People kept arriving at the guesthouse throughout the night and were not particularly considerate to the current occupants as they stumbled around. I didn't sleep very well and felt rather tired for most of the day. Still it was a travelling day and finally it was time to leave the modern capital and head for rural Kyrgyzstan. I arrived around lunchtime at Kochkor, a town of 14,000 inhabitants set in the mountains south of Bishkek. It felt good to be on the move and heading towards the one Silk Road relic of note at Tash Rabat.

Having arrived I managed to find a wonderful family to host me for a couple of days whose son, Azamat, spoke excellent English and has been looking after me like a king ever since I arrived. Despite and early afternoon rain shower I went for a walk around the town and then into the surrounding countryside to take in the Kyrgyz countryside. There wasn't much of a path so I just cut accross the farmer's fields heading nowhere in particular but stopping to talk to squatting farmers smoking cigarettes while watching their fields or their flocks. I returned to the house in time for supper with Azamat, who'd set up a TV in order to be able to watch the football - ENgland versus Trinidad and Tobago. It turned out to be a rather dull match but great to be able to watch it even out in the countryside.