Packing Day 21: Ask and ye shall receive I wake and check the time. 05h00 on the dot. I unzip the tent flap and WOW, a golden glow spreads across the Eastern shore. I grab my sleeping bag and scuttle out of the tent to sit on the beach and enjoy the spectacle. Steve sleeps…
Kyrgyzstan Bike-Packing Day 20: Issy Kul It’s 100km on a busy road from Karakol to Bokonbaevo, the town from which we can best access Lake Issyk Kul by bike. We search in vain for a mini bus that can take us and our bikes. A driver with a regular station wagon insists it can be…
Kyrgyzstan Bike-Packing Day 18 & 19: R&R Sadly, the guest house has a group coming in tonight and is fully booked. We would’ve preferred to stay put, but after breakfast, we load up and head for the closest coffee shop to discuss our options. A few coffees and cakes later, we follow Bookings.com to the…
Kyrgyzstan Bike-Packing Day 17: Oh FLOCK! We awake to glorious blue skies (with a few renegade clouds about). Hallelujah!! Yippeeee!!!! Yeeehaaa!!!! We are ecstatic and feeling energized by the sun, as it slowly peeps up over the mountain. It’s astounding how the temperature drops the minute a wisp of cloud blocks the warming rays. We make…
Kyrgyzstan Bike-Packing Day 16: The Grand Migration I awake at 05h30. It’s still bucketing down. My bladder is fit to burst. I decide to make a dash for it at the first sign of let up. The wait is interminable. Eventually The sound of the rain diminishes a tad and I do what has to…
Kyrgyzstan Bike-Packing Day 15: Hit by the storm! I wake at 05h30 with a bulging bladder. We’ve agreed 08h00 breakfast, but there’s no ways I can hold it until then. What the heck, I’m going. I creep through their room and this time make sure to position myself directly over the triangle. The evidence of…