Zurück auf die Seidenstraße – Durch China nach Kirgistan

With the other side of the lake the weather changed as well. For the next days a blue sky was over the lake. The beautiful things of the Issyk Kul are the terrific side valleys which we also discovered on the south side of the lake. We left the car and started hiking whenever we liked. Red rocks which were formed by wind and water erosion were in front of us. With a little bit of fantasy we could see structures of people or animals in the stone formations. The red rocks were an incredible contrast to the fresh green of the awaking nature. Horses were eating the green at beautiful meadows in front of snow covered mountains. At the horizon smoke came out of a yurt. It was truly moments to enjoy.

A man on a horse came by and gave me a beautiful photo motive before he sent me on his horse to take a picture of myself too (with little success). Then he gave reins and riding crop to me and let me ride his horse while he was sitting down to smoke a cigarette. The horse was following my instructions and showed me a nice and even more beautiful perspective of the country. Later the man invited us to his yurt where his wife and daughter cooked an incredible tasty soup for us. We communicated once again with hands and feeds and my mother showed some videos of her grandsons. It was funny to see the TV in the yurt and also the electricity reader on the wall…

It was a place to easily spend some days but we decided to continue. On our way back to the lake we saw many apple and apricot trees in their bloom along the road. The huge snow covered peaks of the Tien Shan mountain range dominated the other side of the lake. We were stunned by the panorama we’ve got and ended the day in a small family run hotel.

We crossed the Barkson pass and got on 3700m some alpine thin air in our lungs. The road was ending at the controversial goldmine Kumtor which we could see from a safe distance. For getting the gold they destroy glaciers and dangerous chemicals are entering the soil. 1998 an environmental catastrophe happened when a truck full of chemicals had a crash and 2 tons of Cyanide were floating into the Barkson River which ended in the Issyk Kul. Many people died. Relatives didn’t get any financial compensation till today. The documentary “Flowers of Freedom” describes the tragedy in an impressive way.

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