Bike trip in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - Part 2

Having completed another extended cycling trip through Latin America between 2012 and 2013, I had made a promise to myself to settle back into normal life and not to go cycling for a very long time. But over the last couple of years, my Singaporean wife Wai Yeng and I had been hosting a steady stream of touring cyclists and their tales of derring-do had been chipping away at my resolve.

By the start of summer last year, I finally cracked, borrowed a lightweight tent from a friend and bought a ticket to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

Over several evenings of discussions with cyclists who had pedalled the same region, the general route across Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan was hatched: Bishkek, Osh, Fergana Valley, Dushanbe, Korog, Wakhan Valley, Murgab, Karakol lake, Sary Tash and back to Bishkek.

This would involve three months of blissful solo riding, covering a distance of more than 3,000km and spanning a terrain of snow-clad peaks, vast lakes, grasslands with lone horsemen, Alexander the Great battle sites and other splendours.