And The Adventure Continues…
After I reached Bishkek a few months ago, I took a good break from cycling… protecting myself from the fierce sun and extreme heat of the Kyrgyz summer. Living in this world, you just can’t get everything. When you get something, you lose another. I get to sleep in a comfortable bed at home, eating proper and on time etc… but I miss being in the mountains. For some 6 weeks, I spent most of my time in front of my computer screen doing the final editing of my film but I left my bicycle in the balcony untouched… together with my panniers, backpacks, sleeping bag, tents and all my other travel equipments. Instead of pushing the pedal of my bicycle through mountains, I spent most of my time pushing the mouse button and keyboard on my computer… transferring the experience of my latest cycling journey into a series of travelogue film… so that I can share my experience… my thoughts… my ideas… to everyone. Ideas… that always come mysteriously into our mind out of nowhere.
when I’m not riding, my tyre turned flat and looks like a chewing gum
capturing sunset over Kyrgyz yurts
me filming the surrounding areas in the countryside
Time passes by without me realizing it. Slowly, it gets colder in this part of the world. The wind started to blow the cold air. Leaves started to change its colours from green into yellow and red… and finally fall on earth. Every evening when I look at the sky from the balcony, I saw thousands of birds flying, probably migrating to other places, since the cold days will come here soon… the dark cold winter. The summer was really hot and dry and at one point, it started to rain here. Once the rain started, it got cold slowly at least during the night. I started to wear 2 layers of clothes at night until the rain turned into snow, then I wear the third…
filming the beautiful sunset
A friend of mine, who is originally from Germany but living in Malaysia, came to visit me here in Kyrgyzstan, since he planned to spend some quality time in a beautiful mountainous landscape of Kyrgyzstan and breath the fresh unpolluted air here. We then travel together to a beautiful spot in Naryn Province, a high altitude lake called Song Kul, which sits above 3000m altitude. This time, I travelled without my bicycle. For now, I plan to leave the bicycle behind and travel on foot… taking all the advantage to reach places that I can never reach on a bicycle. We travelled by marshrutka, a type of van that is popular among the local people around this region. We travelled from Bishkek to Kochkor by it, then we get a shared taxi with another 3 French tourists to Song Kul lake.
incredible lighting before sunset in Song Kul lake
It was raining while we were on the way to the lake, the sky covered by thick dark clouds which is usually not a good sign. When its raining in lowlands, usually it will snow anywhere above 3500m altitude. But when we reached the lake, the rain stopped, the dark clouds still dominating the sky but the sun managed to shine fiercely, giving a very beautiful lighting and the scenery around the lake really looked surreal. And I quickly grab my cameras and film the beautiful surroundings.
the sun was still shining while the dark clouds were still dominating the sky
We stayed for 2 days in a Kyrgyz yurt, called Bozui in Kyrgyz language, together with the 3 French tourists. During the day, we all do our own activities, some went for horse riding… me and my German friend went hiking to the nearby mountains. It was an easy hike but we were breathing quite heavily due to the high altitude. But the view was magnificent. We could see the view of the whole lake from the mountain and the weather was good… warm and sunny.
horses having breakfast on the lake
following the footstep of the horses towards the mountains
kyrgyz horses in the mountain and the Songkul lake in the far background
During the night after having dinner together, I decided to stay outside the bozui in the dark, lying on the grass… waiting for the milky way to appear in the night sky. It was very cold at night even though its still autumn… probably below 0 degrees. But when the sky became dark, the milky way finally appeared… decorating the night sky beautifully and I was awed watching it, admiring this massive ring of stars. It feels magical staring at this beautiful starscape. The longer I watched it, the further my inner mind flew, totally into another realm, imagining myself flying from one star to another, from one planet to another. I imagine myself flying free in the milky way without needing to worry about getting tired or getting hungry, unlike here on earth while our soul are stucked here inside our physical body.
After spending hours in the cold admiring and filming the milky way, I went back to the bozui very quietly after the midnight, afraid that I might be disturbing others since everybody were already sleeping. The next morning, we all departed to our own ways. The French travellers went somewhere else and me and my German friend decided to travel to another lake, Issykul, the biggest lake in Kyrgyzstan. The locals in Song Kul lake told us that they will leave to the lower land soon… probably in a week time since its getting colder there soon and the path will be covered by thick snow on winter… making it very difficult to travel around this area.
a local Kyrgyz woman milking her cow early morning
Diary Of A Traveller 
assalam zahariz. after a long wait for your memorable stories, you appear alast! :-) and you would never dissappointed us with your crispy, tell-story pictures! i pray for your safety, may you success in all your journey conquering the world. keep us update dude.
another one, please consider to compile your writings into a booklet, so that your valuable story can be shared with larger crowd. all the best to you and may god bless you as always amen.
wsalam brother. tq so much for reading and the comment. insyallah one day i will write a book.. really looking forward into it ;)
So wonderful to read your words again! Stay safe dont stop blogging, your travels are simply amazing!
thx brother for still following my blog!
Hi Zahariz,
Rachel & I (you knew her in Mongolia while she was teaching but I was back here in the UK) were just talking about you & your adventures at the weekend… hoping you are OK and wondering about your ‘missing’ blog updates. So it is great to read this, and it is as inspiring as it always is. But I’ve enjoyed seeing the occasional fantastic photo on facebook.
Stay safe, happy and adventurous…
A wonderful update – thanks!
Steve (York, UK)
hey Steve! yeah I remember Rachel surely, she mentioned about you to me too many times. thanks man! hope you guys are good. is she back to the UK or still in UB? Take care
Great! Yeah, she’s back here now bu with lots of great memories from her travels… we might see you on the road sometime… and definitely look us up when you make it to the UK :-)
good to hear everything is safe n sound. where will u guys be on dec? i might be in europe for a 3-4 weeks, just to runaway from the siberian winter for a short time
Glad u had a great trip to Finland – looks like magic. Are you staying around in Europe for a bit, or heading out back east?…
we’ll be here in Yorkshire (northern England)… yeah, let us know if you fancy meeting up – or I have a spare room for a few days…
What a lovely tale. I always enjoy reading about your adventures – and I feel like I could jump into your photos!
thx! hope youre doing well! been following your blog too sometimes. Nice pics of the Mongolian winter
Asalamualaikum ….. Terima kasih kerana dengan gambar2 dan cerita2 yang dikirimkan oleh en. Zahariz dapatlah kami yang tak berpeluang ke sana sama2 menikmati keindahan alam ciptaan Allah. Subhanallah indahnyaaaa …. Semoga perjalanan ini Diberkati Allah sentiasa. aamiin.
wsalam tuan… terima kasih juga atas doa tersebut.
Great story again!
thanks jlokker!
Saya mengikuti anda Dari handpon
Saya tidak fasih Bahasa ingris adakah tulisan anda dalam bahasa melayu, dulu saya ada angan angan nak rentas Russia Dari Vladivostok ke eropah saya dah buat kajian tentang perjalanan tu dan saya ada servey tentang Trans Siberia dan saya ingin sangat ke laluan sutere (Silk Road) yang sekarang anda terokai hajat saya terbatal kerana ayah saya tahu perjalanan tu satu hala dan saya berkahwin hala tuju saya berubah, insyaalah panjang umur murah rezki kita jumpa di tanah sutera.
insyallah tuan kalau ada rezeki
Zahariz..i enjoyed reading your travelogue stories and looking at those pictures really help me with my imagination on what you just described.Thank you for such great shots. How I wish I have guts to do the same like you. You have pushed yourself to the extreme of test but honestly, I don’t think I can push myself to that limit. Great experience you had living with the locals. Please keep on sharing ! Thank you and may you come home in one piece.
Zahriz I hv just finished watching your travelogue 2 on tv alhijrah. I made sure that I set a reminder to watch it tonite as your story piqued me. Sure enough it was amazing to follow your journey(across Mongolia). 4 amazing years Zahriz!! U r one hell of a determined bloke. I pray God will look after you wherever u maybe. In my prayers too u will be. Inshallah. Tomorrow nite part 2 we meet again on tv.
tq so much sis for watching my travelogue and your kind words! really appreciate it!
this is a great adventure…i never seen before…zaharif keep moving and just go ahead your are struggle man..one day you will become inspiring to another people.. hope you can published a book of adventure…
Assalamualaikum. Baru habis menonton dokumentari en.zahariz di tv alhijrah. Such inspiring, as usual. SUBHANALLAH, mongolia sgt indah!! I subconcsiously put “nomad experience” in my wishlist. Hehe. Stay safe, brother! Malaysian pray for u ;)
terima kasih bro atas komen di atas dan sudi menonton travelogue saya. hehe insyallah one day.. keep praying bro :)
Salam,
akhirnya kembali semula catatan pengembaraan anda Zahariz. Baru dua malam dapat menonton “Dengan basikal aku menjelajah” di TV Alhijrah…ter..miss episod yang pertama. Itupun anak-anak yang maklumkan “pengembaraan” Zahariz telah bermula untuk siri yang kedua…. Subhanaallah…indahnya ciptaan Maha Pencipta… Semoga sentiasa berkongsi catatan untuk tatapan semua. “Usaha tangga kejayaan”.
Salam Maal Hijrah……
-apa azam tahun baru ni?…
Assalamualaikum. Saya kagum dengan semangat saudara Zahariz yang kental, menjelajah dunia dengan basikal. Saya dapat merasakan kepayahan yang saudara alami terutamanya bila berhadapan dengan cuaca dsb. Doa saya moga Allah s.w.t memberi kekuatan kepada saudara dan memelihara saudara untuk terus mengembara.
Kahariz your pictures are amazing, and the way you describe your experiences is something else, I am folllowing you as I too am an adventurer, I do cycling, trekking, and am planning to do Everest Base Camp in March.
You inspire me to get out of my comfort zone even more, as you go to such extreme places. I plan to visit a lot of the places you have been to.
Thank you so much
Loraine x
thanks Loraine. Im so glad to hear that I inspire you! All the best on your trip to the EBC on March!
Syukur Alhamdulillah.
Terima kasih atas perkongsian ilmu dan pengalaman saudara Zahariz. Saya doakan pengembaraan saudara selamat, sihat dan di lindungi Allah senantiasa. Amin ya robb.
Khaidir Zakaria, Putrajaya
– Brilliant photos and inspiring story. How amazing Almighty Allah crafted the whole world. Just thinking to collaborate film making with you to make first ever Malaysia National geography which the connection human and the creator Almighty Allah. Hopping getting your reply soon and may Allah guidance your journey. tq
no problem bro. if anything you can just contact me via email
Thanks for reply. I will plan with my friends for making this story to realize their significant impact and successful.
Assalam Zahariz, Semoga sihat wal’afiat. Selamat menyambut Maal Hijrah bagi tahun 1436. – cikgu azman JARING
Wsalam cikgu Azman. tq so much. salam maal hijrah juga… semoga sihat di sana
Salam bro..
kalau sy nak mengembara macam sedara apa documen yg perlu sy sediakan?
Really beautiful photographs! I love the light ) I’ve been living here for over a year, and don’t think I’ve even seen such striking images of the country.
Assalamualaikum,sdra Zahariz, saya berkongsi kebesaran Allah dari foto n pengenbaraan sdr.saya doakan moga sdr. sehat, dipelihara Allah n kembali dengan selamatnya…amin ya Robb