One of the highlights of the country is the hiking in the mountains and have to say it was really beautiful. We got to Kochgor on a shared taxi with two nice French guys although the car required few pit stops on the way as the steep road was taking us to 2500 m. The city didn't really inspire us at the beginning and the evening thunderstorm was not putting us at ease with the 3 day trek we had booked !!!
After 2 days of shopping we had enough! Even without proper equipment (no sleeping bag, no warm clothes, ..)we decided to go up in the mountains as we planned to do (also giving BA 2 more possibilities to deliver our luggage). The further we got into the mountains the darker the clouds became.. puhh. After a short 3hrs bumpy ride we arrived at Kochgor, the base for the Kyrgyzstan community based tourism program. An organization which organizes wonderful trips into the mountains where you stay in the yurts of Shepards or sleep in private homes. It was a wonderful trip. We had to lovely guides Altynbek and Asim which "pushed" me up and down the high mountains - tough not only for me because I think they hadn't seen such an untrained slow trekker for a while ;-). So we negotiated a speed deal - (very) SLOW up, FAST down. The average satisfied all of us ;-)
After many many meters in hight and several rivers to cross by foot (the bridge was carried away by the strong rainfalls the days before) we finally arrived at the first Shepard's yurt for the night. Great people and a stunning location. The only thing ... it was FREEZING!! But this was sorted quickly with an enormous amount (also in kilos!) of blankets. Then, during the night we got woken up by the Shepard entering our tent an hanging a huge iron block in the middle of our tent. Patiently our guide answered my anxious questions .. it was to keep the tent down during the upcoming thunderstorm. Oh my god!!!! this thing was iron!! but thinking that this guy has much more experience than I how to survive up here in 3000m we finally fell asleep ;-)
The next day we had to climb up a bit higher and finally we arrived at the most beautiful turquoise lake Song-Koel where we spent another night, getting to know the shepards life, helping to cook pasta (Fabri was in his element) and having great discussions with our new Kyrg friends.
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