Great Spaces and Mountain Lakes

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besides precious advice, splendid images will lead you through new cultures...

BISHKEK: a city full of greenery, pleasant and quiet with buildings in Ukrainian style. Curious to see how Ala-Too Square is almost a car park for the various limos decked out for the many weddings held at weekends. Always in the same square, the evening show is unmissable, where everything, buildings included, lights up in various colours and the water of the fountains dances to music.

SONG-KOL LAKE: after having been to the CBT to agree on what would be our tour inside the region, we went to the bus station in Bishkek. From here taxis leave for various destinations. After three hours of travel, we reach our destination Kochkor. A small and sleepy village where the CBT office is. From here, a jeep with a driver takes us to ours in just three and a half hours. Finally we arrive at Lake Song-Kol, one of the jewels of Kyrgyz lake heritage. Under a splendid clear sky, endless pastures dotted with characteristic yurts (the tents where Kyrgyz shepherds live) spread out. Hundreds of sheep, cows and horses grazed peacefully among the fields while cheerful little shepherds chased each other on donkeys. The sky is clear, the clouds seem soft as cotton wool, white enough to look like cream.

The silence of the lake, the vastness of the steppe, it feels like being inside a splendid painting in which the majesty of the mountains forms the frame.

TASH RABAT: after spending a day at Lake Song-Kul, we leave it to reach Naryn, a pleasant and silent little town, a mandatory stop for those intending to continue the route towards Tash Rabat, the last stop before crossing the Chinese border. Built in the 15th century, this caravanserai was a place of rest and refreshment for merchants and travellers. Located in a splendid valley, it's possible to take pleasant horse rides. From Tash Rabat, the Chinese border is easily reached via the notorious Torugart Pass.

TORUGART PASS: for those who, like us, wanted to cross the Chinese border overland from Kyrgyzstan, it is essential to organise in good time and obtain the Chinese visa already from the country of origin in order to avoid unpleasant inconveniences. It is in fact very important to have both the support of a Kyrgyz organisation (in our case the CBT) that accompanies you to the border line and, on the other side, the support of a Chinese agency that assigns someone to wait for you and who leads you as far as Kashgar, the first city you meet beyond the Chinese border. Crossing the border overland can be a little complicated because of the moods of the Chinese soldiers you'll find on duty. For example, they searched absolutely everything of ours, including the memory card of the camera. Calm and a cool head are the watchwords.