Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

It was a dark and stormy hike……..
Well, not really.

About half of our group hopped on the bus to visit the Ala Archa Gorge situated in the middle of the national park of the same name. Unfortunately the weather ranged from heavy ‘mist’ to a moderate downpour. As a result most of us abandoned the planned 3.7 km hike to a waterfall in the mountains and chose to follow the more sedate (and paved) path along a beautiful alpine mountain stream before the rain got too heavy. Dan and John were the only intrepid travellers courageous enough to make the trek. Unfortunately, they only made it about half way before being turned back by snow flurries. We headed back to town after eating a hearty lunch of escolar (a deep sea fish). Getting home early allows for some needed down time and has finally provided a chance to get caught up with the blog.

Interestingly, I just got a chance to read about escolar online. Apparently, it contains high amounts of indigestible fat esters that causes diarrhea (steatorrhea) and as a result it has been banned in several countries. I am hoping that they got the name of the fish wrong or that I misunderstood it!