From Naryn to Bishkek

We check out a real yurt ...
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Day 1: We are up for an early breakfast and on the way as soon as possible this morning. It's pretty cool up here in the hills at night - doubly so when sleeping in a yurt and everyone is glad to be underway again.

One again we are driving through impressive alpine scenery and one of our first stops is to see what a real yurt and real yurt-dwellers look like - only the outside looks like the one we slept in last night.

We continue the drive north, and stop at Lake Issyk Kul for lunch. This was a popular summer retreat for party members during Soviet times, and is now frequented by Kazakhs and Uzbeks since then. Our guide explains that there is a more highly developed mortgage market in Kazakhstan, and they are feeling the effects of the global credit squeeze and their numbers have dropped off. The price of progress, it seems.

..and what a real yurt looks like inside (no four poster beds, I notice)..
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After lunch, we continue westwards towards Bishkek, and stop for two more attractions. The first is an old Russian MIG25 that was left behind when the Russian military pulled out in 1998. This has been mounted on a plinth outside a petrol station - a very Soviet thing to do.

The second is the Burana tower, a 10-11th century minaret which somehow managed to escape the attentions of Genghis Khan during his leveraged buyout period during the 1200s. The top half of the tower fell down during an earthquake, and the remaining base has a considerable lean. There are, however, internal steps and we are able to climb to the top for look. Unfortunately, there is very little to see from the top.

...real yurt dwellers.
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Our final stop after this is lunch at a fish restaurant fittingly called Captain Nemo. From there we go to our hotel, which is a very up-market 5-star affair with laundry facilities!

What is of interest, is that it is built partially on the site of the old airport, and part of this is visible from the top of the hotel, as well as the old terminal building, complete with a name board of "Frunze" (the old name for Bishkek).

Day 2: The main activity today is a visit to the Al Archa national park, a few miles south of Bishkek. We go for a short 2-hour nature-walk climb to take it all in. Once again, fabulous alpine scenery.

The modern Silk Road - Chinese truckers being held up by goats crossing the road.
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After lunch, we go for a stroll around the Natural History Museum precinct, and finally go for a guided tour of the Museum itself. The Soviet era bronze frescos are something to behold. If they ever decide to melt them down and sell them off, they could probably retire the national debt of Kyrgyzstan - what with the current price of copper.

In the evening we have a dinner and folk music show arranged, prior to getting everything packed for our flights to Uzbekistan tomorrow. The rumour is that we are booked on old Soviet-era museum-piece aircraft.