It was not as cold as I feared it would have been. It was one of the last minute choices I made back home to swap my warm -30C extreme sleeping bag for a cheap synthetic bag until -2C extreme. We had a minimal breakfast and decided to go walking again. Our new friend Axel decided to leave already. We said goodbye and started our walk.

Yesterday evening there were some clouds, and the top of the peaks were slowly playing hide and seek behind them. But now it was sky clear. The sun was also shining on the mountain side. The views were even more beautiful. We watched some sherpas on mules go up the mountain to camp 1 to bring supplies. The weather was great and we had a lovely walk.

After a few hours we came back to the bike and then to our tent. It was ready to get back into our riding gear and start riding again. I loved riding here. We broke up the tent and left the basecamp. Getting down we made a quick stop to talk to some Polish guys who were ready to go up. They had really heavy backpacks but were in good shape. You must be for such a climb! We said goodbye and started the downhill back to the main road to Sary Tash.

  

 

It was a lot easier then yesterday because it was downhill and the weather was perfect. The only thing was a few river crovers and the water was a lot higher than yesterday. It is strange to see what a difference a day can make. We got back to the main road without problems and rode back to Sary Tash.

When we arrived in Sary Tash we saw a big group of bikers. We went to say hello and most of them were Polish. They had a leader and his name was Sambor. He told me he knew the road we just had done and had done it many times. They were headed to China however. Interesting to know, because I know it is really hard to get in China with your own motor vehicle. Or maybe very expensive.

We were a bit hungry and made a pit stop in a local cafe. We had some manti here. It is some kind of meat with pasta and tastes pretty good. A chinese truck driver bought Larisa a bottle of juice 🙂 All of a sudden we heard more bikes. I looked outside and it were more Polish bikers, but headed in the direction of Osh this time. They must have just unloaded a Polish delagation somewhere in the area.

We were almost finished eating when another bike stopped at the cafe. This time it was the Swiss couple we met two days in Murghab. What a small world it can be sometimes 🙂 We talked a bit more and they gave us some tips about Osh as they came from there. They were now headed to Dushanbe. The man was riding back alone from there and his wife would fly back.

 

After our good meal we jumped back on the bike and left for Osh. The road was still the M41 but it was nice asphalt now. We had to do a mountain pass called the Taldyk pass at an altitude of 3615m but it was nothing compared to what we had done before. The landscape had changed though. It was green now, with many yurtas on the hills. We saw a lot of horses and people on the road.

 

We kept following this road and the temperature also got notably higher. After a few hours we got in the Fergana Valley and finally in the city of Osh. It looked like one of the cities on the Silk Road when we entered the city through the entrance gate. Osh is also called the capital of the South in Kyrgyzstan.

Once in the city we went looking for a good hostel. The first one we found, had already bikers. There were two German bikers, and a French family with two bikers and two children. The French family was waiting for parts. While Larisa was waiting in the hostel I checked out the Osh hotel which was very near. I found our French friend here. But the hotel was actually a bit better and the same price. We had like an apartment here, which is ideal if you want to do some laundry.

So we left for the Osh hotel. In the evening we had a good meal with Axel. We had a dish called Kurdak. Tomorrow we would make a resting day in Osh and explore the city further.