I woke up and my dogs were barkin’! Nick and I both were so sore from our climb and Millie felt completely fine. Oh to be young again!

After hotel breakfast, we fulfilled a promise for one more dip in the pool. We also spent some time in the sauna. This is probably not advised for 4-year-olds but it felt amazing on our weary joints. Millie got cute little kid-sized spa shoes.

We packed up and set off for our long drive to Issyk Kul. Issyk Kul is a huge lake (11th largest in the world) in the North East of the country. We had heard horror stories about driving here but the journey was fine. Nothing compares to Kenya. The roads were mostly smooth and the drivers were only slightly crazy. We only had to stop suddenly once for a group of wild horses in the road.

After an hour of trying and failing to get Millie to nap in the car we caved and handed over the iPad. Nick and I listened to an audiobook of “The Silk Roads: A New History of the World”. It is amazing how much of recent human history took place in this part of the world, and how little I learned about it in school.

We arrived at our yurt camp in the late afternoon. When in Kyrgyzstan…

I love that the national flag is based on the top of the yurt.

We took a short walk to the bank of the lake. Millie asked if she could take her clothes off to swim and before I could finish the single syllable of “yes” she had stripped down into her underwear.

We all entered our own little zen worlds. Millie splashed around and played, Nick skipped rocks, and I walked up and down the shore trying to find the best skipping rocks for him.

After a very relaxing 90 minutes or so, we walked back to camp for dinner. The hosts of the camp offer a home cooked meal for about $6 each, which after a long drive was an easy yes for us. We had a good salad, rice, duck stew, and bread. I ate every last crumb.

Millie befriended (?) the camp dog, who is only 5 months old. She initially was terrified, then ran around trying to get her to come to her, gave her some belly rubs, and then screamed bloody murder when the dog “chased” her while trying play. Millie’s relationship to dogs is complicated but I have a feeling these two will love each other after tomorrow.

Millie took a shower and we got ready for bed in our cozy yurt.