Well good morning.
It is Saturday here in Bishkek (Бишкéк) and it is our last day in the city so we figured
why not get out of the city get close to nature.
So we're going to be doing some hiking.
Yeah, it is basically a day trip.
We're joining like a hiking group.
Yeah, the Trekking Union.
Yeah, they go every week and we're just going to be doing like I think it is a pretty leisurely
hike but it is going to be really scenic.
I really hope so.
Fingers crossed.
So ending off here in Kyrgyzstan (Кыргызстан) on a high note hopefully.
Let's go.
It is go time.
We have arrived at the starting point.
Today we're hiking Issyk-Ata Gorge.
And now get this.
We signed up for what we thought was a thirteen kilometer hike.
They've just told us it is twenty five and we're going to be out all day.
So I feel like this is a bit extreme.
We're not that fit.
We're not that prepared so it'll be interesting that is for sure.
I hope we have enough water.
Status update.
We've been hiking for like twenty minutes and it is getting really steep and we've lost
our group because we're too slow apparently.
So two funny things.
We had to sign a waiver in order to join this trek and there were two particular points
that kind of jumped out at us.
First, we had to agree that we wouldn't run away during the hike but it is like.
You know how much we like to do that so.
That was almost a sticking point.
Where are we going to run?
And number two we had to promise we wouldn't drink alcohol.
Haha.
But again alcohol on a twenty five kilometer hike.
I feel like that is just asking for trouble and we barely have enough water so.
In other words we have to dump out the moonshine that is in my backpack, right?
Ha.
Time for a status update.
So we've been hiking for a while and the weather really changed on us quickly.
It started raining, the winds started coming and this is a really fast hiking group so
we've really had to pick up the pace so we haven't had many updates but we're taking
a little break here and the group is way ahead of us but we don't care at this point.
So as far as hiking in Kyrgyzstan is concerned it is amazing.
It is like world class.
You have all of this rugged scenery and there is not a lot of people hiking here so it is
an amazing opportunity for anyone who is looking for kind of an off-the-beaten-path type of
destination.
So we're actually going to start heading back now for two reasons.
First of all the weather is changing rapidly and it looks like it is going to start raining.
Yeah, and we've also lost our group.
Yeah, they disappeared.
We were a little bit slow-pokey because we were taking photos and we just got left behind
and now it is time for us I think we need to head back so yeah there is a few other
straddlers.
Like four of us who are slowly making our way back to the van trying to retrace our
steps.
So I think that is it for today's outing.
Overall, a really good day of hiking.
Tata.