We stayed at a resort on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul. I was not expecting to see a lake such as this one on our trip to central Asia. You can see out and across the lake from where we stayed in the first photo. Issyk-Kul is the world’s second largest alpine lake as it sits at 5,279 feet elevation. The lake is surrounded by mountains that are snow-capped all year long but the lake never freezes. Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyz means “hot lake”. There are some hot springs in the area but the lake felt very cold. This lake is 113 miles long by up to 37 miles wide and has an area of 2,408 square miles. The lake is reaches a depth of 2,192 feet. To stand on a pier out in the lake and look down, it looked just like Lake Tahoe to me. It was incredibly clear water.

Something like 120 rivers and streams flow into Lake Issyk-Kul but the lake has no outflow. Since it has no outflow, the lake is saltish, or at least that’s the word our guide used. It’s nowhere near sea water but it is slightly saline. Our guide said it had excellent fishing in the past but due to overfishing, the government has put a two-year moratorium on fishing the lake. Our guide said if not for the moratorium, we would see lots of fishing boats out on the lake.

Historically, some Chinese travelers wrote accounts of visiting here as early as the first century BC. This was also a popular stop on the silk road. In more recent times, Russia used the eastern end of the lake as a military base.

Standing near the lake and looking backwards at our resort, you see the second photo. The mountains behind are also snow covered but not as high and not as much snow. The units in the photo are single family units. We stayed behind them in the hotel at this resort.

The third photo was taken near the west end of the lake. Again, more snow-covered mountains in the background. Driving along the lake, we would see small developments like this separated by areas of vacant land.

Speaking of driving, the road along the lake was receiving a major renovation or upgrade. Sometimes we were driving on a dirt road and sometimes on a finished road. But the most interesting was what you see in the fourth photo. When the road was in mid-process but not finished and they didn’t want anyone to drive on it, they put rocks, as in thousands of rocks, both on the road and along the edge of the road so discourage people from using the road. I can’t imagine how many people and how much time it took to both put all those rocks down and then to pick them up again to restart the work.

Our tour company again wouldn’t use restaurants here, so we ate in another person’s home. Her name was Goula. We had fried cauliflower, fresh baked bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, meat pies, beef stew soup, Apna beer, and honey cake and tea. It was another fine home-cooked meal.