Kochkor, high passes, and Naryn

After a tough decision to detour an avoid Barskoon, I rode through desert and plain into gorgeous Kochkor. Situated around 2000M, Kochkor is a nice alpine village with plenty of home stays and a pretty quite feel. After 120km of riding I passed through town and saw the two Dutch cyclists I had lunch with as well as a Swiss couple. Went searching for a home stay and ended up on the main residential street with an old lady, her husband, and their animals. Unpacked a bit, dusted off bags, an headed to Cafe Visit, which was fine though I think I was the only one with a correct order of Chinese meet and Greek salad. Unlikely gathering of the only 6 tourists in town in the only cafe with an English menu, though we learned you should never expect what you order. Headed back to the home stay, had a wonderful bath in the banya, and went to sleep.
Woke up late but still got a decent breakfast of potatoes and carrots with egg on top and homemade apricot jam. Saturday morning meant and animal market, and after my host father brought back two sheep in the trunk of his Lada I decided to head over. Very crowded market selling all sorts of fake goods from China, pastries, shoes, and hardwear. Finally made it to the animal part, with lively bargaining over hundreds of horses sheep and cows. Also found a solar appliance store which sold all sorts of Chinese gadgets for yurts, including panels, lights, DVD players, and radios.
Not sure how long I had to go, I left the market and started peddling toward Sary Bulak with my newly acquired Ray Bans and bananas. On the way, I got a nice mix of roads including fresh Chinese pavement, dirt track, and active rockfall. Pushing a low gear on what I though was flat was miserable until I realized I was climbing a few thousand feet. Sary Bulak finally appeared an hour after I ran out of water. Strongly considered rising to Song Kul but 90km with unknown pass conditions didn't seem like a good idea. Plus I have to save something for another visit.
Sary Tash consists of a few fish sellers and one cafe. Left quickly and started climbing and even passing overheating cars. Around 5 I made the 3030M pass in a thunderstorm, and started the awesome decent through the narrow valley dotted with yurts and caravans. Not much for sale other than kumis and yogurt and freshly caught fish. Went down until Ottuk, then began an unknown climb into Naryn. Not sure I could make it before dark but luckily the last 5km were downhill and not too potholed. Only one guesthouse was listed in LP so ended up doing a quick search and found the Khan Tengri hotel which is a great buy at 1000 som per night with private bath and shower. Naryn doesn't have too much going on but visited the Sunday market, CBT office, and a few stores. Luckily it's been cloudy all day otherwise I would be getting more burnt. Trying to arrange a driver to Jalalabad now over a 4wd 400 km route that is supposedly snow free.
Here's a few pics of Naryn and the route in.