Adventures in Asia: to Osh, Kyrgyzstan

Just before noon today we left our yurt camp in the mountains and rejoined the M41 to head to Osh, Kyrgyzstan's second largest city, and the unofficial end of the Pamir Highway. Although the most well-known and "other worldly" parts of the Pamir Highway are behind us, we were still in for some beautiful and impressive scenery. For example, check out this switch-backing descent!

As I mentioned previously, with school ending for the summer on Friday, families are heading out with their flocks to spend summer on the land. Over and over again we ran into herds blocking the highway. Our driver was extremely unimpressed, but as a tourist it was quite interesting!

We also stopped intentionally sometimes, such as above this village where a photo simply cannot do the scenery justice. 

But even at our gas station stop the setting was lovely.

As we approached Osh, and entered the lush and fertile Fergana Valley there was a large Kyrgyz flag, the weather was turning hot and the traffic getting much worse. It was clear we had left the remote, cool, and sparsely populated Pamir for sure now!

Once in Osh, it was well past lunch time, so a plate of lagman noodles hit the spot!