KYRGYZSTAN - Osh to Sary Tash

Osh to Kyzyl Art pass
May 15-19
Distance: 236kms
Elevation gain: 4560m
Sealed:  176kms    Dirt: 60kms
Odometer : 2440kms

The route from Osh to Sary Tash is the dotted line (click to enlarge)

Images from Osh Bazaar

Vegetable stall-holders

A goat's head - the bizarre in the bazaar

A flower and herb seed seller. Many Kyrgyz over 30 have mouths of gold.

Stone Dead - the tombstone art of Krgyzstan

The stonemason at work etching a portrait



His collection in the workshop



A tombstone of wood and stone, complete with horsehair, a nomadic tradition. Sary Tash cemetery


Osh to Sary Tash - images from the road

Family near Gulcha. I camped near their home. The father was very proud of his binoculars and fetched them just for the portrait.

Transport by donkey is common along the Osh-Sary Tash road.

Milking the mare for kumys (fermented mares' milk)

Yurts and green rolling hills

The road leading to the final pass before Sary Tash

The steep and sandy road leading up to Taldyk pass 3610m

A heavy and tired bike at rest

A smiling face in Sary Tash

Family in Sary Tash

Riding out of Sary Tash on a cold wet morning. I had no choice as my visa expired on this day (May 19).

Just below Kyzyl Art pass (4290m), the road had turned into a boggy morass.