Backdate: Kyrgyzstan Tash-Rabat - Ak-Say Valley - Kol-Suu Lake Aug 2019 Day 6

7/8/19 Weds: We washed up just outside our guestrooms in the morning and then had eggs for breakfast with Joel and Kenneth. The two shared about their horse riding trip at Song-Kol (whoa the meals and stays they had sounded much better leh!) and that they will heading somewhere else and then back to Bishkek. *Took Kenneth's IG from him but Joel "the adventurer" has no social media accounts lol.* 
Started the car at 8.45am. Sergey stopped the car to grab some bread and Sprite for us as we were about to head further south via the Torugart border later on, which would then lead us to Ak-Say valley (3000m ASL), nearby Kol-Suu lake (3500m ASL).

Kol Suu Lake is located in the patrolled border zone (border area with China) of the Naryn region, 150 km from Naryn. It was deserted much throughout the journey to the border, and by 11.30am, we got to the first military checkpoint and had to get down with our passports and permits for facial verification by the guards on-duty there. *Our permits were applied by CBT way before the trip using our scanned passport details for them to approve before one can cross the borders.*

They only opened the gates once checks are done for the car to pass. And then, there was another checkpoint where we had to get down again to do verification. *I don't think I slammed the door too hard when I got down, and I even paid attention and try not to close it that hard a second time but Sergey looked slightly pissed as he walked over and said something in Russian while he checked the door. Maybe the car belongs to the company and he's worried? Or he's in a bad mood after long-hours of driving?*
On a side note, the breads he bought for us to eat on the car actually tasted sweet and nice. 

After passing sketchy bridges and countless river crossings, we saw the yurt camp (3355m ASL) not far away from Kol-Suu lake at 1.30pm. We were given a four-bedder yurt at first, but was asked to move out when another big group of tourists came.

*YJ and my leg haha~* Kol-Suu is an alpine lake 3500m ASL in the Kurumduk Valley in the At-Bashi District of Naryn Province of southeastern Kyrgyzstan. Its name meant “the preserved valley” of the Tian Shan mountains. Kol-Suu is straddled by sheer cliffs on one side and the Sary-Beles mountain (4726m high) to the east. It was only recently formed by a landslide in the 1980s. The lake is fed and drained by the Kurumduk River, a left tributary of the Kok-Kyya River. 
It was lunch time and we actually saw the Dutch couple once again as they happened to also be our "new neighbour": tent just right beside the new one we were given haha. 

The rice was flavourful and the soup was alright. Not bad. After that, we simply wandered around the area and took photos. There was a huge river stream in front and some distance away from our yurts, and on the opposite end, there were many sheeps grazing grasses on the highland. The stunning scenery ain't something we city kids get to see. It's therapeutic listening to the flow of the waters too, though the dust and hot sun were not welcomed by us. 
However at this altitude, I could feel that the air was even thinner (just like at Song-Kol) and my chest felt weird frequently on the first day there. It sort of pained as I breathe. *Luckily, all was back to normal the next day.* 

Thought to nua in our new yurt as they moved in a new bed for us late in the afternoon. Jess's sore throat and cough worsened, and she even had a slight fever later on. Hence, she did not join YJ and I for dinner.

YJ and I sat with the Dutch couple during dinner, and a new friend from Poland called Janusz joined us. *Beetroot soup? It tasted nice!* Janusz was a biker who literally travels the world with his bike! He even visited 44 countries in 200+ days, which we thought was a feat for this grandpa! He shared his adventures and injuries etc, and it was a good chat overall, though I got tired towards the end.

Something I didn't like about the owner. She and her friend literally barged in our yurt at night without knocking or anything, and threw the whole plastic bag of charcoal inside the container for burning. *It's toxic and it smelled so bad!* 
Jess turned in earlier after we brushed up while YJ and I were still chit-chatting on our beds. Lights in our yurts and outside went off at 10.30pm, but the two of us wanted to try our luck and take photos of stars in the sky since light pollution was very low there. A pity there wasn't any milky way here, and stars were few and scattered too. *Brrr it was freezing at night, and some sources said it could even snow in August there. But oh well, it didn't when we were there, so we bought and brought our sleeping bags for nothing basically~*