Chong Ak-Suu Valley

We have decided to hit the hills for some hiking whilst our Kazakh visas are being processed. First stop, Chong Ak-Suu Valley, just outside the town of Grigorievka on the north shore of Lake Issyk-Kol. 

Lake Issyk-Kol is the second largest alpine lake in the world and, not surprisingly, is massive! It's 170km long and 70km wide. The Lonely Planet advised us that the north side is where the wealthy Kazakh and Russian tourists spend their summer months. That, combined with the positive write-up of the Chong Ak-Suu Valley, made us assume the town would be buzzing and that we'd run into a fair few other hikers. Much was our surprise when we disembarked from the 604 marshrutka to a fairly desolate street, populated only by a few fruit stands and a bunch of bored taxi drivers.

After a few minutes pacing down the street wondering if we were in the right town, we approached the taxi drivers with our topographical map (purchased at GeoID in Bishkek) in hand. We pointed to the beginning of the Chong Ak-Suu Valley walk and, after some confusion about the cost, brought up the calculator app on my phone and they typed it in.

1000 Som!?! No way! The taxi drivers made an up and down motion with their hands indicating the road was very rough. After some conferring with Claire, we decided to skip the taxi and walk. We made the walking motion with our index and middle finger and the taxi drivers looked at us like we were crazy.

We had our packs ready and we were psyched for our first trek in Central Asia. Until, it started to rain. I was not keen to walk in the rain. We were on the 4WD track for five minutes when we decided to hail a ride. In classic Kyrgyzstan style, I put my hand by my hip, palm down and made a slowing down motion, ushering the car to stop. And it did! And it wasn't just any car. It was a Soviet van! Featured in the background of this picture.

Oh yeah, and there's a falcon on my arm and another one on my head. He was a bit close to my face for my liking and I was scared he would peck out my eyes. Maybe I've seen one too many Hitchcock films, but I was relieved when the boy took him back. I paid the obligatory 100 Som (even though the bird was thrust upon me) and he ran away to find another tourist willing to throw their money away.

Anyway, the Soviet van ride... we jumped in the back with a few other local randoms and some fresh produce and whatever else was in there and we were on our way! It had wide windows so we could view the steep ridges on either side of the road. It was a bit hairy at times on the wet road and I had visions of our van tumbling over a cliff edge into the gushing river below, but eventually we reached the trail head and we jumped out.

Bye bye soviet van.

At this point, the road deviated away from the river so it was a perfect opportunity to escape civilisation. The river headed into a beautiful valley and before we knew it we came upon a lovely patch of grass to pitch our tents, and so we did. 

We loved it so much we decided to stay for two nights before walking back down the valley on the third day. The weather cleared up and we enjoyed some spectacular views.

We have now arrived in Karakol where we will be planning our next multi-day hike. It's the hiking Mecca of Kyrgyzstan, so I hope the next post is epic.