Day 42 - to Arslanbob

Early in the morning some guys woke us up by parking their Lada right in front of our noses. After inspecting our bikes and posing for a few pictures with our helmets under their arms they were off to their rowing boats and out to the water to go fish. We had our quiet peace again and could get up an hour later. Thanks to the extended supermarket spree the day before we had a great breakfast and after a swim in the lake with what must be the perfect temperature for swimming we were off to a great start into the day.

The riding through the mountains was easy and we headed towards Jallal Abad until taking the turn into a side valley to Arslanbob. An area populated by Uzbeks and the place -as we were told by the Kiwi Cafe Owner in Bishkek - with the best home stays and horse riding. We couldn't enter Uzbekistan anyway before the first of September, so a day of exchanging bike for horse sounded good to us.

Just a few kilometers before our goal for the day, Chris' bike had a flat tire on the front. It was an easy fix and was done in about 40 mins in the shade of the only tree around.
Not too bad - nearly 10000 kms and we each only had one flat tire! (Even Matthias' one took about eight time patching before being tamed!)

Through countless herds of sheep, goats, donkeys, cows and horses we reached Arslanbob and found the nicest home stay with Ibrahim, a German and English teacher on pension, who still works at school because there's just not enough good young teachers around.

He welcomed us by leading the way in his Lada Niva, and giving us tea, bread and the worlds best honey in his lovely yard full with flowers and playing grand children.