Uff, I’ve been falling behind with this!
We flew into Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s capital, from Tashkent, and had a relaxed first afternoon where our only tasks were finding local currency and something to eat.
The next morning, the programme began and we headed out to the Ala-Archa Gorge, a National Park in the Tien Shan mountains, for a wee wander up in the outdoors. It seems a popular hiking spot, with multi-day options for the keen beans, but we just stayed for a short wander and a few photos. It was very pretty!
In the afternoon, we were shown around some of the city’s important monuments in a mini city tour. We visited Ala-Too (formerly Lenin) Square and Victory Square, and we saw the changing of the guard at the National Flagpole. Honestly, as far as city tours go it was probably the least exciting one I have experienced, and I still don’t really feel like I’ve actually seen the city. Even just wandering around in the evening looking for a place to eat I feel like I got a better idea of what the city was about.
Leaving Bishkek, we started the long journey to a small town called Naryn, where we spent the next couple of nights.
Along the way, we had couple of sightseeing stops. The first was at Burana tower, a minaret which is the only structure remaining of what was once a Silk Road city called Balasagun. The minaret itself is 20m shorter now than it once was, due to earthquake damage, and we were able to climb to the top via an extremely steep, narrow, dark, internal staircase. In the field beside the tower were a collection of tombstones, all shaped like little people. We also found one of those stick-your-face-in-and-take-a-photo thing, which was a highlight!
Our next stop after Burana tower was at a feltmaking workshop, where we learnt about making traditional felt carpets. I quite enjoyed the process, though I doubt I’ll be doing it myself any time soon. Then from there we were back in the bus and headed to Naryn. Along the way were some lovely views, but unlike our guide in Tajikistan who gave us photo stops what felt like every 20 minutes, our Kyrgyz guide didn’t believe in photo stops at all, so all of my photos are reluctantly taken through the bus window, and I missed some of the best ones altogether.
Naryn was a strange wee town. I believe my exact words as we drove in were, “Wow. This town is bleak.” It turns out we weren’t actually there to see the town, but rather it was a base for further travels, and really the only thing we did in the town itself was traverse the main street that had been entirely ripped up with roadworks, looking for something to eat. Apparently this region is famous for its lamb, so that was what we searched for both nights we were there, but on neither night were we successful.
I mentioned that Naryn was really just a base for further travel, and it was a place called Tash-Rabat that we were using it to visit. Tash-Rabat, or “Stone Fortress”, is an old stone structure near the border between Kyrgyzstan and China, used at different times throughout history as a monastery, a temple, and a caravanserai. The drive was once again both stunning and without al single photo stop. While there, we ran into a kiwi guy from Whangarei who was riding a motorcycle from England back to NZ (presumably with some boat trips along the way). Unfortunately I didn’t actually find him particularly pleasant to talk to haha so my excitement at finding another kiwi was short lived.
After Naryn and Tash-Rabat, we headed north again to a large lake near the border with Kazakhstan called Issyk-Kul, or Warm Lake, as it is saline enough that it doesn’t freeze in winter.
There we visited Skazka Canyon, also known as the Fairytale Canyon, where we saw some rather impressive rock formations, and Djety Oguz Gorge, named for its supposed resemblance of seven (or 12, or 15, depending on who you ask) bulls, and we saw a falconry demonstration. While at Issyk-Kul we also had our second yurt stay, much to the disappointment of many in the group. I asked one of the employees for directions to walk from the camp to the lake and, not speaking much English, she showed my the number 4 on her fingers. Unsure what this meant, I asked again, and she showed me to a gate down the back of the property that lead to a rather full on cross country adventure to reach the shore of the lake. Turns out the next group that asked was just told to follow the road, which would have been a lot more straight forward!!
Our final stop in Kyrgyzstan wasn’t the most exciting, more of an overnight before out border crossing into Kazakhstan than anything else. We stayed in a town called Karakol and visited its mosque and orthodox church while we were there. The church was wooden, and supposedly constructed without nails, but I definitely saw nails in it so I’m not sure what happened there! We were staying a wee way out of town, so not much exploring was done – instead it was a quiet evening before our final border crossing of the trip!
I feel like this post has an overall negative vibe, but I actually quite enjoyed Kyrgyzstan. The towns and cities were perhaps not the most interesting ones that we’ve been to, but the experiences were still good and the scenery along the way was really rather lovely. If only we had had some photo stops!!
emilyonearth 
Leave a reply to boldlymeticulous8d365633e4 Cancel reply