At the moment, the political situation in China‘s Xinjiang is tense, and the Chinese authorities are not exactly looking forward to have tourists wandering around there. Therefore, crossing Irkeshtam Pass, the border between Kyrgyzstan and China, was not too easy. The border procedures took us around 7 hours, with numerous amount of checkpoints and controls. …
Irkeshtam Pass: Crossing the border from Kyrgyzstan to China Read More »
It was time to leave the city of Osh and to start our journey towards Irkeshtam Pass, the border between Kyrgyzstan and China. We had luck, again, as our Dutch friends Lena and Tjerk were headed to the same direction. We got a ride from them along the Pamir Highway to one of the last …
Leaving Kyrgyzstan: Pamir Highway, Sary-Tash, traditions Read More »
The second largest city of Kyrgyzstan, Osh, was going to be our last longer stop before leaving the country. Therefore, we spent most of the time planning our trip to China and Pakistan and preparing the necessary documents etc. But we also had some time for sight-seeing and fun having – and we liked what …
The village of Arslanbop in Kyrgyzstan lies 180 kilometers from Osh, so it made a good stop for us on the way from Bishkek to Osh. The mountain village itself is small, but it’s known for its walnut forest which is the biggest one in the world. Our timing for visiting Arslanbop couldn’t have been …
Arslanbop is a small village in Kyrgyzstan, but it hosts the world’s largest walnut forest. On our way from Bishkek to Osh, we had decided to have a stop there. The route between Osh and Arslanbop was one of the most scenic ones we’ve ever seen. The journey takes around 11 hours and there is …
Ride from Bishkek to Arslanbop – Too good to be true Read More »
After spending a lot of time in the nature and small places lately, we didn’t get too excited about staying in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek. We still enjoyed the things that a big city can offer – or at least we tried to. Getting to Bishkek In Bokonbayevo we went to the bazar where all the …
Latest when we had a one-night stop in a village called Bokonbayevo, we came to the conclusion that Kyrgyzstan is so beautiful and versatile that it’s crazy. We decided to have a stop there because we wanted to see the Lake Issyk-Kul on our way from Karakol to Bishkek. But we had not been expecting …
We were looking forward to do some trekking around Karakol and decided to hike up to the settlemet of Altyn Arashan, nestled at 3000 metres on the Tian Shan mountain range. The 15-kilometre-hike passed through beautiful, autumnal alpine scenery. On the top we found a simple home-stay with our own yurt and a semi-private hot …
Hike to Altyn Arashan – Mountains, yurts and more hot springs Read More »
Karakol is a small city in Kyrgyzstan. It’s located at over 1700 metres, next to the Tian Shan mountains and the Issyk-Kul Lake. Our stay in this cozy city was all about hot springs and Ashlan-Fu (which is not a form of martial arts, btw). It’s autumn now, also in Kyrgyzstan. When we woke up …
After packing our camp and saying thanks and goodbye to the funny people of yesterday’s party, we started our way out of the canyon and towards the Karkara border between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and further to the city of Karakol. The landscape we were driving through was just as amazing as it had been the …
Way to the Kyrgyz border pt. 2 – more surprises, more people Read More »
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