The last six cycling days since my last day off in Jalal Abad used a lot of energy due to mainly riding on unpaved roads, climbing four high passes, and the distance covered. Therefore I decided to take one day off here in Kochkor, a small city with existing infrastructure and reliable Internet connection. Like this I could prepare for the last ten days here in Kyrgyzstan and also organize trip back to Switzerland.
Cycling around Issyk Kul starting tomorrow
Yesterday when arriving in Kochkor after many days of bad roads and mountain passes, I did not feel at all like cycling an additional 450 km around this huge mountain lake. After some research today however I figured out that basically all the roads around the lake are paved and comparatively flat. Therefore I decided to cycle these extra kilometers because the scenery of the mountains around the lake is supposed to be very beautiful and the weather forecast is also not so bad.
This means I will have a total of around 640 km to cycle until Bishkek, the final destination of my trip. On good roads this should be doable in six days, I allowed myself seven days so I will arrive in Bishkek on June 20.
Return flight on June 23
Also I finally booked my return flight with Turkish Airlines via Istanbul. I will leave Bishkek in the morning of June 23 and arrive the same evening in Zurich. When I checked the flight duration, I was very surprised that the flight between Bishkek and Istanbul takes six hours, and the connecting flight to Zurich another three. That’s three hours more than it took me to fly to Iran initially, and shows me what distance I covered in the past three months.
The price of the flight is ridiculously low, I pay around CHF 400 incl. the extra fees for the bicycle. I could not imagine a cheaper way of getting back to Switzerland (but of course a more ecological way). Even if I cycled back to Switzerland or took trains for several days, I would spend more money.
Starting early tomorrow morning
In order to avoid the sometimes strong winds in the afternoon as well as the thunderstorms that are predicted for tomorrow afternoon, I will start cycling early tomorrow and rather spend some time at Issyk Kul. If the conditions are in my favor, I should cover a distance of roughly 120 km tomorrow.
