Travel with Kevin and Ruth: Heading back to Bishkek

Friday, June 19, 2026

Heading back to Bishkek

Well, our time here in Kyrgyzstan is quickly coming to an end. Yes, it's been almost a month already! We arrived on May 20th! Time flies when you're having fun, and we've definitely been having fun.

On Thursday, we did the drive along the north shore of Issyk-Kul Lake. As you get closer to the western part of the lake, it's not a very nice drive. And they are building huge resorts on that part of the lake.

We had another great campsite...

A huge flock of goats and sheep.

Heading downhill.

The main road on the north west shore of the lake is not very scenic.

And they are constructing huge resort hotels.

Which we can't figure out. The summer season is only three or four months long. No idea what is going to keep these places going in the winter.

We were in the grocery store and found these single shots of vodka for sale. Too funny.

We stopped for the night at one of our previous campsites that we had been at the second night we met up with Bjorn and Freya. After we got set up, we saw a campervan drive by one way, and we waved at them. Then ten minutes later, they were driving by the other way, and we flagged them down because there was room at our site for one more.

Kacper (Casper) and Andrea are a young couple only 32 years old and they have traveled from Poland in their home built campervan. Always fun to meet like minded people.

We invited them to join our campfire.

Bjorn, Freya, Kevin, Kacper, and Andrea.

On Friday, we parted ways with Bjorn and Freya, but only for a night. They still had the use of their vehicle and rooftop tent for one more night, but we had to return Vladdy on Friday. So they headed off to one more campsite, while we returned to Bishkek. We'll see them again this evening because our flights are around the same time. They are returning to Belgium while we are continuing to China!

We still have all day in Bishkek today though because our flight isn't until late this evening.

I tried to do a google maps view of our trip, but google maps doesn't do Kyrgyzstan very well. So you'll have to make do with this screenshot from my phone...