Travel with Kevin and Ruth

First impressions of China

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 11:38:42 +0000

Admittedly, it's only been one day... but if the first day is any indication, we're quite impressed.

This is not the communist China that we learned about in school 50 years ago, where everybody is poor and the government owns everything... although that may be the impression many people still have.

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Welcome to China... country number 75 for us!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 09:47:47 +0000

First time flying with Loong Air. They're classified as a low cost airline, yet they include both carry on and checked bags in their prices. And they give you a meal. I was a little worried about cramped seating for the four and a half hour flight from Bishkek to Chengdu, but the only extra legroom seats they had were bulkhead, and I don't find them much better because you can't truly stretch out anyhow.

But for four and a half hours, I survived. Any longer than that and I would want better seating.

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A disappointing end to a great trip...

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 12:12:31 +0000

I decided to make this a separate blog post because there's a bit of story to tell.

Regular readers might remember this blog post where I mentioned possible glitch in our travel plans. In fact, I'll explain the whole story again for those who might have missed it.

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Last day in Kyrgyzstan... playing tourist in Bishkek

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 11:12:52 +0000

We woke up Saturday morning and had a relaxing couple of hours in the guesthouse with breakfast and hot drinks. Then we went our and wandered around to some areas that we didn't make it to last time we were here.

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Heading back to Bishkek

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 02:59:04 +0000

Well, our time here in Kyrgyzstan is quickly coming to an end. Yes, it's been almost a month already! We arrived on May 20th! Time flies when you're having fun, and we've definitely been having fun.

On Thursday, we did the drive along the north shore of Issyk-Kul Lake. As you get closer to the western part of the lake, it's not a very nice drive. And they are building huge resorts on that part of the lake.

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Best hike this trip...

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 12:05:52 +0000

And it was bit of a tough one! Or maybe we're just getting older!

13 kms (8 miles) and 687 meters (2,200') of elevation gain. Spectacular views of the Jryrgalan valley.

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In two years, all of this will be totally different!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 03:15:13 +0000

We took off from our spot near the hot springs... but in different directions. Bjorn and Freya wanted to go to Engilchek... a ghost town high up in the mountains. To be honest, we wanted to go too. But it was going to be another 150 kms each way, and I'm getting tired of driving Vladdy.

We should have named him Bouncy Buhanka!

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There's no question, it's a beautiful area.

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 02:55:06 +0000

Unfortunately Bjorn and Freya were still having vehicle problems, so they headed into the larger city of Karakol where there is more choice of mechanics.

While they were doing that, Ruth and I took a detour up to the Seven Bulls Rock scenic area.

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There are currently two problems with this part of Kyrgyzstan

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:06:27 +0000

We were on the south shore of Issyk-Kul Lake. It's a pretty enough lake, with lots of accessible beaches. Historically, it's been the only major source of summer tourism in Kyrgyzstan. But even then, tourism in Kyrgyzstan has been nothing to speak of. The current government is trying to change that.

And we don't blame them... of course tourism around the world has a lot of economic benefits. But improving the infrastructure comes at its own cost... at least temporarily.

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We did two separate viewpoint hikes

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 02:24:19 +0000

We woke up to a beautiful day on the shore of Issyk-Kul Lake. The others decided to go for a morning swim, but the water temperature was far too chilly for me!

Issyk-Kul is a saline lake... so it is salt water, but not as salty as ocean water. And because of the salt and depth, it never freezes in winter, despite the cold that Kyrgyzstan experiences.

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Beautiful drive down to Issyk-Kul Lake

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 02:50:37 +0000

We left Naryn and headed down to Issyk-Kul Lake. There was no choice but to take the main highway part of the way, but then we had a choice... stick to the main highway, or take a little traveled path through the mountains.

I bet you can guess what we chose!

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Well that didn't go according to plan... stuck in a snowstorm?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 03:00:01 +0000

High up in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, there is a gorgeous glacial lake surrounded by steep cliffs. It's become a bit of a tourist attraction despite the remote location about 20 kms from the China border.

It's early in the season still, so we had decided to drive up there and do the hike to the pretty lake.

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The road to Köl-Suu... 20 kms from the China border!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 02:35:32 +0000

We left our beautiful campsite beside the river in Naryn, and drove into town to pick up a few more groceries and top up the fuel tanks.

We had a 150 km (93 mile) drive one way to get to Köl-Suu on some pretty rough roads, so it was going to be an all day event just to get there.

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Will we run out of gas?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 03:09:38 +0000

Another beautiful day for our drive from Song Kul Lake to the small city of Naryn.

The only problem might be the lack of a gas station along the way!

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Kok Boru... the national sport of Kyrgyzstan

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 02:21:07 +0000

In order to get to our campsite, we had already driven 9 kms along a road that leads to Song-Kol Lake, a high alpine lake that lies at an altitude of 3,016 meters (9,900').

We hadn't planned on going to the lake at this time, so if we did, I wasn't sure we had enough fuel to get to the next fuel station afterwards!

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We've got a lot we want to see over the next two weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 10:49:29 +0000

We woke up Sunday morning at our beautiful spot by the river. Had some breakfast and got going on the hike fairly early because we knew this is a busy canyon and it was a Sunday and we wanted to beat the crowds.

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Lots of places to explore!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 03:09:26 +0000

Next stop for us was Konorchek Canyon. Unfortunately there was nowhere to overnight so it was just a stop along the way, but that's okay because we ended up with another great overnight spot anyhow!

But the canyon itself was a really worthwhile stop.

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A fun evening celebrating a Kyrgyz birthday!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 14:48:02 +0000

Our friends Bjorn and Freya from Belgium arrived here in Kyrgyzstan at 8:45am Friday morning. They picked up a SIM card at the airport so we could communicate, and then took possession of their 4x4 SUV with rooftop tent. Once they were all set, they sent a note so that we knew they were on their way to meet us.

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Back to the big city of Bishkek

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 15:30:13 +0000

Our friends Bjorn and Freya arrive at Bishkek Airport on Friday morning, so we decided to return to the same guest house that we had stayed at when we first arrived. That way, we could do some more laundry, have showers, and start off fresh with them.

They are renting a 4x4 SUV type vehicle with a rooftop tent, and we are going to travel together for the next two weeks.

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There are some crazy drivers in Kyrgyzstan!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 15:52:01 +0000

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.

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What was included, and what did we have to buy?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 03:05:59 +0000

I promised you a look at what supplies were included with our Kyrgyzstan campervan rental, and what we had to buy in order to make the experience better for our style of travel.

Of course we need to keep in mind that most people who rent a van like this only have it for a week or possibly two.

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Amazing hoodoo rock formations!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 05:18:25 +0000

Monday morning, we left the guest house and headed back down to the main highway where we had a stop to make. On the way up, we had seen some very cool looking rock formations across the river, but there were no signs and we could only see a track on the opposite side to get there.

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Kyrgyzstan's beautiful Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 12:50:44 +0000

We had breakfast at the guest house, and then set off on a 25 km (15 mile) drive further north into the mountains. Our destination was the Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve, a UNESCO world heritage destination.

If this were anywhere in Canada or the U.S., it would be packed with tourists just like famous Lake Louise is in Canada.

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May Expenses... we knew it was going to be an expensive month

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 01:54:01 +0000

After all, we started the month in Oaxaca, Mexico and ended the month in Arkit, Kyrgyzstan!

We had a budget of $6,300 CAD ($4,635 USD) for the month. How did we do...?

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Things just weren't coming together...

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Read) — Sun, 31 May 2026 13:44:14 +0000

Our goal was to make it to the Saray-Chelek Nature Reserve, however we really didn't think we'd make it by Saturday because it was a 150 km (93 mile) drive, and you don't put on a lot of kms in an hour's worth of driving!

Especially when the traffic situation looks like this...

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