Silk road; Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
Countries you’ve heard of, but never really knew. Make a list of them, and Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan probably end up in the top 5. Until the early nineties they have been shut off for non Soviet citizens, and to be honest, why would you go there. A lot has changed over the past 25 years, and while there is still a lot of ignorance out there, we wanted to get a little more insight and understanding. So off we go…two Ukraine International flights and eight horrible hours with below Ryanair standards later, we arrived in Almaty.
If you’ve heard of Kazakhstan, then it is probably for the wrong reason (although funny, Borat was actually filmed in Romania), or you might have heard of Baikonur space station and in the best case of Medeu (The Almaty Ice Rink). While the country has much more to offer, Medeu was also our reason to visit Kazakhstan in the first place. Well to be honest… that was on Erik’s agenda as a speed skating freak, Viola was much more interested in the great outdoor possibilities of the Almaty surroundings, Kazakhstan’s geological wonders and the nomadic High-Lands of Kyrgyzstan. First stop for us was Almaty, except for Viola’s backpack. Our notorious airline decided to lose it half way in Kiev, and upon arrival in Almaty it turned out that half of the plane’s luggage was gone missing in Kiev. The airline in question wasn’t that helpful about the lost luggage, although a quick Google search showed that they must have lots of experience with returning lost items. We stayed one night in the Amigo Hostel Almaty and would go onwards to Bishkek the next morning. Our arrival time of 4 a.m. left us a day of exploring Almaty, and one of the first things we’ve noticed was how big this city with over a million citizens was. Rasterized broad streets, plenty of green, a mixture of Soviet style building blocks alternated by futuristic kitschy skyscrapers and the lack of a real city center, make up Almaty. Patched throughout the city is an almost endless amount of fun bars, central Asian/Western restaurants and hip coffee bars. To make your way around town can be quite exhausting, but there are trolleybuses to help you and especially taking the metro is a real treat. Although there is only one line, finished just before the collapse of the USSR, the metro stations are little underground palaces where you can enjoy wonderful decorations and chandeliers after a breathtaking steep escalator ride to the platform. There is a museum about the geology of Kazakhstan, but unfortunately it was not open at the time we arrived and honestly the opening hours are quite uncertain. Luckily we had another shot at it, after our travels through Kyrgyzstan. Instead, we got our first silk-road experience, as we visited the green Bazar, where you could buy a variety of meats from horse to lamb, cheap goods from China and basically everything else you could ever need. After a day of proper Almaty exploration we spoiled ourselves with some excellent Georgian cuisine, which is abundant in Almaty.
the metro stations are little underground palaces
Fortunately the next day Viola was reunited with her backpack so we could move on to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. A minivan will take you there in approximately 5 hours from Almaty, it leaves the station when it’s filled up and runs all day. Upon the border between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan you walk from one country to the other while passports are checked at both sides, luckily Dutch citizens (and most other EU-citizens) do not need a visa for these countries nowadays. After the border crossing, your minivan is waiting for you or you might be placed in another one (be sure to ask the driver before). The Bishkek bus station is located at the outskirts of town and upon arrival we arranged a taxi together with a guy from Argentina to our hotel. Everything going smooth so far, but when our taxi took a light hit from another car, it quickly spinned out of control… Our driver was an elderly man in his 60’s, while it was just a boy who had caused the accident. Seconds after the hit, groups old man cluttered around the our driver for support while young men backed up the other driver in a lively discussion. This could have lasted for a while, but luckily our driver first arranged another cab for us. Unfortunately the new driver was not able to find our hotel in Bishkek, which might had something to do with the fact that it was located in the basement of an old Soviet style apartment block. It certainly would not be the first time this trip that we made the mistake of picking the cheapest hotel options on booking.com 😉
After an evening of exploring Bishkek (not much to do to be honest, except from the main square, impressive parks and the hip bars&restaurants), we met our guide and driver for next two days. Via indy-guide.com (brilliant site to arrange trips and independent guides in central Asia) we’ve picked Erkaiym to arrange a tour to Song-Kol lake in the highlands of Kyrgyzstan. To our surprise, the guy from Argentina we’ve met the day before had placed an tour request at indy-guide, and found Erkaiym and us again.
We finished the evening with some poo cooked potatoes
The road from Bishkek to Song-Kol is in good condition, but it roughly takes 5 hours by car. Luckily there is the Burana tower, halfway to Song-Kol, to break up the long ride. This tower used to be part of an ancient city and especially the stone carved faces, just laying around, are quite remarkable. Late in the afternoon we arrived at Song-Kol lake , the lake’s shore is spotted with various nomadic families who live her during summer in their yurt(s), while their live stock can feed of the grass abundance. After a nice walk along the shore it was time for dinner. The dinner was made by the hostess herself and consisted out of a type a barley (boekweit), different kinds of fried dough and tea, lots of tea. She carefully watched your cup, and the moment you emptied it, it was filled again. After dinner it was time for a camp fire where the family flocked around with visiting relatives as well. Two elderly visitors were a teacher’s couple out of Bishkek and their son and daughter in law had some limited English available to communicate with us. But it was until we offered them some Kyrgyzstan cognac and had to drink a couple glasses of their vodka, that language barriers vaporized. We finished the evening with some poo cooked potatoes, before heading to bed.
After a nutritious breakfast it was time to become proper Kyrgyzstan cowboys and although our new travel companion had Argentinian roots, it was not for his cowboy skills. While riding through the Kyrgyzstan highlands along the mountains along Song Lol lake, the vast, empty landscape stood out and was of sheer beauty! They only way to truly experience it is by horse, it seems only naturally that they belong here and we’re only guests at their back. Especially the horse of Viola, had a mind of its own and was very eager to finish first at all costs, making Viola galloping several times without a warning, until she actually started to enjoy it.
The next day we’ve lost, traveling from Bishkek back to Almaty and planning our trip further along the silk road. Nevertheless, the next day we finally had a change to see Medeu and amaze ourselves by its grotesque and mythical appearance. Although one could argue that it is no fun in summer, or that it is not that impressive, they are just wrong…It’s an ice rink with a lot of history, world records, it formed champions, but most of all, it’s placed in lush green mountains at over 1700m! The mountains surrounding Medeu are an excellent place for (multiple) day hikes. Camping is allowed, but unfortunately we didn’t had the time. Furthermore it is advisable to bring a decent map with trekking routes (or GPS with .gpx hikes e.g. wikiloc), as we found out the hard way, by following a route to a summit that turned out to be not a route at all… The weather can also be very unpredictable, as we experienced a lot of fog in the afternoon. Medeu’s mountains are a unique selling point for a visit to Almaty, its beautiful and has something of the Alps or Swiss, we’re now even wondering how wintersport will be over there 🙂
The last day in Kazakhstan we had one ultimate goal, visiting Charyn Canyon. According to the Lonely Planet (which is surprisingly limited for Kazachstan), the Charyn Canyon is “Kazakhstan’s match of the Grand Canyon”. Again we’ve booked a day tour via indy-guide.com (such a great initiative, we actually posted a request the day before and got dozens of tour offers) and choose Tatyana to be our guide, which turned out to be her husband driver who was very experienced as well. The canyon itself is really impressive and if you go early enough, you’ve a good change of being one of the few visitors there. Later during the day, tour buses arrive and wealthy chinese, kazakh and russian tours swarm the place, driving actually through the canyon in their 4x4s. Above all, it’s an experience not to be missed while visiting Kazakhstan and truly magnificent considering the enormous steppe/desert it is located in. It goes without saying that it is unbelievably hot in July, so be prepared to sweat like you never did before. While most of the liquid was squeezed out of us, we had a flight to catch to Urumqi to travel further down the Silk road.
See photos of this trip through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and China.
