Bishkek

Even the morning was not sacred to the bloody mosquitos. I'm sure that before I flew to Geneva in late July they at least left us this time to ourselves. Not anymore, it must be high summer I guess.

As I cycled to Balykchy I thought over & over whether or not to return to Bishkek to get the worn out ring on my chainset replaced. In the end that it was done was down to the hands of fate. I tried to fiad a cheap method of paid transportation & failed. My last chance was to hitchhike. I'd decided to try for an hour & continue on as planned earlier if this didn't work out. I had a lift in 5 minutes all the way to Bishkek! Once there I was able to quickly & cheaply get the necessary repairs done. Not bad for a Sunday!

I stayed yet again at Sabrybek's where a very nice group was staying, some of whom were there before I left, others whom I'd met on the road. Vodka came out, which I hope doesn't prevent me getting up early enough to hitchhike to Kochkor tomorrow for my meeting with Nick.

I cycled 50 km in 3 hours & 33 minutes
Total so far 9473 km in 139 days