Like Almaty, Bishkek has trolleybuses. The difference being they are somewhat older and more ramshackle. It is a very easy place to visit with many places to stay and eat. You have the usual Soviet era tower blocks, but this is brightened up by colourful gardens and parks. I had a few days to kill in Bishkek whilst I applied for Visas. There were loads of European cars from the late 1980s and 1990s. Mk2 VW Golfs, Passats and Audi 80s were well represented. Raising the ride height of cars seemed quite popular; probably because the roads outside of the city were so bad.
From Bishkek I headed to Osh via the Too Ashuu pass. The first day is easy rolling along the main road heading west. I found a home stay in the village before the valley starts to narrow at the entry to the pass. The next day I hit the pass climbing up all the zig-zags. The only place selling refreshments on the way up was a stall by a camp about 2/3 of the way up. I replenished supplies from the fast running mountain stream using my filter bottles. At the top there is a summit tunnel. Whilst there are no signs to say the cycles are not allowed the army guards on duty by the entrance advised that it was not possible. I think there is a track over the top, but this was not shown on my map and as the weather was closing in I did not fancy this route. The guards initially did not seem to be that helpful. They then checked my passport, and realising I was not American, they quickly helped me secure a lift in the back of a Cattle wagon to the other portal. I can see why they would not think a bicycle was a good idea. The road is very narrow. A car and lorry can barely pass. A traffic light system is used to prevent lorries meeting in the tunnel. The road surface was also terrible. It appeared to be constructed of concrete slabs. Presumably these were over some kind of drainage. Some had partially collapsed causing huge dips. Ventilation seemed non existent and not all stretches of lighting were functional. From the portal it was an easy run down the zig-zags to a high plateau on the southern side. The road surface at the top section is poor with many potholes that would easily bust a wheel at speed, but improves as you go down. The plateau is beautiful unspoiled mountain pasture with yurts dotted around on both sides of the road and was one of the most picturesque spots on the trip.
After spending a couple of days on the plateau I dropped down to Toktogul Reservoir. I only briefly stopped in Toktogul itself and continued to a small Hotel I found on the bank of the south side of the lake. From here is a climb over a corner of the mountains before dropping back down to the reservoir and on down the valley. At the top was a pull in with a tiny shop. I pulled in behind as it looked like a quite spot for a comfort brake. I was surprised to find a couple of guys doing business out the back of transit vans. They didn’t speak english but one spoke German and I can manage a few words so some conversation was possible. Looking at my bike he said there was no good water further on and insisted I take two 1.5 litre bottles. What he could not see was the extra water I already had stuffed in the top of the pannier. I am sure the gist of the last bit of the conversation is “you haven’t seen anybody here”. I was already wondering why anyone would choose to do business at the top of the mountain. As the German speakers van had a Kazakhstan registration I guessed the business was of the import/export variety where they possibly forgot to declare the goods for duty.
Dropping down from the reservoir I had in mind to stay at Shamaldy-Say. However, on my way down I was stopped by a Chinese Couple cycling up the other way. They had also been hoping to stop there and had not found any accommodation. When I got to town I went straight to a restaurant with a view to having something to eat before finding a camp site. After eating I asked the restaurant about accommodation and they guided me to a place just round the corner in the next street. It was well hidden, you would never find it by chance. Even with directions I needed the help of another local to point me into the entrance. From the street the building looked disused, but inside it was clean and warm and appeared to have been a soviet era workers hostel. The staff were very friendly and kept me topped up with tea. The internal shower and toilet couldn’t be used in the evening as the towns water supply had failed so it was the outside toilet. This was in a very well built concrete building with neatly tiled floors and walls, but never the less, it was still technically a shit-hole. On the way out of town I decided the Chinese couple must have been blind, I passed a service area on the only road towards Osh that had a hotel, clearly identified with the “hotel” in large letters across the front of the building. Normally, it is myself that fails to spot things and zips past unless they are identified by a huge neon sign. Osh was well populated with cyclists. I was able to find out from people going the other way the availability of water and where they had stayed going across the Pamirs. I hadn’t been able to get a paper map of the Pamirs in Bishkek and failed again, so printed the required sections of one I downloaded from the internet at an internet café.
On the way up to Sary Tash I camped at the bottom of the Taldyk Pass. It was getting a bit blustery as I climbed up, and I needed a rest day for acclimatisation so I decided to camp in a really picturesque spot by a family living in a couple of yurts. The children took quite an interest in the tent. At night the temperature plummeted. When I woke to take the tent down it was covered in a sheen of ice.
At Sary Tash I stayed in the Pink House. Mostly because it was the first one I came to and it was conveniently behind the village shop. From some of the pictures I have seen, I think some of the home stays a bit further into the village have more luxury in the form of inside flushing toilets. I arrived really early as I had only come from the bottom of the Taldyk Pass. Some other cyclist were just setting off. Heading towards Tajikistan were a mother and son team from Israel that were planning on camping part way up the Kyzlart-pass. They asked if I would like to join them, but I preferred to stay in the homestay to get a good nights sleep and set off early in the morning. I met up with them the next day, in the dip between the two passes before reaching Karakul. Really chunky soups seemed to be a staple of the local diet. These had half potatoes and carrots and large chunks of meat in a meaty stock served with a complete loaf of crusty local bread. From Sary Tash towards Karakul is initially flat. As you get to the mountains the valley narrows in. The road is narrow but there is no traffic at all. There were a couple of wash outs to contend with where it was necessary to ford mountain streams but otherwise the road was relatively smooth. After a while the Kyrgyz border post it reached. The booth was deserted, but the gates beyond securely locked. I had to poke my nose into several of the buildings to find someone to stamp my passport and let me through such is the business of this border post. The climb starts from the border post. There is a further military check post nearer the top at which point the condition of the road takes a marked turn for the worse and becomes a dirt track. I was fortunate that the road had dried from recent rains. I had heard the cyclist a few days before had really struggled.