Kyrgys at play in a salt lake

A hair cut and a quick swim in our small lake started the day and then we took our leave from our new Polish friends and were on our way. A little way down the road we passed 3 convoys of Mack trucks carrying fuel and led by Ford F series pickup trucks heading to a local gold mine operated by a Canadian company. At about the same time we passed a complex of walls and buildings that were amazingly decorated. The main wall seemed to have immitation yurts embedded at regular intervals, an eleborate gate and other amazing features. Noone seemed to be at home in the structure and we could not for the life of us work out what it might be.

The road along the lake took us through many villages, many irrigation canals and much farming land. This sure looked like a fertile area.

Near the western end of Lake Issyk Kul we came upon a sign pointing north to Salt Lake and decided to follow the rough track to see what this was all about. After bumping along a very primitive track for maybe 12 km, passing the occassional poor farm house we came upon a densely packed collection of yurts, lots of parked cars and knots of people. It seemed that we had arrived at the accommodation and eating place associated with the Salt Lake. After some discussion, much help and advice from the various vendors, and an extensive showing off of our vehicle, we walked the 300 meters to the lake after which the place was named. It was a small lake set back from lake Issyk Kul, we guessed that being isolated from Issyk Kul the salt level was concentrated by evaporation. We joined the hundreds of locals testing the waters and found that it was indeed salty. We deduced that the popularity of the place came from the boyancy imparted by the salt; it was literally impossible to sink.