We have breakfast in the hotel, load up the truck and we are off by 8 AM. We make a quick stop in the town center at the bazaar where we need to go cook group shopping. We will be preparing lunch today, so we need to get some supplies. The market is just opening when we get there, so it takes some searching to find what we need. We find bread in another market - we are surprised that they have not already started to bake it. Everything is very inexpensive - we spend a total of less than $8 for lunch for 18 of us.
Once all the shopping is packed away, we head on our way. We back track a bit and then turn off south into the Jeti-Öghüz canyon. We drive up the canyon, passing a huge red rock formation along the way. It is known as Broken Heart, and the legend goes that two suitors fighting over the same maiden died and her heart was broken. We stopped and took some pictures. As we walked to the best photo spot, we walked by a yurt, where the lady invited us to look at her yurt and she brought out some snacks for us to enjoy. The hospitality here is amazing.
We head further up the gorge and after almost one hour of slow driving, we decide to stop for the night. The road is bad and we do not want to spend the afternoon digging the truck out of the mud. We set up camp and then start to prepare lunch. After we serve lunch, we clean up and then get ready to go for a walk.
We decide to walk further up the canyon alongside the river and it is a beautiful walk. There are yurt huts scattered here and there. A few locals, with their dog, pass us on horseback
We head up to the point where we can get a full look up the valley at the huge snow covered mountains in the distance.
We decide to sit down for a while on the edge of the freezing cold river and admire the view around us. The weather is starting to get a bit colder as the sun is hidden by some clouds that have rolled in. We get up to head back.
We walk on back past the yurt huts, with the locals waving and greeting us. As we walk, a few rain drops fall, but they never really get going. But a loud thunder storm breaks out with the cracks of thunder rolling off the sides of the mountains. We get back to the camp in the late afternoon and spend the afternoon relaxing and napping. The temperature continues to drop as the sun sets.
We have a huge dinner - a barbeque with a wide selection of meat and french fries. After dinner, we spend some time around the fire keeping warm and then retire to our tent to stay warm in our sleeping bag. We are glad that we have brought with us some cold weather gear.