We made it back to the climbing area we had visited months ago. This time the weather was perfect. Last time it was way too hot. The entrance fee was still beer and cola.

We did a whole lot of climbing.

And learned a lot, lot, lot.

Sarah and Wouter, the “Star Troopies” (travelers we had met before several times in different countries) joined us and tried rock climbing for the first time.

It was super awesome and they did super good. Although they had no own climbing shoes. Racki’s shoes were good for Sarah, but Wouter suffered a lot in my way to small shoes.

Climbing on the wall.

Climbing on another wall.

Climbing on an overhanging wall.

We had a whole lot of fun climbing,

hanging around,

and relaxing.

Slowly, slowly it was becoming Autumn.

Simon visited us and although he was afraid of heights, he made his first rock climbing experience as well.

Maria, who we had met before in Murghab on the Pamir and at the border from Tajikistan to Kyrgyzstan, and her “half-human-half-dog dog” Vedi and another friend came as well and together we had a great time.

At one weekend there was a big climbing festival organized by the biggest “climbing company” Skala in the climbing area. Unfortunately the weather on that weekend was not very good. But nevertheless a whole lot of climbers joined the festival.

One day Kali and Didi, travelers from the Netherlands, came to the climbing area and we climbed a lot together, shared stories and experiences.

Didi brought trad (traditional climbing) gear and let me try it. It was my first time using that stuff and it was very interesting. In the sport/ rock climbing the bolts in the wall where you attach your robe are already set. In trad climbing you have to set these points by your own. To do so, you carry a lot of fancy and expensive gear around.

And we had water melon with the cheapest vodka we could find. It tasted like it had back when I was sixteen.

Sarah and Wouter came back and this time Wouter brought his own, brand new climbing shoes! It’s always nice to see if people love the rock climbing.

Again we had a great time at and in front of the rock.

Halloween!

Our last days of climbing on one of the last warm and sunny days of the year.

After the weather got too cold, we drove to Almaty and met a whole lot of our new friends we had met in the last couple of months.

We passed the border from Uzbekistan to Kyrgyzstan near Osh and entered the beautiful Kyrgyz mountains.

A misunderstanding lead us to this off-road track which is one of the two main connections from the south west part to the rest of Kyrgyzstan. And as always the locals take it with their limousines, small transporters with horses and cows on it, by foot and all other possible ways.

We loved the Kyrgyz mountain views.

Very diverse.

Beautiful.

😍

And the people were all friendly, helpful and nice.

I loved especially the straw transports.

South of Bishkek we went to a climbing area.

Found a camp spot right next to the climbing wall.

Did some professional leveling of Rosinante.

Met nice climbers from France and Kyrgyzstan and had a great time.

We climbed pretty tough routes and learned a lot.

After that we head east to the Issyk Kul. The biggest lake in Kyrgyzstan and the eighth-deepest lake in the world and the eleventh-largest lake in the world by volume.

We found the location of the Kolfest we were looking forward to join for the last months.

Visited the Fairytale Canyon right next to it.

And then the festival started with an awesome mixture of traditional folk and electronic music.

It was beautiful!

We met a lot of happy and nice people.

Danced.

Jumped.

And had a great time.