It’s day one hundred! A century of days traveling, not out.

For me the longest day of the year started late as I lazily awoke and got ready to head to Tamchy, small village on the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul. It had been a good week that I’d spent with Tom and we’d had a good laugh, but he was headed further south to China and I still had a while before I would be heading that way so we parted.

I waited an age for a shared taxi to fill up, witnessing the full extent of a taxi driver’s hard life as he tries, in shark-like manner, to ensure he beats the other taxi drivers to fill up his car. At one point a fight almost broke out as one guy clearly poached another’s customers. But quickly everyone around ignored their savage search for customers and cam eto diffuse the situation.

We arrived at Tamchy just after 3pm and I found a wonderful hopmestay right on the shore of Issyk-Kul with the Tien Shan mountain range across the other side rising up majestically, crowned with a thick layer of snow on the mountain peaks. It really was a poetic scene! And since I had come here to relax, it put me in the right frame of mind immediately. There was nothing to do except read and write and take in the breathtaking beauty and stillness of the place.

I took a dip in the “warmish” water, joining half a dozen families and their shouting children before spending the rest of the afternoon engrossed in my writing, enjoying the view and drinking from a pot of local tea.

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Here’s a joke that was sent to me and made me smile…

What did the fish day when he bumped into the underwater wall?

Dam!