High Valleys and Sand Dunes below Karakol October 11th 2008

The area around Ghez and Karakol is occupied by the few Kyrgyz people who live in Xinjiang
province. They were super friendly and happy to give us some shelter and cook some food for
a nominal fee.
In the summer they take their yurts and animals up to the high pasture, but by October
they've retreated to their more permanent residences in the small villages that dot the
landscape. The world up here is one of strong winds and wide valleys and the scenery is like
nowhere I've ever seen before. It's a harsh world up here and cycling though it was a case of
surviving from one sheltered bend in the road to the next. We were glad when we finally
started heading higher into narrower and less windy valleys.