Naryn to Karakol, (2/X); 28th July
After a hearty breakfast of oats, nuts and honey we went back down the track to the road.
After about 10km we found the small shop in the village the two Dutch cyclists had told us about. The shopkeepers son was outside and we chatted for a bit. He was visiting from Bishkek to cut the grass. He used to work at a bank as an economist but changed to be a tour guide — I guess there is a decent living to be made from the tourism industry.
We bought five packs of ramen, a small pack of peanuts, eggs which we fried for lunch, and some chocolate from the shop. Unfortunately, no bread. We went down the road and asked a lady if we could buy some bread. She went inside and came out with a bag of fried bread which we were happy with. We gave 150 som which she was very surprised with, I think she was prepared to give it to us for free.
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We had the breadchunks for lunch with eggs we fried from the shop. We cycled to the next village and again asked a man on the road if we could buy bread. He invited us into his house where his mum served us tea, he offered some beef fat sliced into small pieces and some bread. After trying to make small talk we gave 200 for the bread continued on our way. We now had enough food to make the pass in 4 days.
The scenery about 40km in changed into a high plateau or wide valley, similar to the last day of cycling in Tajikistan. Lots and lots of animals — horses, goats, sheep, turkeys, cows and wild marmots, with yurts to be seen in the most incredible places, sometimes nestled high up from the valley floor.
After chatting with a Russian and two South Koreans who were also cycling Central Asia, we continued to Tosor Pass and finally found a good place to camp — slightly shielded from the wind as its on relatively lower ground, with a stream running by we could use to wash and cook.
After cooking a storm passed through. The change in weather was surprisingly quick, and within a few minutes rain was pelting down and the wind was flexing the tent, which we had quickly retreated into. After about 15 minutes it passed, and there was even some clear sky and sunshine.
After a large serving of rice and lentils tomorrow we will try to make Tosor Pass. If we do, we would have covered it in 3 days — the worry about the food would have been for nothing!
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