The road continued to climb for a little while this morning before eventually topping out at over 10,500 ft and then we descended, and descended and descended eventually (by the end of the day) getting down to 2,500 ft in the upper end of the Fergana Valley.

The first stage of the descent followed a narrow, steep sided, river valley which must have constituted the Kyrgyz equivalent of bee country because we passed numerous stands selling honey and their associated array of boxes holding their hives. The end of this first stage was signalled by our arrival at the village of Toktogol. Thereafter the road skirted the large reservoir of the same name without any net change in elevation but with many ups and downs as we negotiated the mountainous boundary of the reservoir. Interestingly the mountains around the reservoir where very dry yet in the valley on the waters edge was sporadic farming and we saw many fields of corn. The dry brown mountains made a picturesque contrast to the bright blue water.

From the reservoir eventually the road picked up and ran beside the Naryn River. This river has been dammed at a number of points so it felt more like driving beside a lake than a river. It was spectacular as the Naryn valley was steep with the road simply cut into the side of the valley.

We finally emerged from our spectacular river side drive and into the heat of the lowlands late in the afternoon. Now the road ran right beside the border with Uzbekistan. We had to take care with navigation as some of the roads cut across Uzbek territory and our GPS indicated these "short cuts" as the "best route" - electronics is not always right.

The scenery changed dramatically as we were now in the upper reaches of the Fergana Valley. The roadway was lined with trees, many of them Mulberry trees that were being stripped of their leaves to feed the silkworms for which the region is famous. Every where there were fields growing a wide range of produce and every small village had an informal market in the middle of the main street (which we had to negotiate) with large piles of water mellons, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, squash and corn for sale.


Just past the town of Kochkor-Ata, and its particularly hectic market, we found a large patch of ground on the edge of a corn field and pulled in for the night. We were far enough from the road to feel safe from passing vehicles, but unfortunately close enough to have a night long "serinade by truck".