Mountains are mountains the world around, but the sights of rolling open plains framed by those mountains, plains filled with yurts and herds of horses running free--those were the sights that stick in one's mind. Then the casual, serendipitous encounters with the keepers of those yurts--Omar, Playboy of the Eastern World; the five young boys on horseback struck with curiosity but not much language; the delightful Kyrgyz women pressing us with yoghurt, cheese, and bread--these are the memories that replay in one's mind. It's a trip that charmed as much as it challenged, from the vistas, to the support staff, to the crazy four-by-four ride through a glacial river!