A stunning road trip - the Bishkek-Osh route

 


Local people said winter starts in September in Kyrgyzstan, and indeed, on the night of the 20th a lot of snow fell in the mountains. You could clearly see the snow-covered ranges from Bishkek, and the route to Osh leads through them. I didn't travel all the way to Osh in one go, I stopped shortly before it in Jalal-Abad, but the most spectacular part is along this stretch. First you climb up to over 3,000 metres along a winding road, then a 3-km long tunnel takes you over to the other side of the mountain. The view of a big valley opens up, and as you descend you pass the jailoos (summer pastures) dotted with now mostly abandoned yurts and cabins. Another pass took us up again to snow-covered slopes, then we entered a green valley with many trees. Further on the landscape became more desert-like, with a big reservoir in the middle. The Naryn river is dammed here, which starts in the Tian Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan and flows through the Fergana Valley into Uzbekistan. Most of the remaining trip was in a narrow part of the Naryn valley, also a magnificent sight. Then we reached the fertile plains near the border of Uzbekistan, where among other crops cotton is grown in big fields. The last two photos were taken later, after Jalal-Abad, looking over the border to a lake in Uzbekistan, and approaching Osh.
















































































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