[sup?]

A combination of a number of factors coming into play this year made Kyrgyzstan the destination of our vacation. The insanity of post pandemic travel to Europe (Our preferred vacation destination) with long Visa delays which we couldn't afford because of my wife's work travel commitments and my desire to try a different destination this time resulted in us choosing Kyrgyzstan, the breathtakingly beautiful central Asian nation.

There were a number of considerations though before green lighting Kyrgyzstan, some of which I will list below.

1. We love road trips. Would it be possible to do a self drive trip in Kyrgyzstan? Turns out it is possible to drive there with a IDP but we needed a 4x4 to access the best parts of the country, which was eye wateringly expensive to hire but we went ahead with it anyhow.

2. Language issues? Kyrgyzstan is an ex-Soviet country, with Russian in the cities and Kyrgyz in the rural areas being the main languages with English barely spoken by anyone. Of course there is Google translate and the universal language of gestures and signs, but this was an additional stress to consider. In the end it didn't bother us that much but we did struggle with language even with google translate.

3. Safety issues? There was some recent news about violence against South Asians in Bishkek, the capital city. This was not as worrying as there is racism against Indians/South Asians in most of the world and it is something we have just taken in our stride on all our trips. We were not going to stop a few narrow minded folks stop us from enjoying our trips.

4. Infra/logistics/Accommodation issues? Kyrgyzstan is a poor country. It is also the first time I have seen roads as broken as our own roads since I have never travelled to another underdeveloped country. So, travel times are 2-3 times what it would take for equivalent distances in a developed country. This limited how much we could see in 10 days but we reconciled ourselves to it. Also, we were apprehensive about the kind of accommodation that would be available in the remote areas that we wanted to visit. But this part turned out to be fine in the end too.

All in all, before I delve into the details of the trip, I would say this was an amazing trip because of how beautiful the country is but a challenging one in terms of logistics/driving on terrible roads and the necessity of doing grueling hikes to access the most beautiful parts of the country.

But now let me get down to the details of the trip itself. After a ton of online research, we decided that we would basically visit 3 major areas in Kyrgyzstan.

1. Bishkek
2. Jyrgalan valley.
3. Karakol region.
4. Naryn region.

From the map below, the overall plan was to land in Bishkek, drive east along the Nothern shore of Issyk Kul all the way to Jyrglalan valley, go down slightly to Karakol, from there on to Naryn along the South shore of Issyk Kul, on to Song-kul and then back to Bishkek, doing a clockwise circuit of the country.

[sup?]

Day 1 (Thursday): As this trip was planned pretty last minute, we didn't find any reasonably priced direct flights to Bishkek. The best flight we found was an Air Arabia flight that took us in a roundabout fashion from Bangalore to Sharjah and from Sharjah to Bishkek. What should probably be 4 hr direct flight became two 4 hrs flights, but such are the vagaries of air travel. We landed in Bishkek at around 2.30 PM after a decent flight where we managed to catch up on some much needed sleep. The idea was to finish immigration, exchange some currency, rent the pre-booked Toyota RAV4 AWD from Ironhorse Nomads and get started immediately as we had a lot of driving to do. We had about 5-6 hrs of driving to do as soon as we landed to end the day at Cholpon-Ata where we had booked our accommodation for the night. After quick immigration and baggage pickup, we managed to get the car rental delivered at the airport with the nice kid who delivered speaking zero English and us speaking zero Russian. It was a funny 20 mns or so of Google translate and hand signs while he explained what he needed for his forms and us trying to elicit details of the car and documents from him. But he was super nice and patient and we managed to get started at around 4.15 PM.

No sooner did we get out of the airport did we hit some peak weekday evening traffic near the outskirts of Bishkek and the absolutely broke roads made us feel at home. The one difference is, despite the traffic & bad roads, the driving discipline is quite admirable. As soon as we cleared the traffic, the scenery did improve and we were surrounded by barren hills and snow capped peaks in the distance.

Apparently, unemployment is pretty high in Kyrgyzstan, but it looks like at least in Bishkek and surrounding areas, they have solved it by hiring half the population into the police force. There were an unimaginable number of police cars parked on the sides of the road with radar in hand waiting for speeding vehicles. Luckily for us, wherever we drive in the world we keep within the speed limits irrespective of how fast the others on the road drive.

The other thing we noticed was that 60-70% of the cars in Kyrgyzstan look like they were retrieved from a junk yard and retrofitted with an engine. Audis/Mercs from the 70s and 80s that look like they should have been scrapped for metal 30 years ago are super common throughout the country. The most modern cars are generally Toyota Land Cruisers and we saw quite a few of them.

Overall the drive was a pleasant one because there is zero traffic outside of Bishkek. Day 1, we saw traffic once and the next time we saw traffic was 10 days later when we were back in Bishkek.

Nothing much to write home about on this day. A couple of pics of the typical landscape we found on the drive.

We reached the town of Cholpon-Ata and with the help of maps.me app, found the location of the B&B we had booked. We were the only guests for the night, and after another round of Google translate and hand signs with an old man (father of the woman who owned the B&B) who was the caricature of a cigarette smoking Soviet era relic, we settled into our room. It was old, a little dilapidated but was ok as we were just looking for a place to sleep before leaving the next morning to a more exciting destination.

[sup?]

Day 2(Friday): The next morning, we were up early as we had quite a drive ahead of us and this promised to be a nice drive along the shores of Lake Issyk Kul. We had a quick breakfast of bread and some vegetables and started our drive to our first hike in the Jyrgalan valley. When starting out, we wondered why maps.me showed us a time of 4.5 hrs for 180 kms. We found our answer when we got out of Cholpon-ata. The entire highway from Cholpon-ata onwards was being relaid and it was all gravel and temporary pathways while the road was being constructed. We later got to know from a local that this highway has been under reconstruction for 5 yrs with no end in sight. Sounds like Bangalore's own Ejipura monument has competition from Kyrgyzstan. But at least the scenery was fantastic on this day as we drove along the lake Issyk kul. It was so blue, but was far enough away that we couldn't really capture the beauty of the drive with our phone cameras.

By around 12.30 PM, we got to the entrance of Jyrgalan valley. In a heartbeat, as if someone turned on a switch, we had entered Switzerland. It was pine forests on the side of the roads, with the autumn hues setting in and a pretty river flowing at the base of the valley. Breathtaking scenery at last. The plan for us was to get to the Jyrgalan valley and do a hike in the surrounding mountains. The eponymous village of Jyrgalan is set near an abandoned mine but the surroundings are straight out of Switzerland. Snowcapped peaks, pine forests on the mountain slopes and autumn hues made for a stunning spectacle. We charted our own relaxed hike for a couple of hours in the valley and took a lot of pics as usual.

Around 4 PM, we decided it was time to drive to our day 2 destination, the city of Karakol, one of the prettiest places I have seen in my travels. By 6 PM, we reached this cute little B&B called Hillside Karakol. It was a beautiful small hotel and the hosts were really wonderful. We were so thankful to have booked a great place for the next 3 nights considering we were going to do some physically tough hikes over the next couple of days.



Entrance to the Jyrgalan valley.



Beautiful autumn hues in the pine forests.



The village of Jyrgalan.



Some splendid and relaxed hiking in the mountains surrounding the village.



Some more of the hike.



Bye bye Jyrgalan!

[sup?]

Day 3 (Saturday): There are two main valleys in the Karakol area that are just breathtakingly beautiful, Altyn Arashan valley and the Karakol valley. To access both, you need a rugged 4x4 and driving skills which I don't posses. Some people do multi day treks from Altyn Arashan valley to a pristine mountain lake called Ala-kul in the Karakol valley through a mountain pass that connects both. However, multi-day hikes were not our cup of tea. A full day hike is the best that my wife and I would do. So, we decided to do 2 trips with a hired 4x4 with a driver to Altyn Arashan valley on Saturday and on Sunday to Karakol valley. On Saturday we would just do some easy hiking in the Altyn Arashan valley. On Sunday, we would attempt the tough Ala-kul hike from the farthest point the car could drop us off at.

So, on Saturday, as pre-arranged with a tour company called Transfer Service Team in Karakol, we got to their office in our RAV4 by 8 AM after a great breakfast in our B&B. The driver was waiting with a Nissan Patrol and we were off to Altyn Arashan. What followed was 2 hrs of the most nerve wracking and beautiful drive of our lives. The route to Altyn Arashan is not for the faint hearted. Add to that it was a rainy and foggy day which added to the beauty but made the path even more dangerous and slippery. But our driver Rakhmat was quite unfazed and glided over boulders, sloshed his way through the slush and mud, made turns close to the steep edges of the path that made our stomach lurch in anxiety but within 2 hours got us to one of the most scenic places we would ever see.

The entire way up was just out of a fairytale with the fog and the rain adding to the atmosphere. While lurching from corner to corner, we did manage to capture the scenery for our memories.

Once we got there, there was a Yurt camp where we would be served lunch and also a hot spring bath which was a godsend in the cold weather. We decided to hike in the valley for a couple of hours before taking advantage of the hotspring and then going on to lunch.

After trudging through the valley along the river flowing through the valley for a bit and being drenched in the process, we made our way back to the hot spring baths dog tired from our efforts of the morning. The baths were super hot and refreshing and I was so relaxed I almost fell asleep in the bath. I reluctantly tore myself away from the bath so we could go have lunch. The folks running the Yurt camp only managed to serve us some rice and lentil soup as we are vegetarian but it was heavenly. After lunch, we lazed around in the valley as the fog cleared a bit for a while revealing mountains in the background that we did not know existed. But after a while, a light snow started falling and we decided to call it a day and went back to our car for Rakhmat to drive us back to Karakol down the hairy path that we came up on. After skidding and plodding through the path, we came back down to Karakol to be welcomed by the sun finally coming out and showing us how picturesque the town was surrounded by insane peaks and snowcapped mountains.

It was so pretty that despite a tiring day, we decided to walk around for an hour in the city before dinner. Around 7 PM, we came back to the B&B, had dinner and prepared ourselves mentally for the next day's hike to the beautiful Ala-kul lake.


Start of the climb to Altyn Arashan


The fog and drizzle added to the atmosphere.


The views just got more and more insane with each turn.


My guess is the sheep to human ratio of Kyrgyzstan is a million to 1


Horse to human is probably only 1000 to 1


Some mountains slowly coming out of the fog


Average view from Karakol city


Our pretty B&B in Karakol with our RAV4. There is also the granny in the background who made us some of the most delicious breakfast we have had. Absolutely fantastic hospitality.

[sup?]

Day 4(Sunday): This was the day we would attempt the toughest hike of our trip. The previous day was apparently the first snowfall of the season in the mountains. But thankfully this day was clear and sunny. However, we were warned by our driver that the hike to Ala-kul is steep and tough and the melting snow from the previous day would make it doubly difficult. We would have to start a 6.30 AM to get to the starting point of the trek by 8 AM or so. Then the hike up would be 5 hrs for someone with average fitness and the way down would be around 3 hrs with an additional grace time of 1 hr by which we had to be back to our Jeep to start the drive back down to Karakol.

We told our hosts at Hillside B&B that we would be leaving very early this day for our trek and asked if they could keep some bread and cheese out for us as the full breakfast is served only at 7.30 AM. They acquiesced to the request but imagine our surprise the next morning when we got to the dining area and the granny who was the cook there had gotten up super early to cook us a full proper breakfast. The hot breakfast with a dozen options really pepped us up and we were full of beans to complete the trek.

The drive was another hair raising one and at one point we came to a bridge over a swift river whose approach was over 2 planks placed side by side. To our dismay, one of them was broken. While we were figuring out what to do, our driver Rakhmat, just took a stone, broke off an old nail from one of the planks and just nailed the broken plank down on the bridge with a stone. It was astonishing. Then he told us to help direct him to drive the car such that the wheels get on the planks. My palms were super sweaty just getting him to get the wheels lined up with the planks. The planks just didn't seem wide enough to support the tires. How he managed to get the car over the bridge, I don't know but in a few seconds the car was jumping over the bridge on to the other side and we were off again.

We arrived at the starting point of the trek at around 8.15 AM. The previous night, after some online research, my wife and I discussed that she would probably not be able to do the full hike as it was too steep and her fitness level was nowhere near what was required for this kind of a hike. However, she decided that we would start the hike together and then she would go back down if she thought she couldn't continue on and wait for me in the car.

The first part of the hike was through a pine forest. The previous day's rain had turned the path into a slush and made and the steep elevation gain was made it even more challenging. After about 20 minutes, I saw that my wife was struggling every step. I told her to just stop and not waste more of her energy and go back to the car and let me do the hike as we discussed. She was reluctant to give up. There were a few others doing this hike and most of them were extremely fit Europeans. It seemed to hurt her ego that she couldn't do this. But she asked me to go ahead and that she would see how long she could continue. I was reluctant as the path was slippery and there was a chance she could injure herself. But she was adamant that I should go on and she would figure out what she wanted to do. So, I went on and without having to wait for her, I was able to keep up excellent pace.

After a couple of kilometers, I caught up with a Belgian couple who were setting the same pace as I was and we hiked together. The path was supposed to be 6 kms with a 1000 meter elevation gain. However, it felt like it was 6 kms distance and 6 kms of elevation gain. It was just relentless uphill. But I was surprising myself with the level of my fitness. I never had to take more than a few seconds of rest and kept pushing throughout. The Belgian couple who were alongside also took it as a challenge and kept up with the pace. The views were breathtaking and most of our rest stops were spent taking pictures.

However, by 10.15 AM, we had reached the 5 km point. At this point the terrain became even tougher, as if that was possible. The angle of the elevation just got so steep, we were on all fours sometimes. Some of the snow from the previous day had hardened and was a hazard for slipping. Every step was becoming a challenge as there was no clear path to hike up. It took us over an hour to cover the last 900 metres of the hike. So all in all, after 3 hours of relentless hiking, we came upon the reward. A piece of heaven on earth. What an amazing turquoise lake it was. I spent some time clicking pics of the lake and taking in the surroundings. The snowcapped mountains provided one of the most picturesque backgrounds I have ever seen for a lake.

After a half hour and a quick meal of Khakra, I started to make my way down but this time all alone as the Belgians wanted to go around the whole lake. I was feeling a little guilty about leaving my wife back down and wanted to get back to make sure everything was fine. After a few mns of hiking down I realised that I had taken the wrong path down and was staring at a precipice. After a few hairy moments, and a couple more missteps in finding my way down, I managed to get back on the path I had come up on. After sometime, I caught up with a couple of Korean kids who were hiking down all the way from Altyn Arashan. Chatting with them on the way down made time fly and I was back to the base around 3 PM where I could see my wife standing across the bridge waving to me.

When I got back, she told me she had actually managed to go up till the 5km mark. I was flabbergasted. How the hell did she do that? The last kilometer was where she was absolutely done and had to give up the hike and get back down. Luckily she found a couple of people to help when she got a little lost and needed some help with making her way down some tricky places. It was quite an adventure for her too though she didn't end up seeing the lake.

All in all, a fantastic day's trek was in the books.


Starting point of the hike


The pretty Karakol valley


Luckily there was a fresh water source for most of the hike.


Gradient keeps climbing relentlessly


Catching up with the views at every stop


Last kilometer from hell


The reward is a piece of heaven


Another one


Proof that I was there


View on the way down

[JunkyardHunter]

Kyrgyzstan is a truly beautiful country, and your travelogue makes it seem like we're with you. Great thread!

[Abbas]

Lovely Read!

At first i felt this was our own Himachal untill i read the name of the country.

Well written. Thank you for sharing.

[sup?]

Day 5: The night after we completed Ala Kul was our last night in Karakol. We came to love the evenings in Karakol the last couple of days and took another walk the previous night before retiring for the day and getting ready for the longest driving day of our trip on Day 5. We went from the Karakol region all the way to Naryn and on to the mountain pass which we had to traverse to get to the Kok-Kiya valley which is the base for our trek to Kel-Su. The drive was pleasant along the South shore of lake Issyk Kul and there was some stunning scenery on the way. We got to Naryn at 2 PM.

At Naryn, we had to visit the local CBT (Community Based Tourism) office to collect our border area permit to visit the Kok-kiya valley as it is close to the Chinese border. That done, we began what was one of the most stunning drives of our lives. I will let the pics tell the story of the drive.

The 130 kms drive from Naryn to Kok-kiya valley took us 4 hrs with plenty of stops for pics and we got there by 6.30 PM. There was no phone signal once we passed the last village of Bosogo before entering the mountain pass towards the Kok-kiya valley. The weather started rolling in and by the time we got to the Golden Moon Yurt camp it was getting bone chillingly cold.

We got a cottage for the night as the more comfortable guest house was occupied by a big group of tourists. Overnight I could hear some thuds on the cottage and by it. I could see the sky from the bed covered in 4 thick blankets and the sky was so full of stars the likes of which I had never seen before. I didn't dare take my hands out of the blankets to take a pic though.

At 6 AM I woke up to bright light and a stunning scene outside the window. Look at the last 2 pics for the difference between 7 PM the previous night vs 6 AM the next morning.



Horses everywhere. This was so cinematic.


The Naryn river snaking through Bosogo village.


Entered the mountain pass in our trusty RAV4.


Just stunning views all through




Just had to stop at every bend here


Snow capped peaks in the distance and more wild horses


Some car shoots were in order






7 PM on day 5.


6 AM the next morning

[sup?]

Day 6: This was the most awaited day in Kyrgyzstan for us. Lake Kel-su is the 'piece de resistance' of Kyrgyz natural beauty and was going to be the highlight of our trip.

We woke up to the stunning winter wonderland scenery but the overnight the temperature had hit -7 C and the morning, though clear and sunny was bone chillingly cold. We had good solid Quechua hiking shoes but they were not built for snow. Our hostess Tursunova told us it would be really cold and that an early start wasn't a good idea. But the other side of the coin was that once the sun starts beating down, the snow would melt and would just make it slushy and difficult to navigate.

We finally decided to start the hike at 10 AM and since it was 8 KMs one way, and the path wasn't as steep as Ala Kul, we thought a 10 AM start would be enough. However, this was a miscalculation and we should have started at least an hour earlier.

We started our hike up with 2 Malaysian tourists and their local tour guide who spoke English. The women were MIL-DIL pair who left the Husband to take care of the kids as they had school to make this trip. They were super chill and seemed barely prepared for the hike. They set a slow pace and we too just went with it taking in the stunning scenery.

At around 12.30 PM, our worst fears had come true. The slush and mud had made the last 2 kms treacherous and the original path we had chosen was too dangerous. This meant we had to cross the river which we were following along and take the other path that was usually taken by horses as it was a more gentle slope. So, we braved the river crossing, went over to the other side and continued our hike up along the gentler but still very slippery path. We finally made it to the lake around 2 PM, around an hour behind our schedule.

But never mind that. What a scene it was that greeted us. The overnight snow and the color of the water made it a look like an AI generated scene rather than real life. We spent half an hour at the lake and turned back. The sun was still beating down and the first thing we noticed was that all the snow we had seen on the mountains on the way up had almost disappeared. The scenery was some of the most beautiful I had ever seen.

An hour into our descent, the weather started to take a turn for the worse. The sun went behind some clouds, fog started rolling in and there was a chill in the air. This made us super tense as we weren't prepared to ride out a storm. Far below, we spotted 3 massive 4x4s. We rushed towards them hoping they would be able to help us escape the weather coming in. Just as we were reaching them, 2 of the jeeps turned around and accelerated away. The 3rd one was about to do the same when I ran and stopped the couple in the jeep. They couldn't speak a word of English but we signalled to them that we were stuck in the bad weather and could they please help us get away. The woman acquiesced and created some space for us in the back of the Dodge Ram.

What followed was 40 mns of the most thrilling driving we had experienced. 2 river crossings, multiple jumps over boulders, all the while with the snow falling around us. They were apparently 3 Kazhakhastani couples who were doing an excursion from Moscow to Kyrgyzstan. But thats about all the conversation we could make given the language barrier.

We thanked them profusely as they dropped us off at our Yurt camp. We greatfully hunkered down in the kitchen which was kept warm by the cooking fire. What a day!


Winter wonderland




What a hike!


This is the river we had to cross a little later. Cold!


The snow was disappearing fast under the sun




The reward for the hike





Stunning is understating the place




Bye bye Kel-su


The weather started coming in


This is what we saw when we looked back up the way we came


Damn it, run fast!


Fog & Snow


These are pics as we were escaping in the Jeep. Would have been dangerous had we gotten caught in this weather.


Enjoying the weather from the safety of the car.




What a sight!




Got away!

[visionrider]

What a beautiful travelogue. The pictures were fantastic. Thanks to your beautiful pics and travelogue I have decided by destination for this year end's trip. Also wanted to ask you how you managed to source the Nissan Patrol?

[sup?]

Day 7: After a night of contented and restful sleep, we woke up next morning to another bout of snow. This was a relaxed day for us as all we had to do was the stunning drive back through the mountain pass the way we came up and get to Naryn. We had booked a 4 star hotel(Grand Khan Tengri) in Naryn for the day and all we had on our agenda was get there, have a good dinner and rest up before the next day's trip to Song-kul and on to Bishkek from there.

On the way back to Naryn though, we tried to find our way to a lake called Kol-tor for which we had to take a detour through a stunning valley. Though we eventually managed to find our way to the lake by asking at a Herder's yurt in the valley, the road to the lake proved a little too adventurous for our tastes. So we gave it up and went back to the road to Naryn.

That evening we went to have dinner at the restaurant of the Grand Khan Tengri. Though the meal was fantastic, the service left us disappointed. The plain fact was that they tried to ignore us as much as possible in favor of serving the European clientele who came after us. We had to give them a piece of our mind to get them to reluctantly serve us. But there was nothing to complain about the food though. The wok fried vegetable noodles was undoubtedly the best noodles I have ever had.


Snow on the car again was thankfully melting.




Start of the drive back


Car shoot






Rear view mirror view was stunning




The unknown valley which we entered to find the Kol-tor lake


The picturesque Naryn river snaking through the valley


The view from our room at Grand Khan Tengri

[sup?]

Day 8: The plan this day was to drive to Song-kul, spend some time at the lake and get to Bishkek by late evening. Song-kul is one of the most popular lakes in Kyrgyzstan and there is a reason for its popularity.

The day began with a splendid breakfast spread at Grand Khan Tengri. The hikes and driving gave me a voracious appetite and I ate my way through the buffet spread meticulously making sure nothing vegetarian was untasted. Pastries, pancakes, toasts, sweets, kattamas (savoury Kyrgyzstani baked paratha kinds), different breads, veggies, roasted potatoes and what not. Washing it all down with some yogurt, orange juice and coffee, I felt ready for the long drive ahead.

The road to Song-kul reminded me of the many Spiti and Ladakh blogs I read on this forum. Barren landscape, but stunning all the same. At long last, we came to within sighting distance of Song-kul and we realized why this was such a popular destination for the few tourists that come down to Kyrgyzstan. Stunning blue expanse lay ahead of us. Pictures just cannot do justice to the views. As we got closer, we stopped multiple times to capture the beauty of the lake but failed time and again due to lack of a proper camera and probably even photography skills.

We spent an hour walking by the lake. The weather was sunny, the lake was stunning and the walk was easy. The hour probably didn't even burn one of the Kattamas I had consumed at breakfast, but never mind that. We were on vacation after all.

We reluctantly said goodbye to the scenery and got back to the car. All this while, when we were driving in these remote parts we had inadvertently forgotten to refill fuel in Naryn. There was not a single gas station to be found anywhere and the range dropped to around 100 kms. Though we supposed we would find a gas station as we got closer to Bishkek, we didn't want to have to look at the distance to empty and worry ourselves. At one of the small villages we came across, we asked around and we found that the locals sell petrol in cans and that there are no gas stations around. We bought 5 liters to calm ourselves from range anxiety. After that, it was an uneventful drive to Bishkek. But once we hit Bishkek, we hit chaotic traffic. The driving, while far from the indiscipline and sheer atrociousness of Indian driving, was not as smooth as everywhere else. And after some address finding shenanigans because of a closed down street in Bishkek, we found our way to our destination, Gastello hotel.

We went to dinner at a place called Mubarak near the hotel. I had an amazing eggplant in sweet and sour sauce which was so good, we went back to the place the day we were leaving to have the same thing.


Road to Song-kul







First glimpse of Song-kul in the distance


Getting closer


Here we are


Posing horses







Lake, sun and snow capped mountains




Car and lake






Bye bye Song-kul

[sup?]

Day 9: This was to be the last hike of our trip. It was to another glacial lake again called Kol-tor (Every 2nd lake in Kyrgyz seems to be called Kol-tor) located a couple of hours' drive from Bishkek in the Chuy region. There is a village called Kegeti beyond which lies the path to Kol-tor.

Our original itinerary had included a hike to Tash Rabat. But after Kel-su, we decided we needed a break before our next hike and took the rather relaxed day in Naryn to recover. But now we were back to the main agenda of hiking to glacial lakes, which was the theme of our trip.

We randomly found hikes to do near Bishkek and picked this as the easiest to do, logistically. It turned out to be a great decision and my wife will keep claiming credit for googling this for years to come. It was another steep 5 km height, though not as tough as Ala-kul. It had some steep ascents but we wanted to burn the calories we had consumed in the last couple of days in Naryn and Bishkek.

So, we set off early in the morning after another good breakfast(which was also a recurring theme of our trip) and got to the Kegeti area in a couple of hours.
The setting was another scenic hike with a milky white river along which we were walking through a pine forest. After a kilometer or so, the going got tougher and steep path slowed down my wife. I would run up ahead and signal to her that it was getting flatter up ahead. She would be fooled into continuing on only to find that the ascent was relentless. Finally we made it through the tough ascent and got to to more manageable sections of the hike. Around 3 hours of hiking later, we found ourselves at yet another magical turquoise glacial lake. This was such a random find but was as beautiful as any of the other lakes we had seen so far.

After taking pics with a wild horse playing a starring role in the pictures, went back down to the car in just over 2 hrs. That was to be the end of the hiking part of the trip. There was only a day left for our return flight and the day was set aside for just exploring Bishkek.


Beginning of the hike




The river along which we were hiking was out of a picture book




We emerged out of pine forest to a slightly more manageable meadow with a gentle ascent


Some early autumn hues




Magic again!


Poseur is here

[sup?]

Day 10: Our final day in Kyrgyzstan before the flight out at 4 AM the next morning. On this day, we just wanted to walk around in Bishkek, buy some souvenirs, and have a good lunch/dinner and get ready mentally for the grind back home after a much needed break.

Since we weren't that far away from downtown Bishkek, we decided to walk around after another scrumptious breakfast. We visited a couple of parks downtown called Oak park and Bishkek park. Ate some nice ice cream at the park. It was a very well maintained and pretty park. Then we went on to shop at a souvenir shop in a mall to pick up some fridge magnets for ourselves and some friends, a couple of house slippers and other knick knacks which rounded out our shopping.

It was around 4 PM when we returned to the hotel. It was time to bid goodbye to the RAV4. It was a 20 minute drive through Bishkek to the Ironhorse Nomads' office. They charged a 700 Som cleaning fee which was fine as we put the car through some terrible roads in the last 10 days. Over all, our online research says that we were overcharged for the car (90k INR for 10 days), but the peace of mind of being able to contact an office where they spoke very good English in case of breakdowns was reassuring. That is why we didn't really try to book a car at a cheaper place. If you are broken down in the middle of nowhere in a country, you don't want to end up trying to explain the issues to them in a language you can't speak.

A few pics from the parks of Bishkek to round out the travelogue. Thats all folks till the next adventure.

[sup?]

Originally Posted by visionrider

What a beautiful travelogue. The pictures were fantastic. Thanks to your beautiful pics and travelogue I have decided by destination for this year end's trip. Also wanted to ask you how you managed to source the Nissan Patrol?

Thank you. I don't know if year end is a good time to go to Kyrgyzstan. Temperatures hover between -15 to -30 C in the winter and you wont be able to access any of the lakes. We sourced the Nissan Patrol for our trips from a company called TST (Transfer service team) in Karakol. Excellent folks, and the owner speaks English and responds to whatsapp messages. DM me for contact details.