Back to Kyrgyzstan, Song Kul, riding horses and donkeys and the magical box (August 2024)

We went back to Kyrgyzstan and met a gang of “fat ass sheeps”. We call them that way because on their back sides, they have additional “fat sacks” like camels have.
Beautiful Kyrgyzstan.
We did an interesting hike on which we depend on mostly cow trails. They did a pretty good job preparing a trail through the bushes and making the slopes a bit more walkable.
Here is our hike on Komoot.
When I was about to take off my shoes for a river crossing, a nice local came with his horse and brought me across the river.
We installed the magical box. It was the lid of Racki’s old gemmy box which she has had since she was a child. The magical box provides electricity and looks nice.
And of course we played a lot of Spirit Island. My favorite board game.
And we tried to rescue this little fellow. He was suffering under the changing temperatures etc.
Next stop was the famous Song Kul.
We found a nice camp spot next to the water, did our laundry and our other daily routines.
Dino had a good look at the lake.
♥️
Which was sometimes calm and sometimes pretty stormy.
On a stormy day two young German guys on motorcycles came along and we had a good talk.
After the Song Kul we went down the mountains again.
We drove a whole lot of dirt roads in the direction of Osh.
One day we parked in the line of a crazy thunderstorm. Maybe it was the most powerful one I’ve ever witnessed. We had to very quickly close Rosinante’s roof and the whole car was shaking like crazy. In the photo you see the big power lines pushed by the storm in a horizontal position.
Close to Osh, we met with Simon and planned our route on the famous Pamir Highway.
Some cleaning.
And riding a donkey.
These donkeys. We did see them a lot ridden by elderly men and that looked like they were in a cartoon because the riders feet are nearly touching the ground.
I did admire how the locals were packing their cars but this one was pretty close to flipping over. In the photo he had to go up a bumpy track, the whole transporter was leaning to the left and the front axle was sometimes lifting up a bit 🙄

An awesome rock climbing area, canyon, rhino, dino, friends and more in Kazakhstan (July, August 2024)

We crossed the border from Kyrgyzstan to Kazakhstan and went to the Charyn Canyon. It’s a very beautiful canyon.
And it was pretty touristic. There were a lot of other tourists which was not often the case in the stan countries.
Here is our walk around the canyon on Komoot.
After the canyon we went to Almaty and were pretty surprised how organized everything was there. Getting spare parts for Rosinante was super easy and a lot cheaper than in the EU. Especially in the maze of car city the super small shops are perfectly organized and there were always helpful people.
After the city we went to Tamgaly Tas, a big rock climbing area. It was so nice there!
There were almost 300 bolted routes and we climbed a lot of them.
The maximum temperature in the sun was 56 degrees Celsius and so we only climbed in the morning and evening. In between we jumped and hung around in the nice and cold river right next to the rocks and Rosinante.
We spent more than three weeks there. When we first entered, we had to pay about 8 Euros for the entry. When we went to the supermarket, we took the phone of the guard with us so that he could receive new messages. Because in the climbing area there was absolutely no signal at all. From the second visit on, we always paid our entry in beer and Cola.
Something I love about this nomadic car life: repairing stuff. It started for me because it’s often not easy to get a replacement. But now I love it.
Alien creatures.
Every week we went to a nearby lake to relax and have an internet signal. We met Simon a friend of Whoopie who became our friend in Georgia.
In Almaty we had stickers for Rosinante printed. A dino for me.
And a Rhino for Racki. She had a Rhino on her car Thor as well and I thought it would be nice to keep it that way now that we are traveling together in Rosinante.
After a whole lot of research we added an additional leaf spring to Rosinante’s suspension. We payed about 30€ for the work. The prices for most services  are much lower in Kazakhstan compared to EU and Georgia.
To let her carry as much as this truck 😁
Maybe a tyre upgrade as well?
In the mountains south of Almaty we met Sarah and Wouter again. We got to know them in Georgia and it was super nice to meet again, spent time together, playing Pandemic and Exploding Kittens, talking, having fun.
I love these relationships with friends we met again and again. They feel deeper and it’s nice to not talk about the same stuff again and again like we often do when we meet new people.
We wanted to go to another climb area but the road leading there was restricted to electric cars. So we did an awesome hike instead.
It was super fun.
And the views were awesome.
Here is the hike on Komoot.

Nature, climbing and the Kolfest festival in Kyrgyzstan (July 2024)

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.