Yikes... you'd think this wasn't meant to be!

This trip has had a lot of glitches so far! It started when our original flights from Istanbul to Bishkek were cancelled. We couldn't get on the bus in Valle de Bravo. There was no lounge available at the Mexico City airport. Ruth's bag got lost between Mexico City and Madrid. We arrived in Almaty and had no cash and couldn't get online. Nothing seemed to work. Missed the first bus. Forgot about the hour time change. Didn't know about the visa change for Kyrgyzstan. Yikes... you'd think this wasn't meant to be.

And then Saturday, on the way up into the mountains, Vladdy's fuel pump gave out!

So we left our overnight spot with intentions of heading up and over a high mountain pass.

A herd of goats went by as we were getting packed up and ready to leave.

I fired up Vladdy, but he almost died and I had to play with the gas pedal to keep him running. Hmm. But, eventually it smoothed out and seemed to run fine. Remember, Vladdy is a 2023 model with only 7,500 kms or so on the clock.

We stopped in a nearby village and bought some supplies at a small grocery store. Everybody is very friendly and tries to use their one or two words of English as we do the same with Kyrgyz. Kyrgyzstan is a bilingual country, with Russian and Kyrgyz. They are two entirely different unrelated languages. The capital city of Bishkek is more Russian speaking, while the countryside is more Kyrgyz speaking.

Made it to the entrance to the mountain pass to find it is a toll road. Took us a minute to figure out how to pay since it is all automated. Watched the guy in front of us get out of his vehicle and go to a stand on the opposite side of his vehicle to pay. It turned out to be quite easy, and I was able to tap with credit card to pay the 100 som ($1.60 CAD, $1.15 USD) fee! I had the cash, but that looked more difficult to figure out!

Heading up into the mountains on the toll road.

Scenery along the way.

As we started up the first hill, Vladdy didn't feel like he was running right. Very similar symptoms to when the fuel pump in Igor started to act up. We decided it wasn't wise to try to go up into the mountains with a possible problem, we headed back down to the toll gate where there was parking and a good cell signal. I sent a message to our rental guy Vlad at Buhanka Rentals and he spoke to his team of mechanics and they decided to send a service vehicle out with the necessary parts to change the fuel pump.

As we were waiting, this cow decided to cross the road. Too funny.

Notice also that we had a heavy rainstorm again.

It took about two hours for them to arrive, but they got right to it and fortunately it's not a huge job on these vans. They got the job done, and Valddy is running perfectly again. But seriously, what are the odds we had this problem on a fairly new vehicle with only 7,500 kms on it??

Still, it was getting later than we wanted to do the mountain pass and I had read of a possible overnight on a very rough track spot off the highway, past a shepherd's house not much further on. But the description did read that it was a rough steep track and that 4x4 was required. Seems like a good first test for Vladdy!

Yep, it was an adventure!

The last review for this location had been written in 2018, and we honestly don't think anybody has driven up here since. Very steep and rough, and of course it had recently rained. But I put Vladdy in 4x4 low range and he pretty much walked right up there without much effort at all!

Full of spring wildflowers!

Wow,, what a campsite!

Just us and the sheep.

The shepherds came by to say hi. Of course there weren't very many words spoken, but they gave us the thumbs up and seemed impressed that we drove up here.

Dinner is served. Chicken leg and thigh, with rice, veggies, and sprinkled with local cottage cheese.

Ruth is amazing with cooking our meals. She is working with a single burner stove, a pot, and a frypan. Everything is good quality though. We'll show you some detailed photos of what cooking equipment we were supplied with another day.

Around dusk, I went for a stroll a bit higher looking back at Vladdy.

Despite the problems, we are enjoying ourselves. Yes, the weather could be better, but all in all we're doing okay. As expected, the internet access is spotty so we're a little behind on blog posts already, but we'll get caught up soon!

Heading out for a hike this morning before we head over the pass.

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Fantastic deal on this Traeger Wood Pellet Grill.

And in Canada...

Record low deal on the Garmin ForeRunner 165.