After a few days in Karakol, spent mostly in the Karakol Coffee shop, we had been for a couple of trips out - to the Seven Bulls, Broken Heart and a mountainous drive. We decided to leave for the mountains for a few days so with our hiking map we set off for Altyn Arashan, hot springs that are close to Lake Ala Kol. I'd googled the drive, and the photos online made the road look like a fairly easy track for us and Yoshimi to drive along. In the morning a bus l...

Welcome all! We are once again out of Bishkek - this time on the southern and eastern shores of Lake Issuk Kul. We did take our time getting our act together - I admit that… although, it was mainly car things that kept us in the city until mid afternoon, so I think that's justifiable! Firstly, we'd lost a bolt from the jerry can holder on the roof, and a bolt from the belly plates, so off to the car bazaar to scout out spares… then to a car wash. This took ...

We set off for Naryn and along the mountain pass we stopped to help a family broken down on the side of the road. We assumed overheating, seeing as it was a small car trying to make it up a high pass, and when they poured some water into the radiator steam came billowing out from behind the engine - not good. After a couple of hours we agreed to tow them to the top of the pass, but not further because they had no brakes! Naryn is a long, narrow town that was o...

At 4am the alarm went off, we got dressed, had breakfast and waited for our driver/guide. At 5am he arrived, but had to spend a while confirming to Andrew that he could procure a donkey/horse for the day. Andrew had arrived at the guesthouse late the night before after causing a bit of a storm in Kazarman by refusing to stay in the guesthouse he had booked and demanding to come to Bujumal's house. A retired mathematician, he is easily the most ill-prepared trav...

From Arslanbob we drove to Jalal-Abad, a place Fintan wanted to visit because it sounded like a place that's been on the news… O, no it doesn't sound like a place on the news, it is the place on the news! Excellent! There had been riots in 2010, but what we say of the city just looked like any other in Central Asia - chaikhana - check, bazaar - check, weird city gate things over the road - check. So after some lagman (noodles with meat) and a quick shop in th...