Day 459 - Back to Karakol

After a warm brekkie and packing up our gear, we decided we'd better make use of the hot sulphur springs and headed over to our own little log hut perched on the edge of the river. We spent an hour relaxing in the hot pools - but also getting our for a splash of freezing river water sometimes too: probably nicer than it sounds! We then mounted our packs, which as it turns out we didn't have to carry for 3 days so we weren't quite used to them yet, and set off for the 4 hour hike through the Arashan valley back towards Karakol, accompanied by herders on horseback taking their sheep and cattle to grazing lands. The hike followed the river we'd spent the last few days with (although in a different direction), and we made our way through forests passing the occasional travelling making their way up, along the way.
We found a great lunch spot next to the river and cooked up some 2-minute noodles and boiled water that we cooled in the icy river before making our way to the end of the hike. Here we allowed our tired muscles to relax on the side of the road while we waited for a marshrutka to take us back to town. We had a small argument with the driver trying to charge us for our packs (he lost), and soon we were back in town. We stopped the marshrutka outside the gear rental place where they tried to blame us for a hole we didn't make - we spent the better part of 2 hours arguing (sometimes heated, otherwise pretty calm) with the help of a translator, and the matter was finally resolved. The lesson we learnt was that before renting gear it's very important to check it and confirm its condition - the only reason we hadn't was that the day we got it it was pouring with rain and we were in a hurry.
Our our way back to the hostel we past the cool local church and dumped our packs and headed out for our first unrestricted gulp of water and dinner that wasn't noodles and corn! At the restaurant we went to we met a couple of Dutch travellers who we spent the night with chatting away - it turns out we'll be going to India about the same time, so we'll try and keep in touch! Funnily enough they had been in Mongolia a week or so after us and had the same guide we had! What a coincidence! They were very happy with the guide but had a drunk for a driver - the second group of people we've met who have either had trouble with their guide or driver, which makes us stoked that our tour was such a success.

Before falling into bed we repacked our packs, sadly looking at each item we were reloading in and wondering what we could do without!!

Adlibing it down the valley.