tomorrow) from 14.30 to 16.00. THANK YOU LONELY PLANET. I do a bit of meandering and get back to the lodgings to plan my strategy!!! for tomorrow. <br> If it is at all possible get all visas before you leave, DO. You can spend weeks trying to get them on the road. Time when you should be travelling. And, they are invariably more expensive.

... br><br>The ride from Karakol along the plain to Bishkek starts with the snowcapped Central Tian Shan mountains to the south, Lake Issy Kol to the north overlooked by another range of snowcapped peaks, the Kungay Alatau. It is a glorious sunny day. The mountains to the north seeem to merge with the blue of the lake leaving the snow capped peaks, like clouds, hanging in the sky. I stop for a break and am quickly joined by four young locals and their donkey. We share peanuts, dried ...

... isolated) across the middle pretty much nothing. However, after hearing stories from other cyclists I've met here in Bishkek, I think it may be prudent (for my sanity) to avoid it. Stories have ranged from it being no fun at all, with the only other people you meet on the road being drunk drivers who want money, to one man saying that 'I consider myself quite a strong man, but that road very nearly brought me to tears'. Hmmmmm. Well, the paved road to the west is looking quite ...

****, forgot to post this when i got back, read on and you'll understand....<br><br><br>This is the end, do do do, my only friend etc... I'm writing this on my last day in Kyrgyzstan, but as I don't want my mother to know when I'm coming home, I will be home by the time I post it. Sadly I'm not being taken in a blue bus as Mr Morrison would have everyone think, but in a big white airoplane. I'm now killing time ...

... surprisingly some French and English. Our host was a man of 31 with three children, a herd of goats, several horses and a home in the alpine Jailoo. He was shocked to find that Ben was his age.. yet had no children and no responsibilities, taking such a long holiday! His wife made about six types of bread, which Ben was happy about, but to be honest the diet of bread, cream, sugar and jam with Kumys (fermented mare's milk) was wearing, and we were ...

... a big 0. Zero for the number of days left. In order to cope, the Istanbul 6 had been counting down the days. This was the last one with this crew. A quick night in a hotel and we would be saying goodbye to the old crew and breaking in the new ones.<br><br>The Last night dinner was a classic disaster. Soups arrived after the main courses had been finished. Drinks never arrived and we were forced to pop to the ...

... finally at right time and right place! Probably, fortune will favour you with a smile, and you make a flight from Lenin peak ( 7134 m ), or exactly you become the first pilot who manage to make unique «cross-country» flight above Alay valley! Let&#8217;s try to perform this remarkable event as real celebration of most beautiful and indeed free kinds of sports ! Dear friends! We wish you to make marvelous discovers, to get good friends! Good luck to you ...

... be continued across picturesque Alay ridge (Kichick Alay mountain massif) at opposite side of Alay valley. In the trekking part of this program you are going to discover many unbelievable landscapes of Turkestan ridge (Pamiro-Alay). We are sure that you are going to be fully surprised with every single day of your unforgettable journey!<br><br>Total duration: 14 days / 13 nights<br><br>Program of the tour:<br>Day 01 Arrival to ...

... keeping at the ice-fall. Upper reaches of the glacier are objectively dangerous due to possible icefalls rushing down from the Peak Chapaev and Peak Khan-Tengry.<br>Day 8 Camp 2 (5300 m) to Camp 3 (5900 m). From Camp 2 uphill on rather gentle slope to the upper reaches of the Semenovskiy Glacier keeping towards the saddle lying between Peak Khan-Tengri and the arm of the Peak Chapaev.<br>Day 9 Downhill to BC (4000 m ...

... would exchange money. Well, that day it didn&#8217;t. Then we reluctantly tried an ATM which told us there was no Visa card service that day either, although thankfully it spat back out our Visa card. We eventually changed some of our precious US dollars at a doubtful looking money change booth in a supermarket. We at least were able to change some money but it was not without the exchange guy barking furiously at Alan to remove his hand from the counter ...