Kyrgyzstan August / September 2026 (cycling across Asia bicycle trip)

Welcome to Kyrgyzstan!

Country number X on this journey (sorry, I lost count :)

My planned route through Kyrgyzstan

I roughly decided to follow bottom part of Tian Shan traverse and Celestial Divide until Osh before I turn into Tajikistan for the famous Pamir highway

 What I actually ended doing :)

     To find out what happened, you are welcomed to enjoy this chapter of my journey through Kyrgyzstan

 Going from Kashgar into Kyrgyzstan over Torugart pass

 Chinese truckers going to Kyrgyzstan gave me water one evening as this section (from Kashgar to Kyrgyzstan) has almost no running water in nature.

 5 liters of water later I am happy and decided to camp behind some containers on the big parking lot.

 As this last section of road towards Torugart road is a highway (there is no other road) it is often difficult or impossible too leave the road for camping.

But they let you cycle as there is no other road.

There is no much traffic on this road so it actually nice place to cycle (despite being on the highway)

 Cooking myself a usual dinner for me (pasta with some vegetables and olive oil, extra virgin olive oil :)

 Next morning I still have to cycle good 80 km to the border and the road keeps climbing steadily

 And the road gets more and more interesting the closer you get to Kyrgyzstan.

Mountains gets bigger and more spectacular.

Just what I needed after boring Xining province in China

 Me acting like a monkey in the middle of the highway.

Luckily traffic is very little on this road and this pass is much better than Irkeshtam pass (as I discovered later)

 More of these tanks (built from rocks and often a wooden pole representing a turret)

Not sure what it the actual meaning behind this.

 Last few km from Chinese border to the Torugart pass road deteriorates rapidly (there are actually some construction work going on ) and you have to tackle a steep climb towards the actual pass navigation gravel while lots of trucks overtake you.

First I didn’t know if I will cross the border today as Google told me border is actually opened from 8 -17 and I arrived at the border at about 19:00

But as I saw the border is actually opened I continued despite being late already (definitely don’t want to stay overnight close to border area)

Chinese border as easy to cross, just one big building and being a cyclist I was spared most of bag search as the kind young Chinese officers only slight opened some of my bags and quickly let me go.

Then it was time to tackle the steep climb towards the pass.

As I was tired as hell already it took me quite some time (felt like 45 min ) to finally climb on the pass (where is another Chinese border building checkpoint) but you go through this quickly and then descend starts towards Kyrgyzstan border.

 Kyrgyzstan border crossing was quick (although slightly confusion where to go) but much more relaxed than Chinese border control.

Border guards were extremely welcoming, asking me is this my first time in Kyrgyzstan which I said yes!

They didn’t checked any of my bags and when I asked on officer for water (which I was now lacking) he quickly went around gather many water bottles and even gave me some fruit (apples and apricots) they had laying around.

 That was now finally both border done , I was in magical looking Kyrgyzstan, the night was fast approaching, it was super cold (after warm Chinese side) and it was time to find shelter.

All this area around the Chatyr-Köl lake is often windy (as it was now) and there is no way I would sleep outside (even in tent).

I dint even realize how cold it was because I was till under all border crossing shenanigans.

All I wanted now was some abandoned house for sleep.

 And building I found, just at right moment, although this area around the lake does not have much, its pretty much all opened space.

 It was some kind of old building probably used to store animals at some point (as the floor was pooped in all rooms, but mostly older poop), but I was more than happy to find shelter from the wind and cold that evening.

 Next morning I continued to gorge my eyes with breathtaking views around this lake area in all directions.

 That day I even witnessed many cycling participation in Silk Road Mountain Race which takes place here every year.

They were going in opposite direction (seemingly towards the border).

In fact, yesterday evening when I entered Kyrgyzstan I met several and we had short chat, they were going to border post trying to buy some food there. I said I don’t think a store exist there as far as I know, but I know they are hungry as they carry little to no luggage.

It turns out there is a small store at there border post where you can buy some food (as I discovered this when I was exiting Kyrgyzstan but more on that later)

 First rain for me after a long time (I don’t even remember when I saw rain last time as I came from China)

This short rain did not affect me but there was more of this to come.

 A leftovers of that is was a big crash happened here.

Who knows how long this has been sitting here, but its not a nice eyesight in this beautiful nature.

As I circumvented the road around the lake, another short rain (or what it looked like short rain appeared in the middle of the day).

Not just rain but also a thundering began, which being in the open on a bicycle is not a pleasant feeling.

The rain was moderate but still more than something I wanted to cycle in plus the fact thundering still continued, I really wanted to look for shelter.

Not an easy task in the open nature, but after a while I found a bridge and hid myself underneath until all this passed (Bette to be safe than dead.)

I realized how the weather here in Kyrgyzstan differs than I was used to in China months before.

And when the clouds gather and wind picked up , the temperatures dropped to single digits easily.

I didn’t have any specific plans for Kyrgyzstan as I was still in China.

Only crossing Pamir highway was on my mind.

But as I have ended in Kyrgyzstan prematurely (since I skipped most of Xinjiang province) I wanted to stay here longer and after some browsing I discovered famous bikepacking routes here named “Tian Shan traverse” and “Celestial Divide”.

I didn’t really know how demanding they really are and are they even possible without a proper mountain bike.

Still , I was here, surrounded by beautiful nature and wanted to make the most of it.

I downloaded gpx tracks to my phone and decided to join Tian Shan traverse from the main road going north.

So here I was, the road turned left into gravel and with my heavy loaded bike (I wish I wasnt) I ventured into unknown (and unknown it was).

Mind you, I still havent reached any town or food shop since I entered  Kyrgyzstan but my panniers were full of food (as they always are) so food was not my worry (but I wish I had fresh bread, or any bread at all :)

 Soon I met another cyclist coming from other direction, he was on short journey around Kyrgyzstan.

He gave me some info on the route ahead confirming the route is rideable without any problems (at least first half of it which was my goal) which was assuring.

 Everywhere I looked I was left amazed by nature.

 Gravel was mostly smooth, which is exactly what I needed.

Even the gradients were ok, and 95% of the thing were rideable , even with heavier loads.

 The evening was approaching and I decided to call it a day.

I have done enough today, crossed whole lake, they started offroad section for the rest of the day.

 Found some random grassline higher up from the road (for a comfortable night).

Didnt know if its going to rain overnight or no, so I staked my tent firmly.

Grass is soft so setting a tent here against winds is no problem.

The horses I was earlier on the other side of the road were now doing the same as horses always do :)

They were slowly approaching my tent (like I cant see them :P)

And in no time here they were, curious starring at me.

There were actually 2 groups of horses I noticed.  First group tried to approached me slowly, but then second group came somewhat aggressively and scared them away.

I guess they were more dominant group of horses :)

This was filmed literally 3 meters from my tent just before the night came.

I have nothing to say to them so I continued my own (cooking dinner, and getting ready for the night)

Horses stayed close by for a while but afterwards have left.

Funny enough, I have already observed such behavior several times on my trips where random horses close by (where I was camping) would creeping slowly towards me always ending right next to my tent sooner or later:)

Horse curiosity?

 Next day route goes over big mountain pass (no so big going from the side) and descends into small town of Baetov.

Incredible veiws and big mountain on the left as you climb over the pass..

Met many cyclists here on this part of the route and discovered how popular is here this time of the year.

No Silk Road Mountain Race going here (they disappeared somewhere else yesterday which I will only find out much later in my time here in Kyrgyzstan) , just the “regular” cyclist like me on short or long distance touring.

 Still using my damaged Schwalbe Marathon rear tire.

I tried to patch a pretty visible hole (which is only protected my tire boot from the inside) with small rubber which I glued in but I knew this will not last at all :(

 While climbing towards the pass I saw several shepards overlooking the cattle while sitting on the side of the mountain.

They waved at me telling to join them. I saw they were eating something.

 And to my surprise they were actually eating fresh and delicious bread.

Not only I havent eaten bread for more than 2 days now so if I could choose single food item now (while still being away from any towns or civilization for hours at least ), but this bread was so delicious that it put a huge smile to my face (and to my belly!)

It was just what I needed after all this time.

Especially since after last part of China, where bread was actually quite bad (for my linkings), this bread was soft, whit a rich taste.

They even gave me one bread before I continued forwards.

 On the top of the pass.

Today was similarly cloudy (with some drizzling rain several times but nothing big) so some views of the big mountain on the left (5000m) were partially obscured, but the surroundings were breathtaking!

If I needed to pick one point where Tian Shan traverse was the most spectacular looking, I would say here!

 Huge canyon carved in the past

Descend towards town of Baetov on this side was very long

More and more I started wishing I had a mountain bike with little luggage so I can enjoy this spectacular gravel roads!

 Some remains of mudbrick mausoleum

 A graveyard in Kyrgyzstan

A town of Baetov brought me many surprises (some good some bad:)

Its a small and quiet town located in nature  where I had first change to see how people live here in this poor environment.

I have finally reached a grocery store, and grocery stores here in Kyrgyzstan were really good (much better then I expected).

I could literally find anything I want here.

I was sitting here in small restaurant (or only restaurant I could find) eating very delicious dish (the name I forgot)  filled with sliced potato and carrot!

I Baetov I had a misfortune of first cash machine I visited took my card (maybe if I was reading better in Russian I could have avoided all that :)

OF course it was Saturday evening (the best day to get your bank card taken) because banks are closed until Monday :)

So I had 2 days to explore , stay or rest (or all together the Baetov and surroundings) until I get my card back.

That day finally arrived , I successfully retrieved my card, stock myself with groceries and continued my journey.

 Mausoleum of Taylak Batyr and Atantai Batyr located on the side of the road

 Grocery stores in Kyrgyzstan were really very well equipped, fruits , vegetables, dry fruits, nuts, fresh bread, yogurts… anything I wanted.

 After leaving Baetov and short ride on the paved roads, the route turned gravel again and started entering another valley towards the mountains.

I enjoyed such surroundings like nothing else!

 Another evening comes close and its time top find a camping spot.

And finding a camping spot in Kyrgyzstan is probably one of the most pleasurable thing on my bikepacking journey.

You can put your tent anywhere you want of course, nature is beautiful all around you, you have your privacy (sometimes people may visit you if they see you only to give you food presents :)

 I ended up on random spot, unbelievably calm night so much so that you can hear a very occasional car coming from far in the distance on the mountain gravel roads.

I never heard any wild animals (like wolfs) here in Kyrgyzstan (but obviously they exist)

 Oats

 Plus cacao

 Equals breakfast for me :)

 Strangely I even found real and very good cacao powder here is small grocery stores in Kyrgyzstan (something I havent seen from Vietnam on this journey!)

 On first sight a beautiful horses but if you look closely you will see their legs are tied together ( so they cant move fast or far?)

It was sad seeing this and for a moment I even wanted to take a knife and cut the cord to let them free, but aside from being stupid and irresponsible, it would be also very dangerous, if the horse kicks suddenly and without warning..

 Random yurts located in the mountains. Some were closed while some offered camping opportunities where you could rent a yurt and stay.

Sometimes there would be electricity, and I was told occasionally there can even be wifi present.

 I random cat I found on the side of the road here in the mountains in the middle of nowhere,

First I heard cat crying but I couldn’t see where the car was , I stopped and it took a while to spot a small cat in the grass not far from the side of the road.

I quickly realized she must be hungry (as there was nobody around here).

Didn’t know at first what food to leave her (what do cats eat?) but decided to make small slices of bread which she immediately started eating.

River was near by so water was no problem.

Of course this food I left would only last so far, so the real solution was actually to take her with me and leave her when I find some village or people (which I only realized once I left).

Even so , I am not sure how far I would need to travel to find people here.

And then less than a kilometer further there were another yurt and people working around, so civilization was not that far.

Hope this cat survived and found a shelter :)

 Some flora here in the mountains

 Rose hip (I recognize this :)

 I was still riding through this valley climbing steady until I got a surprise.

I looked up and saw dust coming from some vehicles.

Then I realized those are switchbacks and the road now starts to climb.

I don’t usually look elevation profile every day , I just like to ride blindly and enjoy nature without worrying about how much I need to climb.

I didn’t expect such climb is coming today, but this makes journeys more exiting!

This view is from the above after almost half day of climbing .

It was hard but enjoyable every moment (except for the heat)

Not sure how much elevation these switchbacks have exactly (because I still havent looked :) but it could be easily 700 m of gravel I climbed.

 Gorgeous nature slightly reminding of Durmitor (because of white rock)

 Once the climb was over I have reached the plateau around the Song-Kul lake.

 The ride around the lake was long (feeling like the end will never come) and I will admit, a little boring for me.

There was also an option to take two different paths here, one leaving the lake sooner and descending towards next small town, the other going on the other side of the lake and climbing over another pass before descending down.

I decoded to follow first route which was the main route on the map. For the other I did not know the state of the road and I was running low of food so I wanted to reach town as soon as possible.

 Yurts located around the lake.

It would be boring for me to stay here.

While its scenic at first, it quickly becomes monotonous.

Mountains are far in the distance , everywhere is flat and even going to lake level is not possible because ground becomes wet, so the only thing thats left if to sit down and not go anywhere (the best I could describe it :)

 It took me loong time to finally leave the lake and the night arrived sooner than expected.

 But camping is no problem (as we already know) so I just crashed on first place I found.

 In the morning another big and enjoyable descend down (I wish I was on empty mountain bike :)

 Reaching another small town of Bash-Kuugandy

I bought so much food I could barely carry everything :)

 Children very interesting in foreigners here, sometimes even calling your “tourist” (which does not sound nice)

Not sure if they learned that themselves or the parents are to blame.

 Back on the paved road again, which comes very handy to rest from bumpy gravel roads.

Here I made a big mistake and left the paved road (which was somewhat busy) and I wanted to go back on quiet gravel roads.

However this part of the route joins Celestial Divide bikepacking route where it climbs over Kyzart pass.

I had no sim card since I entered Kyrgyzstan and havent really checked properly which parts of the route should I avoid (with a heavy loaded bike) and Kyzart pass is definitely meant only for proper mountain bikes with no luggage.

It was pure hike a bike section (as I will later discover)

 Some river crossing involved here

 Hike a bike start here although its still rideable most of the way (but this is nothing what comes later) as the path goes more in the gorge and starts climbing up

Flat section after exiting gorge.

I have already realized the mistake I made, decided there is no point of going back, pushed though first section of singletracks following the river.

This was this next flat section and still unrideable so I was pushing here as well.

Nature was beautiful so cant complain. I am just not riding, but pushing my bike :)

The hardest part was to come and that was super steep gravel road leading up to the pass.

It was so steep that even with empty bike it would not be possible to ride.

I would say ollowing Celestial Divide in this direction, Kyzart pass should definitely be avoided. 

Next to the top of the pass.

I was pushing so much that the night came eventually :)

Lots of horses, cows on the top

 Time to find a spot for the night

 A million dollar hotel

Despite me making a wrong turn, nature here was gorgeous so I am still not regretting going this way (although I would never repeat this :)

 Next morning another sweet descent back to main road

 And another small town on the way before entering valley towards Karakol pass

 A long valley towards Karakol pass.

This was longer section (about 150 km without resupply) which first climbs to the pass and then descends on the other side before going back to “civilization”

I say civilization because there are people here in this valley as well living in yurts and working with cattle.

Takes 2 days realistically to cross this section

 Kids trained well how to handle horses are handling cattle as well ,not just adults

 Here a series of 4000 m peaks standing above the valley, looking very European (dark Granite rock with big glaciers)

 First day into the valley I still havent reached Karakol pass (but I was close)

Camped on the side of the valley overlooking the peaks

 Was visited by another young and curious shepherd in the morning

 A traffic jam in Kyrgyzstan

 A sad reality of nature in Kyrgyzstan

Occasionally you can see empty glass bottle (vodka and similar) which people throw in the beautiful nature just laying on the ground

Its fine people want to drink but why do they have to throw bottles around?

 Getting close to the Karakol pass

Here seeing these peaks I really got a desire to have winter gear with me (mountain boots, crampons and ice axes)

 Top of the pass, not spectacular looking, but still about 3500 m in elevation

Here I decided to leave my bike on the pass and go hike the nearest peak (which look easy and was about 300 m higher than the pass itself) and I wanted to get closer view on the mountains

 45 minutes later I reached the top with gorgeous views on the peaks

 View towards the valley on the other side (which awaits me)

Met some bikepackers from Germany and UK (if I remember correctly)

They had lighter bikes but as I also discovered that morning (just as I have reached the Karakol pass) I had issues with my rear wheel which I did not expect.

My rear wheel got completely crumbled.

I bought this wheel only 3 months ago in China (what I though its going to be strong wheel) and the wheel was fine so far, however I may have done too much graveling here in this wonderful Kyrgyzstan :) which could have caused this.

I still think wheel should not have failed like that (beyond repair)

This forced me to completely rethink my plans (as I was on my way to Osh then into Pamir highway in Tajikistan)

I was still happy to be here and all I enjoyed so far in Kyrgyzstan, just the fact that I now have to go back to paved roads and redirect my route to Bishkek (to try to find a new wheel there) left a bitter taste in my mouth.

But what can you do, life goes on.

 River on the other side was glacerous (is this a word?) white color  

 Few more hours of riding bumpy gravel I have gone back on main road towards Bishkek.

But main road arent always what you think in Kyrgyzstan :)

Unfortunately Bishkek didn’t produce and results, I was unable to find space new rim (to be honest I was expecting this as finding good spare parts in central Asia is hard although)

This forced me to completely rethink my plans.

Crazy as it sounds, after evaluating all my options (going to Almaty in Kazakhstan?), asking other cyclists is anybody coming to Bishkek with a plane to bring me new rim (which is unfeasible to be honest )

The only think I could think of at that moment is to go back to China (from which I came less than 2 weeks ago :) and order a new wheel from Taobao (which his easy and has lots of choice)

Maybe If I have waited long enough in Bishkek something would arise, but this was the last thing I wanted to do (plus the fact that even the cheapest hostel accommodation in Bishkek costs 12-13 eur didn’t help)

So here I was , riding in the way on my way to China. Which wasnt easy as the direct bus from Bishkek to Kashgar (although I was told it exists) was nowhere to be found. Even locals didn’t know what I was talking about :)

I decided to just take a bus to Naryn (town close to Chinese border) and cycle from there (and maybe hitchhike parts if I can)

After arriving with a van to Naryn, I continued to cycle that day for a few hours until the nightfall.

There is a big climb from Naryn and there were some rainy clouds in the sky.

Normally if the weather was good, I would just sleep outside.

Somewhere at night I saw some lonely house on the side of the road. There was a old guy and some other person working in the garden.

I decided to ask and pulled over with my bike on the gravel road leading up to their house.

A man quickly approached me, shaken my hard, he even knew basic English.

After seeing me he quickly understood (even with hand and body signals) that I was looking for place to sleep.

He invited me to his house and I found myself in old poor looking living room sitting on the couch,

It was quite cold outside so I felt comfortable being inside.

He offered me a tea, there was some good tasting jam on the table (Rose hip or similar I forgot) and I took a bread I had with me.

He asked if I wanted to eat fish (to which I said yes, sure)

I didn’t know what kind fo fish at first. I thought maybe he talks about canned fish, or maybe he has some leftover fish he bough today.

After that he went outside and I continued to relax after long day.

At one point I went outside to get some of the things from my bicycle (which was outside the house) and I saw a man (forgot his name) preparing a fire on some strange looking metal stove.

Then he showed me on his phone a videos where he grows fishes pointing to his garden, so I realized he has a fish farm (if this is correct term) here and he was working on them.

Soon it became clear to me he is going to make a fish on a barbecue :)

He even showed me the fish which was big and marinated waiting for fire to be ready.

I came back into the house continued to relax.

After some more time he came back with cooked fish on a big plate, put it on a table and I was blown away how delicious this looked like !  :)

I have already eaten my bread when I arrived since I was hungry but a lot of time has passed ( it was 22:30 by now as I remember)

He had lemon and onion as well, all ready for the fish barbecue.

We started to eat.

Fish was red looking but I still didnt know what fish that was.

I asked him and he replied with some name I am not familiar with.

I asked more and than he said “Losos” which is familiar word to me (Salmon in English)

Then I realized I was eating Salmon, the most delicious fish for me!

We only started eating and he said “O, I have to go now.”

I didnt understand where does he go now, but then he explained he does not live here, he only comes here ever day to work with fish.

Only his grandparent lives here (which was old as f*ck :)

He wished me a good night, explained me I can sleep on the floor or the couch (whatever I choose).

And he told me to take the remaining fish I cant eat with me tomorrow morning.

After he left I ate half of the super delicious fish , and went to bed soon after.

In the morning (after good night sleep) I took an aluminum foil (which I found in his kitchen) and wrapped the remaining half of the fish with onion and lemon remains together and packed this, which I will eat today.

“Little did I know I will eat Salmon today” was the title of todays day :)

Did I mention Salmon was my favorite fish?  :)

 A huge Salmon with onion and lemon

I could eat this every day!

 A man who so heart welcomed me to his house and made a Salmon for dinner

 A small barbecue on which he cooks fish

 His house I left in the morning

 Going back from Naryn to China I cycled around Chatyr-Köl Lake once again.

This section was so tremendously beautiful I cannot describe in words!

But also very cold as the last time I was here.

 I crashed for the evening next to the road in the only shelter I could find, to protect myself from the cold wind.

As this didnt work so well, later I pitched my tent infront of this (instead of sleeping inside :)

 That evening I had Salmon for dinner again, and it suited me so well after a long day of cycling in colder and slightly rainy weather.

I could have such dinner every night! :)

Next morning still little left to the border and I am back in China soon.

Except I was not :)

What the hell happened?

Yesterday it was Friday as I was cycling towards the Torugart border.

This border is closed on weekends so I had to get to the border before the end of the day.

I knew it was too far and I was planning to cycle first part, then trying to hitchhike the rest up to the border,

I even thought of a good place for hitchhiking, which was a police checkpoint close to the lake and about 50 km before the border.

Since everybody were stopping at police checkpoints I though I will have no trouble finding small truck or a van to take me to the border.

What happened is when I came to the checkpoint and went inside to check my passport, I asked the police (or military whatever they were) working there is the border opened tomorrow.

He replied yes, which to my surprise was a good news because I was tired as hell after whole day of cycling (have done over 120 km in cold and harsh weather).

I then have up on hitchhiking idea because the night was coming fast and I just wanted to get into my tent and sleep.

I will go to the border tomorrow morning.

I continued to cycle towards the border, enjoying last views of Kyrgyzstan (for now)

But a bad news was waiting for me at the Kyrgyzstan border.

Ween I arrived they told me that the Chinese border is closed on weekends.

Kyrgyzstan border was opened but this was useless to me since Chinese border was closed (at least for public, freight traffic is always opened which does not help me)

So the Kyrgyzstan police I asked yesterday were telling the truth. Kyrgyzstan border is opened on weekends. But they forgot to the me Chinese border was closed. Or I forgot to ask (didn’t even think about that at the time how tired I was)

Not sure to laugh or cry now (but since I was not in a hurry) it was clear to me I have to wait until Monday to cross the border.

The same thing everybody warned me about :)

Luckily there was small food store (cantine is a better word) in one of the building at the border so I could buy food, otherwise there is no towns back until Naryn where I cam from.

There is some small town somewhere I was told (but I had no idea where this was, neither I would go there since I just wanted to rest)

 Bought some food with last Kyrgyz money I had and came back to the same house I stayed first night I came into Kyrgyzstan where I decided to spend rest of the weekend just resting, and doing some work on my laptop (until the battery lasts)

Sounds boring but I actually had good time here and dint mind so much missing the weekend barrier to cross the border.

 Come Monday it was time to cross the border for real this time.

I was also lucky on this border once again since the process was quite relaxed (for cyclist)

 2 more days of cycling and I was back to Kashgar.

It was time to rest here for more while I wait for a new wheel (I ordered from Taobao ) to arrive.

Kashgar was a nice city (during the day and when the night falls and everything lights up)

 Took some days for package to arrive on this side of China.

I was eager to start moving again and go back to Kyrgyzstan, this to across Irkestham border next to town of Sary Tash,

 After going back and forth from China into Kyrgyzstan and back on the same road, I couldn’t wait to go back to a different road on my way towards Irkeshtam.

The nature here was nice too. Here I saw camels (although this does not look like desert any more)

 Again these rock built tanks with wooden turret were present here in many numbers.

What is the actual purpose I do not know ( but it cant be to fool another military :)

 Road towards Irkeshtam often had cones placed in the middle of the road to stop vehicle drivers (especially trucks) overtaking each other.

While this is good idea for motor vehicles, if you find yourself between the cones in the middle of the road and fence on the side of the road when truck is overtaking you (as often happens), it leaves cyclists in very dangerous position as I have experienced this several times!

Trucks queuing on the Kyrgyzstan side of the border waiting to enter China!

This is nothing was lies ahead!

Exiting China from Irkeshtan pass was more stressful than I imagined.

All the bags went though scanning machine plus, the whole bike got searched and they even checked photos on my mobile phone.

I was not ready for any of this.

I just wanted to go back to Kyrgyzstan.

I assume this border is more important than Torugart border so more strict control.

A chapter I want to forget.

Crossing the Kyrgyzstan border was super easy.

Finally I feel I am back to normal.

Everything that has happened since my rear wheel failed I feel I can leave behind (and even pretend it never happened)

I am in  Kyrgyzstan again now ( where I have never been before ) and I am looking forward to Pamir which is coming soon!

 What lies ahead is 40 km of truck line waiting to cross into Kyrgyzstan.

I was not aware of this and certainly did not expect this!

On the left is a massive mountain chain with big mountains, but the view is obstructed by these trucks as you ride along.

 To be honest, I hated this art first but then at one point, a truckers invited me to lunch as I was riding along.

I spend at least 2 hours sitting with them as they were cooking multiple meals and all the snacks they had lying around :)

 They even gave me a lot of food to take with me (bread, fruits...), so much I couldnt carry any more.

Qurut dried milk balls (also spelled kurut or kurt )

This is my first time seeing and trying this “specialty” which has been mentioned by other cyclist before.

People warned no to eat this because some got nasty diarrhea for days :D

I tried this when they offered me (with caution) and I guess I was lucky because there were super fresh and very delicious I must say.

They gave me a bag of this to carry with me and I ate this with pleasure in the next following days.

I would buy this again (if I find such fresh ones)

Later in Tajikistan I only saw them selling on the side of the road, but in much worse condition being already brown and so dry that were hard as stone (I would never eat that)

 They cook lunch on this retractable panel on the side of the truck.

 2 different lunches were on offer and I had to make sure not to eat too much because I was till climbing from the border.

First they had pasta with vegetables, they later potatoes with some meat (muu they said when I asked :) and more vegetables.

One person understood some English so we were able to communicate somewhat.

He was explaining me that they eat now, later to will go to sleep. And they do that all the time, thats why some of them get really fat (showing me his friend belly :)

They actually sit in this traffic cue for days until they can enter China.

 Big mountains continued to show their presence, while Road only cleared from trucks about 40 km after the border

 After some more riding I arrive at Sary Tash ,a small mountain village at this side if Kyrgyzstan

 Not much to see here, few grocery stores (which is important to stack up when going to Pamir)

And guesthouses to spend the night (if you don’t want to sleep outside)

But prices here got quite high for guesthouses,

Even the food in store, especially bread got more expensive (compared to the rest of Kyrgyzstan)

 After spending the night in Sary Tash, it was time to go towards Tajikistsan.

It was cold today and some light rain present in the morning.

I had to use most of my winter clothes, including winter gloves which I have been carrying in my bags all along.

 Road deteriorates even more going towards Tajikistan

And the weather turns bad.

It is still raining slightly but soon as I climb higher, it turns in dry snow (which we all like of course :)

Later that day I met with 3 other bikepackers, who are locals from Bishkek.

I met them in Sary Tash the day before.

They were on proper mountain bikes with little luggage and they could enjoy this broken roads in full fashion!

I am in red.

They were much faster than me of course so they overtook m quickly.

 It was quite of a climb to reach the border pass locatred at this elevation.

Luckily I had tailwind as I was climbing towards the border, which also carried snow into my back (instead into my face)

My personal record today with a bicycle (4282 m)

The top of the pass (Tajikistan border is on the other side little bit down)

Weather is now proper wintery :)

Quick photo session before I start descending on the other side.

No, I havent thought  of siting here and enjoying the view as the temperatures were probably close too zero and the wind was blowing snow everywhere.

It was time to cross into Tajikistan.

(for a moment I thought I missed Tajikistan border and will have to go back to get my passport stamped :)

Did I die on descent?  Or the Yeti came and saved me?

You will have to wait until next chapter is released :)

Afterthoughts

Kyrgyzstan was epic but also I had mechanical issue which troubled my journey.

When I started approaching Kyrgyzstan from China, landscapes changed last day towards the border.

It became very picturesque and from the day I entered I was blown away by the landscapes!!

This was my first time crossing central Asia and  I dint know anything about these areas.

I have heard of course about famous Pamir Highway (M41 road) but did not expect that even in Kyrgyzstan before I join this road, my journey will take me through breathtaking landscapes, so much that I didnt even think about anything else.

I found some bikepacking routes online (Tian Sjhan traverse and Celestial Divide) in  Kyrgyzstan and decided to follow them.  Although I was on heavy loaded bike I still had offroad capabilities by having large tires so it was going well.

The scenery was epic on  daily basic , leading through quiet gravel road in the mountains.

Kyrgyzstan now goes on my list of one of the most beautiful countries I have even ridden, including Norway and Sahara (Morocco, Mauritania)

Next time I go back to Kyrgyzstan, I will continue exploring these bikepacking routes, on lighter bike hopefully, maybe even a mountain bike, because Kyrgyzstan is a mountain bike country!.

Food 

Food in Kyrgyzstan was great!  Even the small stores in small towns had a lot to offer. In some ways it was better than China.

The first town I visited in Kyrgyzstan, Baetov, had great food shops.

You can purchase many types of dry fruit (raising, plums, apricots…) packed in ordinary plastic bags and affordably priced.

The same for nuts (peanuts, almonds, cashews) packed in ordinary plastic bags.

Bread was also excellent in Kyrgyzstan. A round soft type of bread (not those hard crust I was eating in Kashgar).

I was even able to find Semolina (Griz) in Kyrgyzstan, Cacao powder (which I havent seen in stores from Vietnam).

Oats of course easy to find.

The only thing I was missing in Kyrgyzstan was powder milk (which became my favorite ingredient in China to put in oats, which I eat every day, even multiple times)

Caned sardines were also available in Kyrgyzstan, lots f choices at good prices.

In China I couldnt find canned sardines, only some different type of fish, which I didn’t want to eat.

I am not the biggest fan of canned food, and the only thing I like to eat occasionally when I am on big trips are canned sardines.

People

People are very friendly in Kyrgyzstan. Even more friendly than in Chain I would say.

Communicating can be done even in Russian, which is easier than communication in China.

So its relatively easy to understand people you met, at least for the basic things, with some combination of Russian, and some words from  my own language (Croatian) which is Slavic type language.

Money

ATMs are easy to find, available even in most smaller cities.

Prices are ok, food is cheap, similar to China.

While staying in Bishkek (capital of Kyrgyzstan) hostel were more expensive than in China, but it was maybe related to specific time I was there (Nomad games happening), or maybe this was the standard here, I couldnt say.

Other than that, occasional food In restaurant was also quite cheap.

Roads

Rods are quite bad in Kyrgyzstan , but this is to be expected. You come here to do gravel routes through the mountains so you are ok with even major paved roads being often potholed and dusty.

Kyrgyzstan for me falls into one of those countries where  I dont look for road quality as I don’t expect the road to be perfectly fine like in modern countries.

The same can be said for majority of central Asia (if not all)

Drivers are another story. Riding on busy roads can be dangerous as some drivers don’t care much about giving you space while passing. It happens rarely though.

At least here in Kyrgyzstan they don’t use horns annoying like in China.