Scenic drive in Karkyra Valley and onwards to Ak Suu

We left the shores of Issyk-Kul Lake for a day at Kuturga and drove along the A363 towards Tyup village. At Tyup, instead of continuing on the A363 to the southern shores of Issyk-Kul Lake, we decided to turn left onto A362 and drive east along Karkyra Valley. 

It's cold this morning. Temperature about 20°C.

Issyk-Kul Lake and snow capped Tien Shan mountain range in the distance.



Map of our route today

The view as we leave Kuturga.

Mosque at Ak Bulak village

Perspective...near Tyup village, eastern shores of Issyk-Kul lake

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Karkyra Valley

Outside of Tyup village, we turned left onto A362 and continued east into Karkyra Valley

Karkyra Valley goes on for 60km from Tyup village to the Kyrgyz/Kazakh border further east.



Wall art at Taldy-Su village

Another wall art at Taldy-Suu

old houses with Russian style decorative windows...

2nd World War Memorial

Leaving Taldy-Su village



Rural bus service at Koochu



Statue at Jiluu Bulak

Young cowboys at Jiluu Bulak

Ladies walking to Jiluu Bulak



Karkyra Valley



Karkyra Valley

Karkyra Valley

Beekeepers in Karkyra Valley

Old trucks are used to move the bee hives.

Crossing the bridge over river Tyup. At this point, we leave the A362 and Karkyra Valley to enter the A364 heading southwest towards Jergalan.

A couple of houses dot the country side
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On the A364 to Jergalan

This area is sparely inhabited with lots of grasslands.

The dirt track that is the A364. Gentle climb from 1900m to 2100m above sea level.

View of the remaining of Karkyra Valley from a viewpoint on the A364

Our Sorento on the A364 dirt track

Oops.. road block

Just like cows, horses too like to hang around on the road... mess up the dirt road...

A cowboy in Central Asia..

 

Beautiful horses. These horses are large.

Just stay cool guys...

Ya me the odd one... i know

Heavy with a baby...

a young one...

Further beyond......more

Mum on left is shading her foal....mum on right is getting agitated by our presence.

They tie me up because i am due....anytime...

Owner of the horses.

Meat Horse Farm

We found a nice quiet spot away from the horses and stopped to have our lunch.
Then, mum cooked dinner as well - rice with fried aubergine and potatoes. At about 4pm, we left and made our way to Jergalan. Here, we left the A364 and turned right onto A363, driving southwest to Ak Suu

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On the A363 from Jergalan to Ak Suu

Lots of crows in the grassland at Kyzyl-Kyja village (near Jergalan).

Rushing back to get more load.. at Ak Suu village

The kalpak is perhaps the most famous item of clothing in Kyrgyzstan. A tall hat, made of white felt, it is usually worn by men after the age of six.

Statue at Ak Suu

Russian Orthodox Church at Ak Suu

Russian Orthodox wooden church at Ak Suu

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View along Arashan River

At Ak Suu, we took Lenin Street south to drive along Arashan river

Mum I am coming with you....

 









Arashan River

It rained earlier on and the river is gushing

almost bursting its banks..





We are now about 10km south of Ak Suu Village. The puddles of water are getting more frequent and some are deep. We had already dented and loosen our side steps after hitting a rock that was submerged in an earlier puddle.



Dad walked further in to check the track condition.



No we are not going further...
Not taking the risk, we made a u-turn and retraced our steps back to Ak Suu. Would have been nice to be able to go further to check out the view and the hot springs though.





Driving back to Ak Suu village.
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At the junction we turned left onto A363 again and drove the 10km to Karakol city.

Kids playing at a bus stop

On the way to Karakol.
See our next post on Karakol.