Issyk-Kul, Kyrgzstan

Ala-Kul Lake

With a long weekend at our disposal, Becky and I decided to make the most of the time, taking a night bus from Biskek to Karakol, a town on the South East of Lake Issyk-Kul, the world's second biggest salt lake, which at 180km wide by 70km, gives Kyrgyztsan a replacement shoreline.

Issyk-Kul region

Our plan had been to find a guide in Karakol to take us up into the surrounding mountains. At the end of the summer season though, and after some recent snowfall, none of the guides were happy to take us up, so after buying a map (not as easy as one might think!), we decided to go up on our own. 

We found a gruff, and frankly quite scary local guy to drive us further up into the mountains, so we could get some more interesting walking in. He turned out to be a godsend, and very much took us under his wing, taking us to the local market to buy provisions to keep us going for the next couple of days. 

Our campsite on night 1

Breakfast on Day 2

After our drop off, we walked for the rest of the day, following the river up until we reached a popular crossing point where we stopped off for the night. We were later joined by a group of Israeli hikers coming from the opposite direction who shared our camp fire and dinner. 

The next morning we carried on up a steep and pretty arduous climb, dropping off our bags and tent at a mountain hut a third of the way up and finally making it up to Ala-Kul Lake just before the weather closed in. At over 3,500m up, it's a beautiful glacial lake with a fascinating blueish colour and apparently in summer people do actually swim in it. We did no such thing (it was freezing!), and headed back down to the hut, leaving us enough time to collect some firewood before it began to snow. 

Ala-Kul Lake

Our night in the mountain hut, with the snow falling outside and the knowledge that we were miles from civilization and that all manner of wild animals could wander in at any moment, was terrifying! The moment it went dark, that we let our fire die down and that we tried to get some winks, I became irrationally afraid, and every sound and crackle outside made me jump out of my skin. Needless to say, sunrise was a relief! 

Our mountain hut

Having navigated our way back through a layer of snow we arrived at our pick up point late, causing our poor driver some concern! He took us back into Karakol for a traditional Kyrgyz mountain meal, Ashliam-fu, a delicious spicy noodle soup before directing us to our bus home!

Snowy walk back, Day 3