On March 2nd, I embarked on my longest journey so far – a journey that took me through…
Times visited: 1 (16 days in 2016)
Cities visited: Bishkek, Karakol, Balykchy, Jalal-Abad and Osh
Villages visited: Barskoon, Kochkor and Arslanbob
UNESCO sites visited: Sulaiman-Too Sacred Mountain and Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor
Kyrgyzstan is easily one of the most beautiful countries in the world. It’s also incredibly safe and cheap to travel and it’s visa-free for citizens of 45 countries, which makes it even harder to understand why so few tourists visit the country. But for my Asia journey in the spring of 2016, I decided to become part of the statistics.
After 2,5 months of solo travel, it was a treat to meet up with my friend Steve in Bishkek at the beginning of our month-long journey through Central Asia. Half of the month was spent in Kyrgyzstan where we quickly escaped busy Bishkek to visit the gorgeous town of Karakol by Lake Issyk Kul. Karakol is surrounded by some of the most beautiful nature I’ve ever seen; high mountain ranges, turquoise lakes, vast pine forests and a canyon straight out of a fairytale.
We left Karakol behind after four days to go on a two-day horse trek (my first ever!) to the beautiful Song Kul Lake where we stayed in a yurt and drank fermented mare’s milk. Afterwards, we visited the culturally diverse city of Osh and fell head over heels in love with our hostel cat, Molly.
After a nine-day detour to Tajikistan and Afghanistan, we returned to Kyrgyzstan to explore the world’s largest walnut forest in Arslanbob on foot and horse. Spontaneously, we then returned to Osh to spend one more night with Molly before parting ways with each other and a country we’d come to love.
