Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Near Kyzyl Korgan

We visited the yurt that given us the milk & kymys the afternoon before hoping to be able to get some nice photos. The family was mostly elsewhere though we were invited inside for some bread & kymys. It was great to see the inside of a yurt. Apart from the area by the door the floor was covered with carpets. There was an iron stove for cooking that also kept the inside nice & warm. The walls & ceiling were lined with felt. The exterior covering including the roof was also felt. I wouldn't have imagined that felt would be much good at keeping out the rain but it must do the job. The family had a house in a village nearby & only came up with their animals during the summer.

We found that we hadn't finished the pass the day before as the road rose a bit higher before a long stretch of dusty switchbacks took us below 3000m for the first time in quite a while. The scenery was very nice but the weather did nothing to compliment it, remaining cloudy & cold for most of the day. It was my 1st nasty day in 6 weeks in Central Asia. I struggled to keep up with Sebastien & Roman even on the downhill section. I suspect that age may have something to do with it, I was 14 years their senior.

We followed a river from near the pass all day & eventually camped by it in the late afternoon.

I cycled 87 km in 5 hours & 34 minutes
Total so far 8443 km in 124 days
GPS Coordinates of end point - N 40°15.384, E 73°29.318

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