After crossing the border to Kyrgyzstan and settling down for a night in Bishkek yesterday, a trip to the market was needed for supply shopping for the next 3 days of camping. It’s amazing how much can be communicated in these large markets, without speaking a common language. It does help that the word kilogram, is very similar in Russian and English. I bought a bucket of raspberries and 2 kilos of apples for our days cooking. Everyone is allocated a group for cooking meals and we rotate through a roster. More on that later though.
We headed off to the Kyrgyz country side and stopped at the ruins of Burana for lunch. There was a minaret we climbed, admittedly mostly in darkness and no knowledge of where the steps actually were. From the minaret we could see the mountains we were heading for.
Burana minaret
We drove on towards the Chong-Kemin valley, the entrance was very narrow with just enough room for a road and the river, but soon it opened up to a wide open natural Valle with stunning green mountains, topped with rocky outcrops with the last of the winter snow on top. There are also glaciers in the mountains and the river beside camp is great for chilling beer and vodka.
Chong-Kemin campsite
For dinner we cooked delicious kebabs on the fire, with some Texas chilli sauce, apparently there was a salad and pasta. To top it off I made stewed apples with custard for desert. The truck has some talented cooks on it so I don’t think we will go hungry at all.
Tomorrow is a big day with rafting, hiking and goat polo on the schedule.