Shortly after leaving the spot where we parked for the night, the road swung round the eastern end of Lake Issyk-Kul through a delightful countryside of arable land with trees dotted here and there. We soon reached the significant town of Karakol where we went to visit the 19th century Holy Trinity church, built after Kyrgyzstan was absorbed into Russia in the 1870’s. It is made entirely of wood and is beautifully decorated inside. We then went to the tourist information office where a very personable young man suggested we went to see the Dungan Mosque which is built in a Chinese style. It doesn’t have a conventional minaret, only a large blue shed with a loudspeaker on it, looking more like a Tardis than a minaret.
Our next journey was about 8 miles to the site of the Przhevalskii Museum near a landing place on the shore of the lake. Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalskii (1839 to 1888) was a Russian explorer who travelled all over Central Asia and China, especially the Gobi Desert. He travelled through Zhinjiang along the same road we used in 2018 and the missionaries Mildred Cable and Francesca French in the 1930’s. I noticed from his hand-drawn map that he passed through Jiayuquan where there is a huge fort built during the Ming Dynasty in the 1660’s. He also passed through the significant town of Ansi which Cable and French mention, but has now disappeared, as well as the settlement of Xiang-Xiang Xiah (Starry-Starry Gorge) which is now a service station on the Taklamakan Desert motorway., He died of typhus aged only 49 and achieved his wish to be buried on the shore of Lake Issyk-Kul at one of his favourite spots. The museum was very interesting with a lot of info about the explorer and his life and the places he travelled through. We walked down a shady avenue of pines which were probably planted when Przhevalskii was buried and saw his simple grave next to an imposing stone monument crowned by a dove with an olive leaf in its beak.
The aim was to turn off the main road at Baskoon and carry on up the minor road into the mountains. However we came to this idyllic spot where the lake almost meets the road and decided that this was the perfect place to spend the night. I went down to the lake and watched three men fishing. One of them caught a fish but lost it before he could land it.
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You can buy a cold fried egg on a burger in a Kyrgyz supermarket
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Artificial flower shops, guaranteed to make Angela throw up.
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Holy Trinity church
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Dungan mosque minaret
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Jennifer at the Dungan mosque
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The Przhevalskii Museum
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Nikolai Przhevalskii
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Przhevalskii’s map, showing Jiayuquan on the Great Wall.
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Przhevalskii’s grave
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One of many roadside graves on the road from Baskoon to Bishkek