Djeti-Oguz

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We stayed the night in Karakol after Lake Issy-kul. A wierd place - orange and pink - it looks like a ski lodge but had the best beds .....and breakfast. Karakol was a great little town.

Short drive from Karakol to Djeti-Oguz. Djeti-Oguz is about 25km away - at the mouth of the Djeti-Oguz Canyon. It has Red Sandstone cliffs - one was called the Broken Heart and the name Djeti-Oguz means nine bulls after the nine main bluffs (or maybe 7 bluffs).

It was a beautiful day so we pretty much set up camp and took it easy by the river. Some people went up further into the valleys. There were 5 bridge crossings - we tried the first one but the bridge moved under the weight of the truck. We camped low down.

The second day started raining from breakfast onwards. It rained all day and night. We had a huge thunderstorm that night. A couple of us went walking in the rain just to get out and about - we got very wet.

Down the hill was an old Russian Sanitorium that drew on the healing powers of the local hot springs. It was a creepy place that had its hey day a long time ago! We tried to get a bath to warm up - but the answer was a clear nyet no matter how many times we asked. We headed back up to the truck for a very cold and wet night.

This morning we woke up and it was snowing! The snow line was down very low. We were supposed to be camping again tonight but we have headed back to Karakol for another night at the pink and orange ski lodge (yay).

Son-kul Lake is another 1000m higher (we were around 2800m last night) so it looks like the winter season has come early and we will not be able to get into there.

I am now in an internet cafe. I cannot find the USB point so will upload phots - most likely in Osh in a few days time ...

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