Kyrgyzstan

I've just got into Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, after a fortnight roaming beautiful and wild mountainscapes. My first destination on arrival was a camping shop (they're not easy to find) to upgrade my cold weather gear. Having been camping above 3000 metres in the past week, I've realised I'm not going to be warm enough with what I've currently got in the bag at 4000-5000 metres in the Himalaya.

Kyrgyzstan has been fabulous, the most beautiful country imaginable, and a welcome relief from the heat of Uzbekistan. We've really got into the sticks and I especially enjoyed our stay in yurt tents at Song-kul Lake which at 3100 metres is entirely ringed with mountains. It snowed overnight while we were there, so we woke to find snow on the mountains and peppering the camp, though it cleared sufficiently for a warming mountain walk in the morning. The locals also put on a game of headless goat polo for us which is popular pastime in these parts. It's a bit of a grizzly spectacle at first, though you soon get into it. However, I wasn't quite so keen to play tug of war with the carcass afterwards as one of our hosts suggested to me.

The Kyrgyz people are immensely friendly and believe strongly in the importance of hospitality to strangers. This can be problemmatic if you really don't feel in the mood for another glass of fermented horse's milk, though the opportunity to see inside yurts and eat with local families is a wonderful one to take. Fortunately, Russian beer is also a popular beverage in this neck of the woods, and indeed the group have grown so fond of 'Baltika 3' beer that the Icelandic girls got us to make a series of comedy video commercials for the beer one night. I've also been passing the time by writing a play of the trip, which is to be premiered this evening in our hotel car park as a farewell to good friends who leave us in Bishkek.

My Central Asian hat collection continues to grow. The material of choice in Kyrgyzstan is felt, and the national hat is a very odd looking thing which looks a little like a Robin Hood hat that has metaphorised into a pillar box. It's white in colour with a black trim and embroidery. Naturally I've bought one, along with a couple of slightly less ostentatious numbers which probably look equally as silly on me. I think I might celebrate my eventual return to England with a Central Asian hat party.

Something particularly appealing about Kyrgyzstan is the contrast between the snow-capped high mountains and the beach atmosphere of the massive Issyk-kul Lake. The day after walking in snow at Song-Kul I was sunbathing on the lakeside at Issyk-Kul with the mountains offering an eye-catching backdrop. Quite strange, though nothing compared to the strangeness of my latest clubbing experience at an ex-soviet beach chalet resort on the north side of the lake. Having gone through a military checkpoint to get into the place, we found ourselves dancing in the open air to dodgy Russian disco tunes with a bunch of 12 year olds ...until their parents turned up promply at midnight to take them all home. Hoping for better things in Bishkek tonight!