There are some crazy drivers in Kyrgyzstan!

There are a lot of mountain passes in such a small country. For clarity, Kyrgyzstan is slightly smaller than the state of Idaho. And it has over a100 mountain passes. Some are tracks accessible only by 4x4 and seasonal, others are used by all vehicles and are year round.

On Tuesday, we came back through the first mountain pass we had done when we arrived here.

It was still raining when we left the campsite, and in fact we had wet snowflakes hitting the windshield at the top of the pass. By afternoon, it had turned into a much nicer day in the valley on the other side.

A large yurt camp community near the highway.

Scenery along the way.

Looking back at the road we came up on for the mountain pass.

At the top, there is a tunnel.

Notice the snow leopard statue. Kyrgyzstan has a lot of references to the snow leopard.

I should tell you about Kyrgyz drivers. They can be a little aggressive. I've driven in many countries around the world, so not much fizzes me. But here in Kyrgyzstan. I've never seen such reckless passing on highways. They don't care if there is a curve coming, or if they can't see. They just go for it, and hope for the best. We have been cut off a couple of times with vehicles trying to pass when there isn't enough room, and even with oncoming vehicles who didn't have enough room. You really have to watch them, and it's amazing that we haven't seen any serious accidents. Somehow, they make it work.

Even in the photo above, we had been waiting for the green light to access the tunnel. We had been waiting behind the transport truck, but two other vehicles forced their way in front of us. 

We had a guy today who passed us on the highway, only to hit the brakes and turn left just after he passed us. Crazy stuff.

Going through the tunnel.

Another Kyrgyz traffic jam.

We came through the pass, and decided to return to the same campsite we were in on our second night in Kyrgyzstan. 

We sat outside, and this colorful jumping spider (non venomous) joined me on the arm rest.

We had a big local farm dog come and join us for sunset. 

She was a little shy, but Ruth has a way with the shy ones.

Sunset by the river.

Next up... return to the big city of Bishkek.

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