Issyk Kul

In Bishkent, the capital, right? No, Bishkent was just for the opening ceremonies.

And then we went off to Issyk-Kul, which is the big lake.

And there was whole areas there that we had to go to.

One of them where Alfian was, was, how do you say? Kitchengorge.

The ancestor of all of them lies on the Central Asian plateau.

And in a cemetery near Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, gravestones carved in the years 1338 and 1339, immediately before the Black Death knocked on Europe's door, state the cause of death as pestilence.

And in the teeth of the people lying beneath those stones, the remains of Yersinia pestis have been found.

The Black Death did not originate in Europe.

So did you go to Bishkek? I, I'm curious, have you done much around, like, uh, the Ak-Batal, uh, where is it? The, the big lake.

Issyk-Kul?

Issyk-Kul, yeah.

Yeah.

And up around-

Jaw-dropping.

Tucked among the mountains is Issyk-Kul, which is enormous...

It is one of the largest and deepest alpine lakes on the planet.

It sits about 1,600 metres up.

And if you're planning to visit the more remote highlights, then renting a car or, as you said, Murray, hiring a driver, driving a car would be well, well worth it.

There are domestic flights available between Bishkek and Osh for those wanting to avoid the very long drive through the mountains.

While trains are limited, but can actually offer a rather scenic journey to Issyk-Kul, the lake that we spoke about

earlier.

So we know that the presidential elections are coming, and I think ultimately that's what this is all aimed at, is that Japarib keeps checking to make sure that that's exactly what he wants ahead of the presidential election in January.

Yeah, I think, you know, this, obviously, we saw that massive kind of shift happening back in February, where it was the heads of Osh, Chuy, Batkin, Issyk-Kul, and Norin.

All of those SEN head heads were changed back in February.

This is one of the first we've seen changed after that period.