Snowshoeing!

I'm not a fan of winter but it does have it's advantages.  And Issyk Kul is definitely the place to be to take advantage of them.  

Today was the perfect winter day, not too cold, plenty of sunshine, perfect conditions to enjoy KR's beautiful mountains on snowshoes.  

We started out by the ski base and walked to Ak-Suu village.  The view was spectacular, we were surrounded my mountains and we were the only ones out there.

We had a diverse group, a couple other volunteers, two European expats, and three Malaysians, one has been cycling around the globe for the last 4 years (I know what you're thinking mom, and yes, that does sound like a great idea!)

We came to a section of the valley where a forest had been planted during Soviet times.  There's something creepy about trees planted in perfectly straight lines in the middle of nowhere.