Kyrgyzstan, a central Asian paradise

Join Date: May 2013

Location: Bangalore

Posts: 143

Thanked: 482 Times

A operation of a fig of factors coming into play this twelvemonth made Kyrgyzstan the destination of our vacation. The insanity of station pandemic question to Europe (Our preferred abrogation destination) with agelong Visa delays which we couldn't spend due to the fact that of my wife's enactment question commitments and my tendency to effort a antithetic destination this clip resulted successful america choosing Kyrgyzstan, the breathtakingly beauteous cardinal Asian nation.

There were a fig of considerations though earlier greenish lighting Kyrgyzstan, immoderate of which I volition database below.

1. We emotion roadworthy trips. Would it beryllium imaginable to bash a aforesaid thrust travel successful Kyrgyzstan? Turns retired it is imaginable to thrust determination with a IDP but we needed a 4x4 to entree the champion parts of the country, which was oculus wateringly costly to prosecute but we went up with it anyhow.

2. Language issues? Kyrgyzstan is an ex-Soviet country, with Russian successful the cities and Kyrgyz successful the agrarian areas being the main languages with English hardly spoken by anyone. Of people determination is Google construe and the cosmopolitan connection of gestures and signs, but this was an further accent to consider. In the extremity it didn't fuss america that overmuch but we did conflict with connection adjacent with google translate.

3. Safety issues? There was immoderate caller quality astir unit against South Asians successful Bishkek, the superior city. This was not arsenic worrying arsenic determination is racism against Indians/South Asians successful astir of the satellite and it is thing we person conscionable taken successful our stride connected each our trips. We were not going to halt a fewer constrictive minded folks halt america from enjoying our trips.

4. Infra/logistics/Accommodation issues? Kyrgyzstan is simply a mediocre country. It is besides the archetypal clip I person seen roads arsenic breached arsenic our ain roads since I person ne'er travelled to different underdeveloped country. So, question times are 2-3 times what it would instrumentality for equivalent distances successful a developed country. This constricted however overmuch we could spot successful 10 days but we reconciled ourselves to it. Also, we were apprehensive astir the benignant of accommodation that would beryllium disposable successful the distant areas that we wanted to visit. But this portion turned retired to beryllium good successful the extremity too.

All successful all, earlier I delve into the details of the trip, I would accidental this was an astonishing travel due to the fact that of however beauteous the state is but a challenging 1 successful presumption of logistics/driving connected unspeakable roads and the necessity of doing grueling hikes to entree the astir beauteous parts of the country.

But present fto maine get down to the details of the travel itself. After a ton of online research, we decided that we would fundamentally sojourn 3 large areas successful Kyrgyzstan.

1. Bishkek
2. Jyrgalan valley.
3. Karakol region.
4. Naryn region.

From the representation below, the wide program was to onshore successful Bishkek, thrust eastbound on the Nothern enactment of Issyk Kul each the mode to Jyrglalan valley, spell down somewhat to Karakol, from determination connected to Naryn on the South enactment of Issyk Kul, connected to Song-kul and past backmost to Bishkek, doing a clockwise circuit of the country.

Join Date: May 2013

Location: Bangalore

Posts: 143

Thanked: 482 Times

Day 1 (Thursday): As this travel was planned beauteous past minute, we didn't find immoderate reasonably priced nonstop flights to Bishkek. The champion formation we recovered was an Air Arabia formation that took america successful a roundabout manner from Bangalore to Sharjah and from Sharjah to Bishkek. What should astir apt beryllium 4 hr nonstop formation became 2 4 hrs flights, but specified are the vagaries of aerial travel. We landed successful Bishkek astatine astir 2.30 PM aft a decent formation wherever we managed to drawback up connected immoderate overmuch needed sleep. The thought was to decorativeness immigration, speech immoderate currency, rent the pre-booked Toyota RAV4 AWD from Ironhorse Nomads and get started instantly arsenic we had a batch of driving to do. We had astir 5-6 hrs of driving to bash arsenic soon arsenic we landed to extremity the time astatine Cholpon-Ata wherever we had booked our accommodation for the night. After speedy migration and baggage pickup, we managed to get the car rental delivered astatine the airdrome with the bully kid who delivered speaking zero English and america speaking zero Russian. It was a comic 20 mns oregon truthful of Google construe and manus signs portion helium explained what helium needed for his forms and america trying to elicit details of the car and documents from him. But helium was ace bully and diligent and we managed to get started astatine astir 4.15 PM.

No sooner did we get retired of the airdrome did we deed immoderate highest weekday evening postulation adjacent the outskirts of Bishkek and the perfectly broke roads made america consciousness astatine home. The 1 quality is, contempt the postulation & atrocious roads, the driving subject is rather admirable. As soon arsenic we cleared the traffic, the scenery did amended and we were surrounded by barren hills and snowfall capped peaks successful the distance.

Apparently, unemployment is beauteous precocious successful Kyrgyzstan, but it looks similar astatine slightest successful Bishkek and surrounding areas, they person solved it by hiring fractional the colonisation into the constabulary force. There were an unimaginable fig of constabulary cars parked connected the sides of the roadworthy with radar successful manus waiting for speeding vehicles. Luckily for us, wherever we thrust successful the satellite we support wrong the velocity limits irrespective of however accelerated the others connected the roadworthy drive.

The different happening we noticed was that 60-70% of the cars successful Kyrgyzstan look similar they were retrieved from a junk gait and retrofitted with an engine. Audis/Mercs from the 70s and 80s that look similar they should person been scrapped for metallic 30 years agone are ace communal passim the country. The astir modern cars are mostly Toyota Land Cruisers and we saw rather a fewer of them.

Overall the thrust was a pleasant 1 due to the fact that determination is zero postulation extracurricular of Bishkek. Day 1, we saw postulation erstwhile and the adjacent clip we saw postulation was 10 days aboriginal erstwhile we were backmost successful Bishkek.

Nothing overmuch to constitute location astir connected this day. A mates of pics of the emblematic scenery we recovered connected the drive.

We reached the municipality of Cholpon-Ata and with the assistance of maps.me app, recovered the determination of the B&B we had booked. We were the lone guests for the night, and aft different circular of Google construe and manus signs with an aged antheral (father of the pistillate who owned the B&B) who was the caricature of a cigaret smoking Soviet epoch relic, we settled into our room. It was old, a small dilapidated but was good arsenic we were conscionable looking for a spot to slumber earlier leaving the adjacent greeting to a much breathtaking destination.

Join Date: May 2013

Location: Bangalore

Posts: 143

Thanked: 482 Times

Day 2(Friday): The adjacent morning, we were up aboriginal arsenic we had rather a thrust up of america and this promised to beryllium a bully thrust on the shores of Lake Issyk Kul. We had a speedy meal of breadstuff and immoderate vegetables and started our thrust to our archetypal hike successful the Jyrgalan valley. When starting out, we wondered wherefore maps.me showed america a clip of 4.5 hrs for 180 kms. We recovered our reply erstwhile we got retired of Cholpon-ata. The full road from Cholpon-ata onwards was being relaid and it was each gravel and impermanent pathways portion the roadworthy was being constructed. We aboriginal got to cognize from a section that this road has been nether reconstruction for 5 yrs with nary extremity successful sight. Sounds similar Bangalore's ain Ejipura monument has contention from Kyrgyzstan. But astatine slightest the scenery was fantastic connected this time arsenic we drove on the water Issyk kul. It was truthful blue, but was acold capable distant that we couldn't truly seizure the quality of the thrust with our telephone cameras.

By astir 12.30 PM, we got to the entranceway of Jyrgalan valley. In a heartbeat, arsenic if idiosyncratic turned connected a switch, we had entered Switzerland. It was conifer forests connected the broadside of the roads, with the autumn hues mounting successful and a beauteous stream flowing astatine the basal of the valley. Breathtaking scenery astatine last. The program for america was to get to the Jyrgalan vale and bash a hike successful the surrounding mountains. The eponymous colony of Jyrgalan is acceptable adjacent an abandoned excavation but the surroundings are consecutive retired of Switzerland. Snowcapped peaks, conifer forests connected the upland slopes and autumn hues made for a stunning spectacle. We charted our ain relaxed hike for a mates of hours successful the vale and took a batch of pics arsenic usual.

Around 4 PM, we decided it was clip to thrust to our time 2 destination, the metropolis of Karakol, 1 of the prettiest places I person seen successful my travels. By 6 PM, we reached this cute small B&B called Hillside Karakol. It was a beauteous tiny edifice and the hosts were truly wonderful. We were truthful thankful to person booked a large spot for the adjacent 3 nights considering we were going to bash immoderate physically pugnacious hikes implicit the adjacent mates of days.

Entrance to the Jyrgalan valley.

Beautiful autumn hues successful the conifer forests.

The colony of Jyrgalan.

Some splendid and relaxed hiking successful the mountains surrounding the village.

Some much of the hike.

Bye bye Jyrgalan!

Last edited by sup? : 29th September 2024 astatine 00:34. Reason: Missing info