The command dial of my camera was almost frozen and hard to be turned, I had three layers of clothes on including a jacket but still felt all that thin and inadequate. It was that cold here, even in the end of summer.

Crossing icy streams and negotiating dodgy cliff on horseback, alternated with strenuous hikes up the Tien Shan, time and again the scenery was at its best when the journey was at its roughest, once the horse almost lost his footing down a declivity, but still I had to rely on him as the path was way too narrow for me ... (more)