Kyrgyzstan

Tash Rabat

Two days ago we crossed the border into Kyrgyzstan. Everything went smoothly and it was the quickest crossing so far. It is a strange border, because the Chinese immigration office is the best part of 80km from the Kyrgyz fence. Anyway, we don't ask questions.

We met our Kyrgyzstan guide, Ilya, two drivers, Alexander and Colya, and Borris, our bus, at the border fence. Ilya is a 22 year old giant Russian. He impressed us immediately with his passion and knowledge of Kyrgyzstan. Alexander drove Borris and we felt safe in his responsible hands. Colya drove our luggage van and Paolo kept him company. What a breath of fresh air the mountains and lakes were after some long days driving through the seemingly endless dusty Taklimakan desert.

Our first port of call is Tash Rabat. It is an ancient fort tucked away in the mountains. It is quite an interesting place to visit. It seem like it was built for a good party. There is a big banquet hall flanked by two large kitchens.

We are staying in yurts right next to the fort. A yurt is a round tent with a frame on the inside, big enough to fit five beds and a toasty fireplace. The Kyrgyz people use them in the summer when it is hot enough to take their livestock high up into the mountains and stay in them for several months every year.

Yesterday we had time to explore the mountains around us. We all went for long walks and enjoyed the solitude. At the end of the day we were spoiled with a Kyrgyz feast in the toasty dining yurt. What a treat. We all had too much and slept like babies.

We certainly appreciated those ovens when we woke up this morning and found the whole valley covered in snow. A spectacular sight to behold!

We will now set off to Kochkor, a small town on the way to Jeti Oguz.

Rasta dog

Zoe and Liz at Tash Rabat

Tash Rabat

Morgan, Hannah, Zoe, Lisa & Nicole

Liz and Heathcliff

Striking a yurt for the winter

Yurt dinner

Liz and Heathcliff

Hannah, Nicole, Morgan & John

Frozen river at Tash Rabat

It snowed again while we had breakfast

Gorgeous mountain scene

Lisa tucked up in her yurt bed

Liz, Lisa, Hannah, Nicole & Zoe jumping on the caravanserai

Kochkor

For the most part of today we slowly made our way to Kochkor.

We are staying in our first homestay tonight. Nobody knew quite what to expect, but as things go the whole group was pleasantly surprised. We had hot showers and warm beds, and above all an amazing homestay dinner. What more can you ask for?

Tomorrow we will go for a felt demonstration and head over to Jeti Oguz.

Marjo, Danni & John waiting for breakfast

Borris

Kochkor homestay breakfast

Jeti Ogus

Before heading to Jeti Oguz we went to a felt demonstration. Two lovely ladies showed us how to make felt mats and how to weave it. We all got involved and tried our hands at the ancient art. The two ladies also helped the girls spend all their money on felt goodies. Where they will pack it, I wonder.

After the felt demonstration we stopped in Kochkor town center to pick up some essential goodies and stock up on lunches.

Then we drove to the shore of Lake Issyk Kul and stopped at a big unfinished monument showing the struggles of Kyrgyzstan. It was never finished, because a revolution ousted the president whose project it was. The Kyrgyz people joke that there is a revolution every five years (every time one year before general elections).

After that Ilya took us to a secret valley. It is called the Fairy Tale Canyon. It is a valley with interesting formations carved out of the soft sandstone by wind and water and countless years. We went for a short walk and Paolo posed for some daring pictures.

After that it was a short drive to Jeti Oguz. It is a beautiful valley nestled between big snow covered mountains with lots of trees, green grass and icy cold rivers. Jeti Oguz means seven bulls. The name comes from a rock formation in the cliffs at the mouth of the valley.

We stayed in yurts again, this time with no ovens. We must have gotten soft, because we all missed those ovens from Tash Ratbat!

We were here again for two nights, which meant we all went on hikes again. Some of us walked up the gentle valley, some went in search of the glacier, and some scaled the closest highest mountain.

Today is a short drive to Karakol, so we will first walk up to a waterfall.

Karen is felting

But these ladies are better

Felt class

Ilya explaining

Revolution wall

Liz the social butterfly

Karen at the Fairy Tale Canyon

Strange formations at the Fairy Tale Canyon

Paolo has no fear

John & Danni

The broken heart of Jeti Oguz

Our yurt mouse friend

The sick bay at Jeti Oguz

Heathcliff

Our first camp fire!

Morgan & Karen, BFFs

At the Jeti Oguz waterfall

Karakol

Karakol is our stop before Altyn Arashan. It gives us time to stock up on goodies in town, sleep in a decent bed and take a warm shower. While we were there we checked out the Orthodox Church. It was wiped out by an earthquake some hundred years ago and rebuilt completely out of wood. It is a beautiful building and well worth a look.

Some of our team decided to stay behind in Karakol to recuperate. John, Danni and Marjo thought four days in the same spot out of the cold mountains was just what the doctor ordered to sort out their colds.

Wooden Orthodox church in Karakol 

Altyn Arashan

We were picked up by a big old Russian army personnel transporter in Karakol. Borris was not up for the task of where we were heading. We needed a big four by four with lots of ground clearance. After a bumpy three hour drive we made it to our destination. Some of us were relieved and happy to get out of that truck. We drove over some scary heights with big drops right next to the road.

We are staying here for two nights, again with the aim of exploring the mountains around us. Altyn Arashan is in a valley high up in the mountains (2600m). What makes the backpackers special is the natural hot springs. After a long day in the berg there is nothing like a soak in a super hot tub. To make it better, run outside, jump in the ice cold river, and jump in the tub again. It really makes you feel alive!  We went for hikes until the snow forced us to turn around.

As we have come accustomed to, we had amazing dinners both nights. In the dining room of the backpackers there is a fire stove. The house was designed in a way that spreads heat from the stove to every room. It made for toasty sleeps and unwillingness to go outside in the middle of the night when nature called.

Altyn Arashan

Afternoon tea at Altyn Arashan

4x4 taxi to Altyn Arashan

Bishkek

On the way to Bishkek we stopped at old royal burial grounds and a petroglyph site for lunch. The burial grounds are all along the road. You wouldn’t know they were there if somebody didn’t tell you. They are massive mounds of earth covered by grass like the fields around it. The kings were buried with all their possessions and covered with tones of earth. Petroglyphs are ancient rock engravings. It tells us something about how long there has been human activity around Lake Issyk Kul. After lunch we spent the rest of the day driving to Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan.

Yesterday Ilya took us for a walking tour of Bishkek’s sights and monuments. These guys have a lot of monuments! It seems like everybody that’s achieved something got a statue or a wall. There are so many that Ilya could not keep up with all of them. After our walking tour we all scattered and headed off to the big Osh Market. It is a maze of shops selling anything you can think. From felt hats to block and tackle lifts.

We wanted to get our Uzbekistan visas yesterday before the walking tour, but it was a public holiday, so no luck. We planned for it and didn’t waste any time going to the embassy. It is now our second morning in Bishkek and we are waiting to pick up our passports from the embassy. I hope they are done quickly, because we still have a long drive to get to Arslanbob via an enroute stop.

Lunch at the petroglyphs

Osh market in Bishkek

Danni on our Bishkek walking tour

Kyrgyzstan's famous ballerina

Bishkek walking tour

Strange sculptures from all the tribes

Arslanbob

We ended up having quiet a long wait in Bishkek – not for our passports, but for Alexander and Colya to get the papers for crossing the mountain pass that connects Bishkek with Osh and Uzbekistan. I got some bad news as well. The Ebola problem has become so ridiculous that I was denied a visa for Uzbekistan! They don’t consider anything but the fact that my passport says (South) Africa on the front, even though I left the continent before the outbreak started! We will now make a new plan of where I can meet up with the group further on while Brooke carries on with the group.

As soon as the buses came we headed off to see how far we could make it before dinner time. We managed to cross the first high point of the pass (some 3000m), but were considerably slowed down by snow. We decided to call it a day and stopped in the next village to look for some bed. We found a simple roadhouse with hot food and hot rooms. It was getting late, so we had dinner and headed of to bed, planning an early start in the morning.

The snow did not show any signs of slowing down. Alexander and Colya had to put on the snow chains for the first part of the morning until we got low enough where the ice melted off the road surface. We passed several trucks spinning their wheels hopelessly on the uphill ice.

We were out of the snow for several hours, but as we approached Arslanbob we drove back up into the snowy mountains. The picturesque hills and houses here are all covered in a light layer of snow, but the chickens don’t seem to mind. They are all out and about scratching away, chasing yellow worms on our feet that turn out to be nothing more that shoelaces. We are staying in toasty warm homestays again. Tomorrow we will visit the village center and head off to our last stop in Kyrgyzstan – Osh.

Aslanbob

Homestay cows

Osh

It is our last day in Kyrgyzstan! After a good warm night’s sleep and fantastic homestay breakfast we went to Arslanbob village center for a look around before heading to Osh. Arslanbob was covered with melting snow, crashing down from the trees and roofs all around us. We went for a walk and bought some lunch for the road. The people in Arslanbob are different from the rest in Kyrgyzstan. It is close to the Uzbek border, and the people there seem to be a mix of the two countries.

We arrived in Osh early and headed out to find internet and money changers. Both turned out to be a challenge! The internet in Osh is painfully slow and the money changers empty. We will change money at the border tomorrow, and I am sure the world will continue to turn without internet for one day.

After doing the rounds in town, Ilya took some of the girls up to the top of Soloman Mountain, so named after the Muslim prophet, in the middle of the city. It is Kyrgyzstan’s only World Heritage Site. It is a popular walk with the locals. There is a small shrine and a rock that is said to heal back pain at the top. For me it was the massive 360 degree view of the Fergana valley that did the trick. Well worth walking up if you ever pass through Osh.