Son Kul lake sits at 3,016 metres, and in July the surrounding plateau is so green it looks implausible. Nomadic families have already driven their herds up from the valleys, and the yurt camps are open. You ride out in the morning on a Kyrgyz horse, compact, sure-footed, nothing like the tourist ponies at hill stations, and by afternoon the only sound is wind and the bells on the lead mare.
