There's too much to see!

Our first two days here in Kyrgyzstan we had to deal with rainy weather, which is certainly not the best when you're living in a small campervan. For us, the idea of having a small campervan means that you want to be in decent weather so you can spend most of your time outdoors.

Well since those two days, it has steadily improved to the point where we woke up to a beautiful blue sky morning!

And we were parked on a kind of a plateau so the sunshine hit us as soon as it rose...

We woke up to a beautiful blue sky day!

It was so peaceful, we could hear rockslides coming from this mountain.

We had some breakfast and then went for a short hike before leaving.

This dragonfly came for a visit on our table leg.

Two locals came by on horses and waved at us.

The small lake we were overlooking.

Me, enjoying the view.

We walked up to another area where there were three small lakes.

Just keeping it real.

As our regular readers know, we tell it like it is. Yes, Kyrgyzstan has some amazing scenery, but some of the locals aren't very good at cleaning up after themselves. I guess that's the same problem everywhere in the world. We have already stayed at a couple of campsites here where we have been the ones cleaning up the trash to make it better for the next person. The photo above is from when we were out hiking, so obviously we didn't have a big enough trash bag with us to clean all of that up!

Ruth.

Two of the small lakes.

We got ourselves packed up and hit the road. There were three small communities up ahead with a combined population of maybe 12,000 people. These are hardy folks, because they live in an area that is only accessible by one of two remote mountain passes, one of which is closed during the winter. And the other (which we were about to do) is closed on and off during the winter. These people are very self sufficient!

Girls all dressed for school.

We could see that there were some special activities happening at the schools in the area, and we found out later that it was graduation ceremonies and that school was finished for the season. We stopped at a shop where there were a couple of kids outside, dressed in special outfits and they and there mother came over to shake our hands and say hello. Again, we're in a very remote area and Kyrgyzstan doesn't get many tourists to begin with, let alone way out here. Of course we couldn't communicate, but you could tell she was very proud of her children.

The boy on the left is holding a certificate that says "Ministry of Education of the Kyrgyz Republic. Certificate for excellent academic achievement and exemplary behavior in the 2025-2026 academic year".  The girl is holding her school photo.

Scenery along the way.

Cow and roadside monument.

No idea what it's all about!

No idea what this shelter is, but it was being used by some cows!

Ruth tried to talk to this cow, but it wanted nothing to do with her.

Two rivers meet here, one with clear water, and one with muddy water.

After that, we began the climb up Chapchama Pass. This is another high mountain road, but it's kept open during the winter. Or at least they try to keep it open. Between avalanches, rock slides, and snowfall, it's a difficult job. It's often closed for days at a time during the winter.

A yurt camp down below.

The road we came up on.

Wow.

How do they even build a road through here??

Coming down the other side, we found a nice overnight spot in a meadow beside a small river...

Vladdy, at GPS 41.493303, 70.946527

We have to be back in Bishkek the morning of June 5th to meet friends Bjorn and Freya. We're actually a bit behind schedule, so we're going to have to put some miles on one of these days. There's too much to see!

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Can't go wrong with the price on this Cookware Set.

And in Canada...

Inflatable Stand Up Paddle Board/