Tian Shan-Celestial Mountains

After having relaxed our stomachs (yes, Mama, we fell sick after all... if you want to know how we dealt with it check here: http://ru.youtube.com/watch?v=tY7xoGkvO00&feature=related)
for several days on the shore of beautiful Issyk Kol Lake (have you ever been swimming at 1600 m hight surounded by snow-covered mountains??), we went for six days hiking in the Tian Shan Mountains, and were again amazed of the beauty of the landscape.
We crossed the Tuz Pass (4000) in wonderful sunshine and had great views of the Tian Shan range... (all other travellers before us crossed in snow...) and then we climbed the Inylchek Glacier, which was an incredible experience!
...and again we were sad to leave another country behind...and more friends we made - Kasidin, Arafat, Mirlan - thanks for a great time!

Das Glueck dieser Erde....

three days horse-back riding in the Kyrgyz mountains....
that probably says everything!!!!!!!
the landscape was incredible, our horses Toru and Karaker beautiful, our guides Janybek and Jildizbek funny and kind, and galopping across the jaloo (summer meadow) an amazing experience!
even the rain in the clouds at 3100 m hight could not diminish our joy.. we loved it!

Family feelings

Last week we spent three days with Laziz' family in Yaypan.. and we were spoiled, spoiled, spoiled! When we arrived, we were welcomed like long-awaited close relatives.. and when we had to say goodbye at the bus station in Fergana, we had tears in our eyes...
it was wonderful to get an insight into real Uzbek family life.. and once more we have to say a big THANK YOU!

shocking news

as for anybody else, the news of the escalation of conflict in Georgia are really shocking to us. We would like to express our feelings to our Georgian friends.. war feels so much closer if it takes place in a country that you have visited and where you have friends. We're thinking of you and your families and hope all of you are doing well.

visa issues...

since thursday we're now waiting in tashkent for our kyrgyz visa.. four nights in the same hostel, that's a new record! but it feels good to take a break after all these new impressions.
we've been meeting Laziz and Nika's friends as well as some other local students, with whom we had great discussions.. and Tashkent is a nice city to wait for visas ;-) we'll hopefully get it tonight and then head on to Fergana valley from where we will go to kyrgyztan on Wednesday.

Magical Silk Road

Since four days we are in Uzbekistan, and not regretting any minute of it... Chiwa and Buchara are enchanting cities, the mosques and medressas just beautiful and we really feel like in the stories of 1001 nights (ok granted, so far no sultan's son on a flying carpet has been showing up...)
tonight on to Samarkand by train...
words are not enough to describe what we see here...

Through the desert

by now we experienced three trips through the desert... and honestly, slowly but surely it's enough...
temperatures around 60 dg Celsius...
3-4 l of water per person in one afternoon, and you don't even need to go to the bathroom, cause you're sweating so much ...