No sermon this Sunday or last Sunday as I’ve been on my summer holidays, in Kyrgyzstan. A lot of people asked me why I was going on holiday to Kyrgyzstan. I hope the photos below explain why!
Classic Kyrgyzstan scene, near Karakol.
Is the Skaza Canyon real life or a Star Trek scene?
Kyrgyz cowboy, near Karakol.
Last light on the Terskey Ala-toos, shot from the main road near Karakol.
Evening sun near Jeti Oguz.
Morning trot on a bitterly cold day at Lake Song-Köl.
A storm viewed across Lake Song-Köl on a chilly day.
The masoleum of 19th Century Kyrgyz warrior hero Andash Baatyr on the jailoo grassland littoral of Lake Song-Köl. A cold morning!
Leading southwards from Lake Song-Köl, the Moldo Ashuu Pass, at 3,346 metres above sea level, is spectacular,
Tash-Rabat—a Silk Road survival. A 15th-century stone caravanserai at 3,107m/10,194ft above sea level, in a secluded valley almost 30 miles from the nearest village.
The Milky Way over the yurt camp at Tash-Rabat. This is a single 30-second exposure.
Magnificent Köl-Suu, an alpine lake at 3,514 metres/11,529 feet above sea level, with the most extraordinary blue colour.
Mishka is a daredevil driver of a Lada Niva 4×4, but a much calmer pilot of a motor launch on Lake Köl-Suu.
Evening sun on the Sarybeles mountains in a remote part of Kyrgyzstan near the Chinese border. The peaks reach an elevation of 4,726m; I shot this from around 3,325m in the Kök Kiya Valley.
People have all sorts of odd ideas about Central Asia, but Bishkek is a leafy, parky, city in the way of Soviet provincial capitals, with lots of new cycle lanes.
He was once thought to represent the future he is beckoning us towards here. Now Bishkek is one of the few cities where Vladimir Lenin still sits on a podium. But Kyrgyzstan has long outgrown its Soviet past. I’ve had a wonderful time here.
All photos © Gerry Lynch. Not to be used without prior permission and a licence from the creator.
