With a name like Arslanbob ...why wouldn't you go there?

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With the visit to Song-Kul Lake changed due to the snow we had an extra day in Kyrgyzstan. Claire and Dave decided that with a name like Arslanbob we needed to go there ..... Reading the Lonely Planet it sounded like a beautiful place ...walnut forests all around.... a little Uzbek village that is trying to generate more tourism. This year they had 1300 foreign visitors to the village. Once again we headed west. This time we came out of the flat country and back into the hills. We were heading through the Fergana Valley.

Arslanbob turned out to be an absolute gem of a place. We had homestays in groups of 4 all around the town. Our homestay was lovely - basic accomodation but really warm and friendly. We all met up in town in the evening and heading up towards one of the homestays. It was Ramadam so there were other Kyrgy or Arslanbob visitors at the same place and we had a huge meal laid out under the trees. The people of Arslanbob were really proud of all their fruit trees - walnuts, apples, pears, plums you name it. They also seemed to be really proud of their gardens, so in amoungst the fruit trees, donkeys, goats there were amazing flower gardens. I am sure it gets extreemly cold there in the winter but we had a superb time there. Before we left in the morning we went for a walk to the 'small waterfall' and up onto the ridge behind the town. Further behind us were large mountains so it would be a great place to base yourself and explore the region (if anyone is planning on heading to Kyrgyzstan in the near future!)

The next day we headed across to Osh to prepare for the transfer into Uzbekistan.

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