so needless to say... we were excited when we learned that there were some "natural" springs near bishkek. most of the hot springs are home to sanatoriums (a soviet style spa resort... which is a fancy way of saying a run down building with cement tubs) but almedin canyon was suppose to have some natural springs (as well as a sanatorium).
after getting lost for about an hour and circling back to bishkek, we finally found the canyon at the end of a very long and very steep dirt road. we had no idea where to look and there was no one around. finally found someone at the sanatorium (which was closed for lack of hot water!) who gave us general directions... in russian of course which means we had no idea really what she was saying... to cross the bridge and go 100 meters upstream.
so we (jen and myself and the three volunteers from the alpine fund) drove back down the canyon a ways to the first foot bridge we say... crossed the river... and searched in vain for about 30 minutes trying to find some springs along the river. but what we did find was a outhouse type building with a rusty, rusty, rusty tub, some machine works (that is the best way i know how to describe it), and a pipe that feed (after turning a wheel) super hot, hot, hot water into the tub.
we were in business.
we turned on the water to fill the tub, let it fill up, and then ate some lunch while waiting for the water to cool (as it was too hot to get in at first). random thoughts like exposure to radiation, lead poisoning, and getting rust in our butts crossed our minds... but the water was too lovely to pass up.
we soaked for a while and then headed down to the glacier fed river to cool off (finding a crashed truck and dead horse remains along the way... go central asia!).
a great day and we were all relieved the next day not to be glowing in the dark or to have any rashes (that we didn't already have!)
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