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| Beautiful morning at Kara Talaa village which received its first foreign visitors in 2018 |
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| Bikes gets a good wash everyday! |
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| View of first family home |
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| View of first family home |
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| Breakfast spread |
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| Calves taking shelter from the sun. Note the snow capped mountains in the background |
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| Typical hand washing basin in Kyrgyzstan |
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| Waiting for our lunch can be painstakingly looooooooooong..... |
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| Typical gateway design |
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| Aquaduct |
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| No wonder they were slooooooow, taking selfies all the time! |
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| Beautiful countryside road, our first riding experience in 7 days! |
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| Pitstop |
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| Appreciation dinner |
It was an early morning for VT and Claudine, thanks to solo
trumpet player, Mr Lim! Worse than a novice, he could only hit 2 notes at best,
going off tune most of the time. Adding on to the night symphony was his
handphone which began beeping even before the rooster crows, no thanks to
Whatsapp messages that flows in from early risers on the other side of the
world.
Last night, separated from the harem by a mere 200 m,
Claudine as queen of the upper class abode had invited Mr Lim and VT into her
chambers, leaving her army in the other available room. Upper class abode in
terms of a modern toilet, high speed internet with wifi sharing and modern
large kitchen; all amenities arranged in accordance to the hierarchy of needs!
Given a choice to stay back or to play the roulette, the
ladies and their Khan had chosen to stay back at the new inn with the yurt
where we had dined and celebrated Kok Teng’s 16th birthday. Left to Chance, the
latter party found themselves holding the trump card instead!
Driving back to Bishkek, we followed route A363 which runs
along the perimeter of Issykul Lake. On the opposite side of the embankment,
Balykchy appears highly populated with scenes of high rise buildings. On our
side, Kara Talaa village only received its first foreign guests last year with
farm animals out numbering the human population! Despite that, we could spot a
few tourist lures like bus stops, benches by the lake and even a small park!
Disappointedly, we did not have a chance to don our bikinis
and G-strings as prophesied by KT on his birthday yesterday. It was such a
letdown when our bus steered away from the junction to Balykchy but hit the
highway on A 365 instead. By that time, it was too late to request for Ian to
turn the vehicle around.
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| Strawberries sold on the road near Burana Tower |
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| Burana Tower, near Tomok |
150 km later, we arrived at
Burana tower when the sun was directly above our heads. Our interests
dissipated as quickly as the sweat on our backs when all we saw was a tiny
tower standing on a vast vacant land. Built in the 9th century by
the Karakhanids in the ancient city of Balasagun, this minaret was originally
45 m high. It was reduced to its current height of 25 m after significant
damages from a number of eathquakes over the centuries.
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| Note the road we came down from |
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| Picnic spot near the river |
Our frustrations were allowed to brew further when we
stopped for lunch at a good picnic spot near Karagai Bulak BUT no lunch! Dima
had gone off to run errands with Chinggis, Dan and Sue, arriving very very late
with 2 cold chicken, possibly leftovers from yesterday’s chaos and very little
bread. Claudine had to contribute further with 2 canned chilli tuna brought
from home!
As there was very little to eat, our lunch was over very
quickly. Moving on, we drove a short distance to Toguz Bulak to begin our short
25 km ride to Koi Tash. Funnily, Dima had underestimated our road performance
stating it may take us 2 to 2.5 hours. We proved him wrong, finishing within an
hour with minutes to spare for ice creams which were sold at a “bullish trend”.
Purchased at 25 som by VT, others had to pay 40 som for the same product! We
later deduced he must have looked the part of a Kyrgyz, big and not having
shaven for more than one week!
Returning to Bishkek, we showered and spruce up for our
dinner at Arzu restaurant. We were in a celebratory mood ending our Tian Shan,
Kyrgyzstan Ride still in one piece! Dima generously paid for our dinners with a
pre-set individual budget. We would have preferred to stay longer but it was
only right to relief Team Dima off their duties, having been away from home for
a week!
Total distance travelled : 245 km
Total ride distance : 50 km
Total ride achieved : 25 km
Ride Route : Tarmac
Elevation : + 500 m, - 1200 m
Places of interest :
Burana Tower
Photo courtesy :
All the fabulous participants of Tian Shan, Realising Dreams Team - Alan, Anna, Angkana, Christoph, Joyce, Lim, John, Kok Teng, Sue, York Fuan, VT, Gerard, Zoe, Dima
