construction traffic and machines. It is a colossal effort going on with the Chinese crews doing the work funded by the Kyrgyzs. There are massive retaining walls and bridge abutments every way you look up there. There are a number of worker camps and concrete batching plants, one at about 3800m. We also saw a herd of Yaks, more big hairy beasts.
DAY EIGHT This was basically a transport stage to Karakol as our visit up to the Soek Pass was originally planned for this day so we had some leisure time at our hotel. Max got a front puncture which was our one and only breakdown of the entire trip. It was also a chance for Stretch to hand out some of the sunglasses he’ d brought along. Apparently the locals suffer a high rate of macular degeneration and wearing sunnies helps protect against that.
DAY NINE We started our return towards Bishkek, to
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