Blogs from Kyrgyzstan, Asia - page 6

I. Tourist Try everything once – or twice, try mushrooms, try to share a Happy Shake too quickly. Tell your friend you feel something inhuman mushrooming in your diaphragm, where your middle chakra - life force, and erstwhile bright yellow ball of energy is turning charcoal black. Watch your friend’s face contort concernedly and reflect your own confused state, a ‘!?’ speech bubble on a shimmering seashore of swaying palms, and bronzed sunbathers captive in paradise. Your friend watches as your eyes roll back and your body jerks for five long seconds. Your body and spirit wrestle until you are pinned to a new plane of consciousness. And the rest of the day, for hours, your friend and you laugh and behold the world with childhood wonder. A butterfly couple flitters thither like Sesame Street puppets. ... read more

Day 22 - Karakol to Tamgar: We checked the coolant level in the morning to find that most of the reservoir was gone. Dave F noticed that part of the O-rings on the reservoir screw-cap were damaged, meaning that it wasn't holding pressure once the engine was switched off and so coolant bubbled out of the overflow. It didn't seem to pose any risk to the engine however, so we topped up the coolant level and set off as normal. Karakol is the 4th largest city/town in Kyrgystan with roughly 60k people and sits close to the eastern edge of Lake Issyk Kol. Our plans for the day were to explore a couple of the valleys nearby, get some supplies and then camp for the night on the shores of the lake. We'd brought all the ... read more

On the bus to Almaty November 13 2014 "My recommendation is that you do a two day horse trek" said Azamat at Karakol CBT. "And then you can stay at Altyn Arashan in the mountains one night". Gulp! I had never ridden a horse before! How painful would it be? But it sounded exciting getting up in mountains. And then one remembers the philosophy I always pushed on the boys 'I can, I can'. So I had no choice in the end. We knew it would be cold and Azamat helped us buy hat and gloves at an excellent outdoor store in Karakol. We stocked up on food and Azamat drove us to the meeting point where Mirlan, our guide and horse owner, met us with the horses. It was cold. I wore two T shirts, ... read more

Since August 1, 2014 i did 8285km by hitchhike to achieve Kyrgyzstan Bishkek. Starting the hitchhiketrip from Vladivovstok (far east of Russia). Actually i started my trip in the date July of 20 to fly from Amsterdam to Japan/Osaka through Japan with the ferry to South Korea and from South Korea/Seoul took the flight to Vladivovstok far east of Russia. This trip was not just hitchhiking. Outside the 8285km by hitchhike I traveled by ferry, flight, train and bus. Special travelers encountered. People with bicycle traveling the world or people without money traveling the world. It was very special to hear the stories of these people ... read more

Geo: 40.5236, 72.799In the centre of Osh there is a 5-peaked mountain, considered sacred. It is the only UNESCO World Heritage site in Kyrgyzstan. On top of the first peak there is a little prayer room supposedly built (well the original was built) in 1497 by Zahiruddin Babur who went on to be the progenitor of the Mogul Dynasty. It is said Mohammed once prayed there himself - without much supporting evidence. There are various other caves and ritual places and a cave on the far peak now accomodates a museum. So that's the number one sight in Osh.The people of Osh claim that as a city it is older than Rome. Whether that be true or not it was an important town on the Silk route though little remains of any architectural splendour. It's trading ... read more