Lake News 3
- krolesh
- Jul 7, 2024
- 2 min read
Cameladerie
In the morning Anna Lena had a swim in Issyk-Kul, whose name means "warm lake." And it is actually warm, relative to any of the other lakes or rivers along here, which are ball-disappearingly freezing.
And it's nearly summer.
The other thing about the lake is that, incredibly, it's saline. This is a fact that, here at high altitude, none of us expected, and which we only realised a couple of days ago when Anna Lena drank it. We'd already cooked using it, and even filtered our water bottles from it, before actually tasting it.
Once we'd discovered that it was salty, we then relied on running streams, which were mostly quite easily available.
After days of enjoying the varied beauty of Issyk-Kul we continued heading west, riding past the the western tip of the lake, and leaving it behind us.
Looking behind us. Bye bye Issyk-Kul. We love you.
Look who we bumped into. The cutest bunch of camels I've ever met, particularly cute because their double humps are actually floppy. Seriously. They flop up and down as they run, making them look like goofy cartoon characters, and then the humps just stay flopped down when they stop.
The younger ones' humps were a little stiffer, and would remain standing up all the time. But not the adults. Their humps begin to soften over time, and then eventually just stay flopped down most of the time, no longer staying stiff.
That sort of thing happens as you age.
Apparently.
They're also moulting, in case you were wondering.
We came across this beautiful reservoir, formed after the building of a small dam. It was a stunning colour, reflecting the surrounding hills like an impressionist masterpiece.
I headed on with Anna Lena and Julian towards Naryn, as I wanted to hang with them for one last night, but I'll be coming back to this junction alone, to take this road towards Bishkek.
We eventually made it to Kochkor, and had a feast together.
Cheese pide, pizza, bisol (a vegetarian meat omelette - yes, not a typo) and coffees. We were full.
Downtown Kochkor
Heading to our last campsite together
This was our spot for the night. A little boy from a nearby farmhouse came over to greet us, what a sweetie, and when we asked if we could camp, he showed us the best spot. More impeccable hospitality.
One last singalong
Go to Part 4
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