Issyk-Kul

 We were able to go to Issyk Kul for a couple of days this week.  We didn't plan the trip ourselves, but went with the international students at the university. 

If you ignore the man in the middle, this is a good photo of a cultural center we went to near Cholpon-Ata.  It has a variety of artwork from the region and the buildings you see in the back are for different religions.  It was a lovely setting and interesting, although I won't make you slog through lots of photos of the place.

We stayed at one of the new resorts on the lake.  While it was nice to be in a nice place, I'm happier at a community-based tourism place.  More on that later this week. This is looking out toward the lake.

And this is looking toward the mountains.  Sometimes it almost felt like we were in the US, but there were lots of small things that said we weren't.

Looking south across the lake toward the mountains.

Looking toward the beach from the pier.