The hiding Gem of Asia 🇰🇬
Facts about kyrgyzstan
- This country is called Switzerland of asia. but it has its own charm and unique culture.
- Country is landlocked.
- Cheap transportation
- Yandex, And Maps.me
- Best time to visit during summer (late June until September)
ARRIVAL
As Always I arrived to airport not knowing anything about the country my flight was from UAE 🇦🇪 (flight was delayed 4hours) Once I arrived I went to the nearest ATM I withdraw 6,000 SOM and went outside and took the bus to city center.
Bishkek
They city was bit cold during the night but cool during the day, On forth day decided to go to Ala Archa National Park
means of transport was: Minibus the Yandex. You could go by Yandex it's pretty cheap.
Bishkek -> Cholpon Ata
Took minibus from bishkek,
Distance: 250km
Duration: 4hours
Price: 400SOM
it's small town with very friendly people, I got an ice cream for free from an old lady (it was the best this year so far)
Also there was an open museum
At night I visited the lake where I spent the evening and enjoying the company of the moon 🌝
the next day decided to move forward to the next city
Cholpon Ata -> Karakol
Is the fourth-largest city in the Kyrgyzstan, and it attracts more tourists because of the hikes you could do from there.
Altyn-Arashan (hike)
the next day I went on hike with a korean guy which I met in Cholpon Ata
his name is Min (🇰🇷). I woke up at 6am (advisable to wake up at 8am)
It's the best hike I have had so far, where you walk +15km next to river and it's not steep until the last 4km.
we took first bus at 7:15am then dropped us in starting point, we hiked about 2km then we had lunch,
without forgetting the sponsoring of the hike
Hike resume:
distance: 37.5km
Steps: +51k
Energy burnt: 1710Kcal
und voilà, das bin ich beim Wandern durch die asiatischen Berge
Tyup
In karakol in same hostel I met Leo (an australian 🇦🇺 guy who rented a Lada for the entire trip) quite an adventurous dude, and Gil (Spanish 🇪🇸) and Matjaz (Slovenian 🇸🇮). We arrived and parked the car new, right after group of locals invited us for Vokda shots.
And after vodka we started hiking and it was steep at first, but the view was incredible, the search for lake was difficult due to no service, and no hike trails, but we met Thomas (Belgium) he was staying in same hostel the day before. he told us how to get there.
And finally saw berta
after reaching destination we saw a Yurt (Camp) and it was an old woman with her young daughter. we waited a little minutes then we were invited to come inside.
the old mother said: "Tea or Vodka" ha she was very generous and we chose the Tea with bread and butter, cheese, and we offered her in return (fruits and protein bar).
we left the place and the wind becomes worse, afterward it started snowing.
Seven Bulls Rock (Jeti-Oguz)
The day after decided to wake up and go see the rocks, the starts from karakol (near hostel, city center) to Jeti-Oguz, once I arrived I stayed 30mins then it was quite borning
I thought I should go see the Cave and I asked some horse riders (kids) there, they told me to count 4 bridges and it will be in the right side of the river.
the entrance was wet and I got bad feelings, so I went outside and on my way up to waterfall I met Polish and Australian Dude which later we went inside and arrived to its end.
I decided to hike further more and in maps.me it shows there's a waterfall in about 4km.
As always in every hike I've had during my trip to Kyrgyzstan, there was Vergissmeinnicht(Forget me not) plant out there,
it's a plant, to remind us that we still have loved once back home waiting for our return
Fairy tale canyon (Skazka)
Me, Thomas (🇧🇪) and Leo (🇦🇺) decided to go to Skazka, it was quite a long drive from karakol but this time without going back to hostel and move to the next city.
In middle of road we stopped and enjoy the lake view
once we finished Skazka, it was quite hot because it's the southern part of the lake and as you can see, even the mountains are dried and no snow in them. so we went down to the lake and we swam and it was freaking cold
Bokonbayevo (village)
In the evening of our arrival Thomas suggested we go and see the Manzhyly-Ata sacred springs, unfortunately they were dried all of them, so we went back and there after we met Leo and had a little walk in city. (because Leo accomendation was 3km away from the hostel)
The next day me and thomas we headed to the city cross roads so we could take the bus that is going to bishkek and we waited more than 1hour with no luck, so we decided to hitchhike, until a Lada was coming and I said to Thomas "What if it's Leo",
And Yeaaah it was Leo, so he picked us up and we shared the road for 70kms
We asked Leo to drop up us near to the lake so we could swim then take the bus headed to bishkek but unfortunately it was muddy and mosquitoes everywhere.
The End 💚🍀🌲🌿
Kyrgyzstan trip was unique and cool, would definitely go there again 💚☁️