Issy Kul Lake

 

We had quite a wait for our Azerbaijan visa, everything here is governed by old Russian lines, slow and dictated by old rules.  The Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan people may have independence but they still live by Russian rules, all business is conducted in Russian, even the post office and everyone needs to speak both Russian and their native language.

While we waited be went to visit Issyk Kul Lake, the second largest high altitude lake in the world, set among majestic mountains. The lake is big, twice the size of Port Philip Bay, the view across the water is like looking out over the ocean. It is not yet the summer season so we were able to enjoy a quiet town and near empty lake shore. Unfortunately parts of the lake beach are fenced off for private enterprise so it is not possible to walk along the lake very far, the president of Kyrgyzstan has a holiday house on the lake.  We spent a couple of enjoyable days here among the mountains and the lake, glad to be out of the city for a while. This is what Central Asia is famous for, trekking in the mountains, horse riding and huge lakes. On our arrival back at Bishkek our visas were not ready and we had to wait until after the weekend to collect them, this done we were off after saying farewell to our hosts, hoping we will see them again when they reach Australia.