Kyrgyzstan Travel Blogs, Travelogues and Travel Journals

People i met here who contributed to and improved my trip: Julia (Russia), Clemmens (France)   A new country day always brings excitement and fear for me. I have encountered quite a few horrific border crossings during my time travelling and have come to expect the worst. Children with guns, crooked officials and crow bar wielding taxi drivers have been some of those 'highlights'. Thankfully this crossing was far more pleasant and after getting stamped out of Kazakhstan, it was just a …

And so my last full day in Bishkek finally arrived. I was curious to see an Orthodox church, and so we took a marshrutka to St Vladimir's Russian Orthodox Cathedral, a very attractive building in blue and white. A service was in progress, so we went in and stayed for about half an hour. It was all very unfamiliar: there were no seats or pews, and the sparse congregation - even old and crippled women leaning on sticks - just stood in the large open nave throughout. Irina did not feel very comf…

The best things in life always end too soon. Due to one of my best friends getting married, I could only spend 1 out of 2 weeks in Kyrgyzstan. I even had to miss out on the 3 day R&R trip including horse riding, white rafting, seeing the mountains & more than likely inadvertently eating some goat's testicles. My time there, however short, was amazingly rewarding thanks to my lovely adoptive parents. The other volunteers made my time so enjoyable that it was even harder to leave. The…

Funny thing is that yesterday you could see the youth partying and today there are cleaning up the roads and doing a lot of communial work. After crossing the Kyrgyz - Kazach border I noticed how poor the Kyrgyz country side is but is has a magnificent mountainous skyline. As Bishkek has little to offer I went for a hike in the mountains but not before I bought plenty of bottled water, the local made is "Legenda". After some hours of hiking we decided in the beautifull Kyrgyz scenery to go ba…

What a friggin’ beautiful place, once you get outside the cities. Took a long drive alongside this huge lake that reminded me of Balaton in Hungary (ok, ok, I realize the comparison doesn’t mean all that much to you, but just go with it). Parts of the landscape reminded me of Tahoe, others of Switzerland. In some places the pines were still green, in others they were covered with snow. And other parts would give New England a run for fall foliage. Remember that poem you read as a kid, abo…

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I had time in the morning to have a good breakfast of eggs and bread with thick cherry and blackcurrant jams, then make my way downtown for nice morning views of the mountains. I was going to change a bit more money, but no bank in Naryn would exchange anything less than $100 bills, which I didn't have, so I left town hoping I'd have enough to make it to Bishkek. Of course Marat didn't show up at the appointed time, but I was running late anyway and ended up catching a minivan which was showi…

Hey everyone, I’m still alive, serving my father, and having a remarkable time here in the gorgeous mountainous country of Kyrgyzstan.  Despite the fact I have not been physically well for a single day since my last update letter, I am learning to rely on the strength of the one inside me when I feel like falling to the spirit of apathy lingering here in Naryn.  I have been through agonizing headaches, stomach aches, colds, flu, congestion, a constant lack of energy, and …

leaving Turkey soon to change jobs

The Lonely Planet Book that we have has a quote within and it reads, "Things change - prices go up, schedules change, good places go bad and bad places go bankrupt - and nothing stays the same."  For the most part we have stumbled into great people, terrific weather, and fortuitous timetables.  Our luck had run out.  More about that later.....   After a few days of R and R in Bishkek where our main priority was to locate and acquire an Uzbek visa, neither of us was parti…

In 2005, I travelled from Kazahkstan to Krygyzstan on my way to Iran.

2nd deployment. Also visited Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Kyrgyzstan

2 weeks in Kyrgyzstan, awesome. I spent most of my time in Bishkek I had a really good time and met some cool people.

Planning info Visa CET + 4 see www.timeanddate.com Unesco World Heritage Sites (Tentative) Burana-Minaret (29/01/2001) Issyk-Kul as a cultural and natural landscape (29/01/2001) Saimaly-Tash Petroglyphs (29/01/2001) Shakh-Fazil (29/01/2001) Suleyman-Too (29/01/2001) Uzgen (29/01/2001)  

Reis van Taraz naar Bishkek.De hoofdstad van Kirgizstan is een vrij nieuwe stad met veel groen op de grote pleinen en brede boulevards. Leninbeelden en Sovjetarchitectuur contrasteren hier nog met gezellig volle terrassen. Bishkek is een aardige stad om even tot rust te komen na enkele reisdagen. Wandelliefhebbers kunnen een excursie maken naar het natuurpark Ala Archa, waar wandelingen van verschillende duur mogelijk zijn in de mooie natuur. Na alle culturele monumenten heeft Kirgizstan ee…