The wonderful owner of the first hotel we stayed at in Almaty had helped us arrange a transfer across the border to Kyrgyzstan. It's also possible to go by bus but this involves a long taxi ride to the bus station, then you take the bus to the border, then you wait for the bus to go through the border, then it takes you to a bus station then you catch another taxi to where you're staying. For not much more money we could have someone drive us from door to door. It was a no-brainer.
Beka met us at the appointed time. He didn't speak English but our great hotel owner, Kamel, made sure he knew where to take us. It would be a 4 or 5 hour trip. We crawled out of Almaty through slow traffic and endless speed cameras. Once we got out on the open road though, Beka sped up. Soon we were hiking along at 160km/hr! He knew where all the speed cameras were and he would slow down for them. Whenever he was doing any less than say, 100km/hr, he would scroll through his phone! I estimate he spent half the trip on his phone.
We stopped briefly for a quick samsa cooked in the tandyr oven.
A bit like our meat pies, samsas are everyday fast food. The meat is always quite fatty though. They love their meat fat in this part of the world.
At the border, we waited for maybe 3/4 of an hour in a very slow line of cars until Beka suggested we take our bags and walk through. Drivers and passengers have to go through separately. John and I were through in maybe 15 minutes. Over two hours after we pulled into the line, Beka finally made it through. He clearly then had to make up for lost time and off we raced again. We made it into Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, about 6 hours after we left Almaty.
Bishkek was nice. Like Almaty, it's a city largely built by the Soviets, so it had wide streets in a grid pattern and there were many trees and monuments. There weren't a lot of sights as such so we just walked around the leafy streets.
There were more Megalithic Monuments.
Grand buildings lined the central areas.
This historic cafe sat empty, awaiting restoration, for a long time. It's a local favourite apparently.
We met this dog on our first day. She was a friendly stray. On our second day, she recognised us then walked with us for ages!
We were in Panfilov Park (yes, the same name as the park in Almaty) which was filled with amusement park rides. We had just been talking to Cara, who had been telling us that she was getting dressed up as a character from Shrek for book week at her school where she's doing her placement, so it was a coincidence to then find Shrek and Donkey!
Mountains frame Bishkek to the south. We had no mountain views from our apartment but they were very obvious on the other side of the building.
We expected Kyrgyzstan to be a bit rougher around the edges than Kazakhstan. We expected to have worse accommodation and food so we thought we should find some good food in Bishkek while we could get it. John found a wine bar and it was awesome! We had some amazing wine and superb western food. We don't feel the need to have local food for every meal.
Finally, it was time to pick up our car. We'd had a hard time getting one. With the World Nomad Games taking place nearby in a week, things like cars and accommodation were hard to get. It took a long time to get this leg of the trip organised. In the end, we paid a fortune for a car from what appears to be a reliable local company. Fingers crossed!
If we thought our last car, the Chinese Chariot, was a tank then this car is a semi-trailer! It's a Toyota Sequoia. We could fit an entire Kyrgyz family in it and still have room to spare. Getting out of the city was challenging but John took it in his stride. We only had a two-hour drive to Kegeti Gorge, our first destination. Mountains loomed in the distance as we approached.
At one point, a group of donkeys stood photogenically in front of the mountains. Some of them were very tame. They were tiny. I don't know how they could be much use at that size, although we later saw a kid riding one.
We found our guest house and were prepared for it to be a bit rough, but it was lovely! The host spoke English, which was a great help.
We wanted to do a quick walk so the host sent us up a nearby valley to walk to a waterfall. The drive was wonderful! We missed the waterfall turnoff but were happy to keep driving.
The road continued up and over the Kegeti Pass. We didn't go quite that far but every now and then a shocked-looking cyclist would ride down the hill towards us. It turned out that these were the tailenders of a huge bike race called the Silk Road Mountain Race. It's 2,000 kms long with a vertical gain of 30,000 metres and must be done in 14 days! These were tough guys!
The rough track followed the fast-flowing river and crossed it a few times on bridges so narrow that our truck only just squeezed across. It also became obvious that the running board on the truck was quite low. What's the point of having such a huge truck if it doesn't have high ground clearance?
Above the tree line, the road snaked off towards Kegeti Pass.
We missed the waterfall we were looking for but found another one and did a short walk to it. We had to cross the fast-flowing stream which was trickier than it looked.
The waterfall was small but the setting was very pretty.
A yurt camp back down on the Kegeti Gorge.
Another, more spectacular, waterfall was right beside the road.
We came back to the guesthouse and had a wonderful dinner of lentil soup and kuurdak, a traditional dish of beef and potatoes. Five other men were staying at the guest house and we got talking to them as a few of them spoke some English. They came from Russia, Slovakia, Canada, Chechnya and one was a Uyghur from western China. They were very friendly and offered us a special treat - thinly sliced strips of smoked lamb fat with spices on the outside! The slices were quite wide and for a moment I couldn't work out how you can get that much fat off a sheep in one piece. Then I remembered the fat-tailed sheep. Sure enough, that's where it came from. Mmmm, tempting - not! They said it was a kind of Muslim bacon and so healthy. I have high cholesterol - I'm not going near that! John tried a slice and made the right noises, but it wasn't our cup of tea.
There were two friendly dogs and cats here. A heads up that this story is awful, so you can skip this paragraph if you like. One of the dogs was a huge mountain dog. He was probably as big as the donkeys we had seen earlier and he would have weighed a lot more. He was completely blind though. We found out that a neighbour was scared of him so they sprayed something in his eyes when he was young. He disappeared for four days. When he came back, his eyes were bleeding and he went blind. I do understand that he's a scary-looking dog but how can anyone do that? We also wonder what the relationship is with the neighbour now. Our hosts seemed to really love their animals.
The guesthouse we stayed in was family-run. The food was fabulous and we got to meet other guests. We had a great stay.
The next day would be our biggest hike of the trip so far. We would gain nearly 1,000 metres in altitude on a hike to Kol-Tor Lake. Unfortunately, we both had slightly upset stomachs and weren't feeling the best. We decided to just start and see how we went.
The hike started at 1,820 metres. Within minutes, a couple of locals came past riding horses and leading some pack horses.
Like elsewhere that we've seen, the pack horses were each tied to the saddle of the horse in front - except for this one who was tied to the tail of the horse in front!
A few minutes later, a mob of cattle and horses appeared. They were being rounded up by two or three guys on horseback and a handful of dogs. They looked like they had come a fair way down from the mountains.
We continued on and about five minutes later, we heard somebody calling out. One of the horsemen came back and was looking on the other side of the river calling out the same word. We realised one of his dogs was on the other side of the fast-flowing river and wouldn't cross it. It just waited for its owner to come back. No amount of calling would convince the dog to step into the water so the horseman rode across the river, called the dog to him, reached down and picked it up by the collar then carried it on his horse back across the river. It was very entertaining.
We found some bizarre things along the way. Of course you would expect to find a swan-shaped paddleboat half-way up a gorge beside a river so fast and rocky that you could never even consider putting a paddleboat in it!
There was a group of tiny yurts. Clearly they were for hobbits.
After a while we crossed the river and started to climb up through a forest of Tien Shan firs. We are in the Tien Shan mountains here.
We found wild raspberries!
I don't understand how there can be mile posts beside a track that only people and horses can go up. I guess horse riders need to know distances too!
We had been walking beside a rushing, tumbling river for a while.
John realised that the river had suddenly stopped. It turned out that it just appeared out of the side of a hill. In this video you can see the river above us then it just stops. The lake above doesn't have a river flowing out of it but runs underground to this point instead.
It came out in four or five places, all near each other. You can see one on the left of this photo. It was so strange!
Within metres of emerging out of the hill, the river was a raging torrent.
Just above the source of the river was a beautiful alpine meadow. Sheep and cows grazed on the green grass and it was all very idyllic in the sunshine.
When a tour group came up behind us, someone started boiling a kettle in front of the tent. We aren't sure if he was selling tea or if he was part of the tour.
After being offered the lamb-fat delicacy last night, I was determined to get a photo of a fat-tailed sheep's bum! This is what it looks like. It's so weird but obviously highly-prized.
Fat bottomed-girls you make this rockin' world go round!
I felt well enough to at least try to go a bit further. We soon climbed above the tree line. After a while it became apparent that we weren't going to turn around after getting this far so we continued to the lake.
As we neared the lake, we could see that it had breached its wall at one stage and had gouged out a large area. Pipes and sandbags had been put there to help stop the breach. If that wall breached, the water would surge down the valley and wipe out homes further down. The Nepal flooding disaster had happened only days before this, so we were well aware of the dangers of a breaching lake.
Finally, we made it to the lake! It was a lovely shade of aqua. At an altitude of 2,730m, the area around it was quite barren.
We had met a bright, young, English-speaking tour guide leading a group earlier and had a good chat to him. Two of his clients hired a boat and rowed (if you can call it that) around on the lake. The amazing thing is, how did they get a wooden boat up there? There are no roads.
The lake sits at 2,725 metres and is 4,500 years old. For most of the year, the water is frozen but in summer it melts and turns this gorgeous aqua colour. The water never gets above five degrees.
Instead of trees dotting the shore, there were horses! Gosh they were lovely. They were mostly mares and foals. Some were quiet enough to pat, others wanted nothing to do with us.
Spot the Aussie....
The horse whisperer at work.
I enjoyed the lake but sharing this place with these stunning horses was something special.
By the time we left, there were a couple of tour groups plus some individuals there. It was a popular trek. Only one group came up on horses. It would have been a tough, rough climb for the horses and I was disappointed to see the teenage horse guide constantly zig-zagging his own horse behind the others, pushing into them to make them go faster. These guides always seem to be a hurry. The guide's horse would have covered three times as much ground by zig-zagging back and forth on the tough climb.
We headed back down and the views were amazing.
We staggered back to our car, pretty pleased with ourselves. We had walked for six hours and had made our biggest ascent and descent to date.
We drove back down the valley again and were amazed to see about a dozen shipping containers being used for sheds. How did they get them up this rough track?????
We were both tired and a bit sore after the hike but I think we did pretty well, all things considered.
Next week, we will be visiting the World Nomad Games. John got it in his head at home that he wanted to take a boomerang there. I'm not sure they have boomerang-throwing competitions there John! Anyway, we bought one at Perth airport on our way out. John thought he'd better get it out and practice. Much to the amusement of some of the family, he threw it in the animal paddock next to our guest house.
Much to his disappointment, it broke after a half a dozen throws! Clearly, this wasn't the best quality boomerang. It looks like John's gold medal has been taken away from him before he even got to the games!
The dogs barked a lot that night so I didn't get a great sleep despite being so tired, sadly.
Our next destination, Tokmok, was only 30 or 40 minutes up the road so we visited the Burana Tower, all that remains of the ancient silk road city of Balasagun, on the way. This is half of the minaret that used to be attached to the mosque and was reconstructed in the 1970's. I'm not sure what the original builders would have thought of the modern staircase attached to the outside though.
The brickwork was quite intricate.
There aren't many archaeological remains in this part of the country and the Burana Tower is near the main road running from the capital city to Issyk-Kul Lake, so it's a very popular stop. There were quite a few busses and cars there when we pulled up but many of them seemed to be leaving. Remarkably, we had the tower almost to ourselves! It was just as well. We climbed the outside stairs then entered the tower. An incredibly narrow and steep staircase wound it's way up the inside of the tower. It was pitch black for most of the climb and the steps were narrow but very high. I was amazed at how difficult it was when it was such a popular tourist destination. There was no way that someone going up could pass someone going down. There was simply no room!
The full height of the minaret can't be completed as many of the bricks were used to build other things over the centuries. Instead, there's a viewing platform.
There was a small museum nearby, which was closed, however there was a collection of various stone artifacts in the open. I was happy to see these petroglyphs as I wanted to visit a place further south that had lots of these but I couldn't fit it in. Petroglyphs are images that are engraved in stone. These are mostly from the 7th to 3rd centuries BC. Gosh that's old!
A deer of some sort.
Probably an ibex-like animal.
There were also stone carvings. Many of them looked very similar. These were mostly from the Chuy Valley, the area we were in, and were from the 6th to 10th centuries.
It wasn't until we were walking back past the tower from a different angle that John noticed that it was a bit crooked! I don't believe it has tipped as the base looks straight plus they seem to have put a bit of a kink in near the top to even it up!
Our accommodation in another guest house in Tokmok (what a great name for a town!) was quite good. Again, it was simple but it was fine. We met a lovely young Dutch couple who were cycling around Kyrgyzstan. Last year they cycled from Holland to Singapore! We've been amazed at the number of cyclists in this country.
I had arranged to be in Tokmok on this date as it's famous for its horse and cattle markets on Sundays. I tried to locate the market but there was some confusion about the location. Google told me it wasn't still running. Yuri, the Russian-speaking owner of our accommodation, told us where it was though. The Dutchies joined us and off we went.
This is what faced us when we reached the address.
We messaged Yuri and, while we waited for an answer, drove back to where google maps had told us the market was. There was more action there, so we visited. Sadly, this wasn't the horse market though, it was just a normal market. John asked someone and was told the horse market didn't exist. Disappointed, we ambled around looking at chickens, turkeys and spare parts for cars. All animals were either caged or tied up.
Old tools anyone?
The Dutch couple knew about some things that we didn't and explained to us that these odd-looking contraptions were used to make tea. The seller seemed to take a liking to us and offered us some tea.
He was such a lovely guy with a beautiful, friendly face.
Then, in this market where hardly anyone spoke English, a young woman asked us in perfect English if we were looking for something. I jokingly said we were looking for the horse market. "Yes," she said, "I can show you"! She took my phone and showed me where it was. While I had my phone out, I checked my messages and Uri had sent a link to the same place. We quickly piled back into the car and off we went.
Along the way, the road ran along the Kyrgyz/Kazakh border. I snuck a pic of the watch towers looking at each other across the river that divided them.
Sure enough, the animal market was exactly where we were told. I was so happy that we made it as I did a lot of juggling when I was organising this trip to be here at this time.
The horses generally weren't as stunning as the ones we saw in the mountains recently, but the good ones were probably sold by the time we got there. This magnificent stallion was the pick of them by far. The Dutch couple asked what the horse was worth. The answer was 3,000 euros, a lot for a Kyrgyz family I would think, but cheap by our standards.
There had been no attempt to dress horses up for sale in most instances, but it was clear that many had just been dragged out of the paddock.
There was some pretty rough treatment. Many horses had fresh cuts and skin off from being trucked there. One young bloke wanted to make a yearling move backwards out of a group, so he whacked it across the face with a headstall.
In the photo below, they led the horse onto the loading ramp than raised the ramp. So far, so good. Then the ramp tipped up. In theory, this would push the horse into the truck, however the horse panicked and fell over the side of the ramp, landing on her side. Looking at this photo now, I suspect she's pregnant.
The saddlery for sale was bright and colourful.
There were cattle at the market too and we were surprised to see the odd Friesian cow.
But it was the fat-tailed sheep that floored me. The rams had the most enormous asses I've ever seen!
Some were really big......
.......... some were huge .......
....... and some were insanely enormous!
Check out these cuties, lol!
The Dutch couple also worked out that there were animal trucks there with town names on them. Presumably, if you come to the market and buy an animal, you can pay someone that's going to your town to take it home for you.
Local ladies discussing their sales.
We returned to the guest house and the Dutch couple packed up and left. They had been good company!
There weren't many walks nearby but there was a good one a bit over an hour away, so we headed off. Unfortunately, to get there we had to travel along the road that we would be travelling on the following day as well. We would beat up and down the same road three times in two days.
Several times, we watched as police cars escorted lines of busses along the road. We presume these were some sort of officials or VIPs for the World Nomad Games.
Konorchek Gorge was a little like Charyn Gorge in Kazakhstan. It wasn't quite as spectacular, but it also was nowhere near as crowded. In fact, we had it to ourselves all the way in.
The walk followed the almost dry creek bed and steadily ascended.
In a few places there were steep, rocky ascents. These would be waterfalls when the water is flowing. Someone had conveniently attached good ropes so we could climb up. It was fun!
It was quite hot but there was a decent amount of shade. It took over an hour to reach the main part of the gorge. It was fabulous! We climbed up to a lookout point and red, rocky formations panned out around us.
There was quite a bit of plant life growing along the damp creek bed. To our surprise, there were some lovely flowers!
The rocky cliffs had been sculpted largely by wind.
On the way back, we got different views. We could see many different colours in the hills.
The climbs down were harder than coming up.
It was a really lovely walk.
This day was Independence Day in Kyrgyzstan. Each town celebrates the event with concerts and cultural events. I had planned to be in Tokmok for it as I thought it might be a nice sized town to see what goes on. It was surprisingly hard to get information from the owner of our accommodation on where we should go to see the events. He has lived here all his life so we thought he should know. Apparently, it started at 10am and went into the evening. We did our walk first, but the day was very hot, so we waited until early evening to head out. All we found were kids' rides. Sigh.
On our last morning at our lovely guest house, we thought we should look around the garden. When we first checked in, we were told not to pat the dog as it sometimes bites. I had patted it several times and it had been fine. You can see what's coming can't you. I opened the back door and the dog was there. I put the back of my hand towards it, as we're supposed to do, and it launched. It bit into my hand and hung on, growling ferociously while I was screaming. It finally let go. Blood went everywhere. Olga, the Russian owner, was horrified. She mothered me and disinfected me and bandaged me up. And it's my right hand. Bugger!
Hooroo!
Heather and John
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