After spending almost a week in Bishkek, it was time to get the backpack on again and head towards Karakol, the main town in the Issyk-Kul region, east of Kyrgyzstan. We spent 4 days there, where we were able to see a wonderful mountain landscape, the huge Issyk-Kul lake and heve some small New Year's celebration. We took our backpack and went to Bishkek's bus station. After almost a week without carrying it, we were back on the road! At the station, after checking different prices, we jumped into a marshrutka which, for 300 soms, would take us to Karakol, the capital of the Issyk-Kul region, probably the most visited in Kyrgyzstan. The most visited in the summer, definitely not in the winter, as we were the only tourists there.
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We spent almost one week in Bishkek doing nothing but updating the website, applying for the visa to Kazakhstan and going to a banya. In between, a one-day trip to the nearby Ala Archa National Park for a small trekking and superb views of Kyrgyz mountain landscape and some small Christmas celebration. After the two days spent in Osh the plan was to spend at least 5 days in Bishkek just doing practically nothing. It was the first country with cheap enough accomodation to be able to spend days updating the website, writing the missing posts and just resting. Besides, Christmas day was going to be soon, so we just booked a nice apartment and stayed there for almost one week, finally.
After a few relaxing days in Khujand, we crossed into Kyrgyzstan and spent 2 days in Osh before heading north towards Bishkek, the capital. An animal bazar and meeting a nice old man there were the highlights of the town, as the man spent almost all day with us showing us around, giving explanations... really good first impression of Kyrgyz people. It felt like Iran! As you don't need visa to enter Kyrgyzstan, the border crossing from Tajikistan was the easiest one. No checkings, just a small stamp on the passport and you are free to spend a couple of months in the country. It should be like this everywhere!
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AuthorBorn in Barcelona and raised in Olot, I've been interested in travelling since I was a child, when every Summer I crossed Spain from coast to coast with my parents. Listening to my siblings' stories about their trips all over the world also helped, as well as watching Around the World with Willy Fog on TV :)
As I grew up, and while I was still studying... read more
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