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Kyrgyzstan Travel Blogs

Kyrgyzstan is an impoverished ex Soviet country, since August 31, 1991. It is located on the east side of central Asia, bordering China. Mile upon mile of unspoilt Alpine esque mountains interspersed with icy lakes, yurt studded green summer pastures and towns and cities far apart make Kyrgyzstan a trekkers and campers paradise. Although the season is short because of heavy snowfall blocking many roads and passes for much of the year, Kyrgyzstan can be a tourists choice for its value for money, relative ease of obtaining a tourist visa and most importantly for some, a cutting edge travel experience.

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Kyrgyzstan

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By kirstent
September 2nd 2008

Lake Issy-kul Asia » Kyrgyzstan » Karakol

Lake Issy-Kul

We headed back into Bishkek to sort out Uzbek visas. My Letter of Invitation still had not arrived however my photo had gone missing. My spare photos were in the back of the truck so I couldn't get to them so I went shopping for more passport photos. I was very impressed - the little man wiped away all the wrinkles on my forehead and got rid of my sunburnt nose! We got back underway and headed to the biggest lake in Kyrgyzstan - Lake Isy-kul. It was a bit of a slow day of driving and we set up camp [View Full Entry]

By kirstent
September 1st 2008

Ala Archa National Park Asia » Kyrgyzstan » Ala Archa

National Park Entrance

It was a public holiday for the Kyrgyzstan Independence Day. We left Bishkek for the Ala Archa National Park. It was strange not having the Brits on the truck but we collected 10 new people and the truck was full. Dave (driver) had trouble with his Turkistan Visa. My Uzbek Letter of Invitation had not arrived (I offered to write one!) but I couldn't do anything by staying. Dave stayed and the rest of us headed out camping. Ala Archa is a beautiful spot not far from Bishkek. A lot of locals were there due to the holidays. We set up [View Full Entry]

By travellers2
August 31st 2008

Hassocks to Bishkek Asia » Kyrgyzstan » Bishkek

We're off!

After months of planning,fretting; tackling rental agreements; visas, train times; tickets and packing the house up, we're finally off! Having said our fond farewells to the family and been waved off at St. Pancras by Pens brother Geoff, we spent the next 48 hours rolling slowly across western europe. The greatest novelty on this leg, apart from the toilet and the samovar, was when our train sidled into a siding for a change of wheel gauge at the Polish/Belarus border. It was literally jacked up whilst we were on it, the wheels slipped from under us and replaced - a fittning [View Full Entry]

By kirstent
August 30th 2008

Bishkek the Capital Asia » Kyrgyzstan » Bishkek

Saying Goodbye

We drove for around 3hrs from Kochkor to Bishkek. It was strange coming into Bishkek as it was quite a built up town with a whole range of faces and body types. Far away from the Uighurs and the Han Chinese. We had lunch down at the German Beer House. The power was off (they turn it off for 6hrs every day) so we had a choice of different types of sausages and that was all. Sausage it was! The hotel had a pool and it was really warm out so the rest of the afternoon was me teaching Lucy and [View Full Entry]

By kirstent
August 29th 2008

Felt Making and the Land where Ladas still rule Asia » Kyrgyzstan » Bishkek

Driving to Kochkor

We left Narryn after breakfast and headed for Kochkor . Great Scenery all along the way. Kochkor is one of the three major centres (Kochkor, Bishkek and Osh). We tried to change money here as we were too late for the banks when we got to Naryn. Alas, the bank teller was on their lunch break for a couple of hours and then they ran out of money after the Polish couple first yelled at them in Russian (not so helpful) and then cleared them out of currency by changing $500! (I think we were paying the price of the yelling). [View Full Entry]

By kirstent
August 28th 2008

Tash Rabat Asia » Kyrgyzstan » Kochkor

Tash Rabat

We woke at around 8am to a spectacular sight - mountains all around (and the odd truck). It was still very cold but just so beautiful. We were supposed to make it up to Tash Rabat yesterday but the delay at the border slowed things down. We headed towards Narryn and then through the valley to Tash Rabat and the Caravan Kyserai. We were off the main roads so were able to open up the roof seats - it was cold up there but fantastic scenery made it all worth it. We pulled into a yurt camp. The Caravan Kyserai was [View Full Entry]

By kirstent
August 27th 2008

Crossing into Kyrgy Asia » Kyrgyzstan » Kochkor

Kyrgy Truck stop

Today was the day to leave 'I heart China' ... 'Go China' ... all behind. Today was the day to make the move on into Kyrgyzstan. We arrived at the Chinese border at around 10.00am. It was a stinking hot day at the border so made our way quickly off the truck and into the relative cool of the Customs Office. The Border isn't one of the most used in China so it didn't seem that busy. Everyone was getting processed. They struggled a bit with my passport as I went to Tibet a couple of years ago and they could [View Full Entry]

By ScottMcD
August 20th 2008

Some final thoughts on Kazakstan Asia » Kyrgyzstan

Astana

I’m in Astana now which is the new capital of Kazakhstan. I arrived here via Almaty which is where I originally started and ended my biking trip and which had been the historical capital of Kazakhstan…at least for the last few hundred years anyways. To know why I believe this is important or even mention it let’s start with a quick Kazak history lesson. Kazakhstan was largely just a nomadic collective of tribes until around the mid 16th century when the Kazaks formed as the predominate ethnic group and then like most predominate ethnic groups of the era, killed off [View Full Entry]

By Anabel
August 11th 2008

Kirguistan - China Asia » Kyrgyzstan

Biskek

Kirguistán: Tierra donde llegó Alejandro Magno Kirguistán: Issyk-Kul, Biskek, Jalal-Abad y Osh China: Provincia de XinJiang, Urumqi Kirguistán, la tierra de Manas, ... con un 80% del territorio montañoso, una agricultura primitiva y una economía que subsiste gracias a la infraestructura que dejó la URSS, pasó de un día para otro, de nómada a ser parte de una potencia mundial. La influencia soviética se ve por todas partes, desde el pan, la lengua rusa, el sistema educativo y de salud, hasta las centrales hidroeléctricas construidas hace medio [View Full Entry]

By trabella
August 7th 2008

Lakes of the Sky Asia » Kyrgyzstan » Yssyk Kol

Sultanet

As we set off on our next adventure to Son-Kul Lake , I began to see why Kyrgyzstan has been dubbed the Switzerland of Central Asia. We drove through lush alpine mountains on hairpin roads all the way up to a pass at 3500m. By the time we reached that point, it felt like we were really disappearing into the sky and the 360 degree views were incredible. Situated at 3016m, Son-Kul Lake is frozen between November to May and in summer, the temperature of the water reaches a maximum of 16 degrees! Being one to go swimming wherever there is [View Full Entry]

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