to Karakol: glad to be done with this road

August 19, 2016

Will, aka SCM, has a slightly different and slower morning routine from us, but we manage to all get going by about eight…Ready to get to Karakol, a hot shower and good food.

The road along the lake has worn us down, too many aggressive drivers and very bumpy asphalt. We just plod along trying to get to Karakol in one piece. We meet some more cyclist who tell us about the Dutch-run Riverside Guesthouse where we plan to stay. Will wants to keep moving to get to Almaty for his flight home next week, so we decide to eat lunch together, then, we will go find the guesthouse and he continues on.

On one of the main intersections of Karakol, Patrick gets into a shouting match with a taxi driver who cuts him off and then tries to run over his bike that has fallen in front of the car; quite the scene.

We first make our way to “lovely pizza” for beer, pizza and some sushi (in Kyrgyzstan!), then say our goodbyes to Will once again and head for the Guesthouse. It is a nice place, a little away from the center but taxis are cheap. The rooms are full for tonight so we camp with a group of cycling Israelis and French in the garden.

We enjoy the hot shower, good wifi and company.

Container structures. They dress-up the front with large printed plastic sheets.

There seems to have been a competition to make every bus stall in Kyrgyzstan unique. We have not seen two the same. What they all have in common though is lack of maintenance and no buses, just the vans that run everywhere and stop everywhere. This one has support columns made of concrete pipe sawn in half.

Meeting up with a Dutch and American cyclist headed west.

First things first: we visit the Lovely Pizza place for beer and pizza. Then we say our goodbye's to Will again. He is headed on towards Kazakhstan today. We are planning a couple of rest days in Karakol.

Today's ride: 65 km (40 miles)
Total: 20,819 km (12,929 miles)

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