Kyrgyzstan is beautiful. One of the most impressive countries I’ve seen so far. I only cycled through a small part of the country from Uzbekistan to China. It is partly Pamir Highway. It seems that here are still nomads living in big white tents.
People are friendly. Children run after me, shouting: “bye bye!” Mountains are high. Everywhere you see horses, cows and donkeys just walking around and eating from the grass. Communicating has become almost impossible for me.
When I make the first kilometers from the city of Osh I directly face many wild horses. It appears that here in the villages beside donkeys the horses are still used as the main means of transport to go somewhere.
It is climbing and climbing without really enjoying a nice descent. Still, I like it. The temperature is comfortable again. It’s even cloudy and rainy. I really enjoy it after a nerve-racking weeks in the desert of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
This is exactly where I spent the past weeks dreaming about.
When I set up my tent on one of the evenings in Kyrgyzstan, I scare shitless. If I turn around, I look straight into the eyes of a donkey. A boy stares at me from the donkey. He’s going to continue doing this for at least two hours.
Hospitality is certainly present in this country. This lunch consisted of bread, nuts, candies, chocolates and more little small sweets. I ask myself whether this is really healthy, for me it does not really matter. Sugar! Carbohydrates!
Altogether I enjoyed Kyrgyzstan as a really nice experience. Nice people. Kids all around. Beautiful nature. Just a few days of really relaxation and enjoying quiet campsides. Altough the mountain climbing takes some effort.
Unfortunately I could not stay here for too long. I’m on my way to Kashgar in China. There I will place my bicycle for a month in a basement. No worries, I don’t join her. I’m going to make a train journey to Chengdu which is a bit on the other side of China. Lisa, my girlfriend is coming to visit me and we will see each other again after six months. We’re going backpacking together for three weeks.
Exploring the area of Chengdu by another mode of traveling. I will be back on my bicycle within a month to enter one of the hottest places on earth. The desert of China.
In the meantime enjoy the blog entries the coming weeks of backpack adventures in and around Chengdu. More photos you can check out here.