And here is the part 3, Kyrgyzstan! Sorry for the very long post, but I just don't want to make THAT many posts, it is already going to be probably 6 parts anyway.
We took a minibus from Almaty to Bishkek. The lovely helpful lady at the Almaty tourist information told us which is the correct bus station, and which local bus to take there from our hotel. That shouldn't have been a problem then, but hey, you never know when I am travelling :D. Luckily this time the information was correct. We left the hotel just before 10, got the bus and that took only about 15 mins to the bus station. Got the tickets, 1800 KZT (4 - 4,5 €), found our minibus, and already at 10.40 we were on the road. It was raining when we left, but the sky cleared up soon, and we could see the fields on the other side, and the mountains on the other side. We had one stop before the border. We were prepared that the border might take even an hour and they would wonder our Finnish passports, but nothing. On both sides the control was very quick, just a stamp to the passport, and our bags were not checked at all. Found our minibus on the other side of the border, and we were on the way again. You have to carry your own bags through the customs by walking.
Here's the border, my friend took this pic
I saw this cutie when we stopped for a little break
We thought it might take 5-6 hours to Bishkek, but it was only 4 hours! Lots of taxi drivers attack you the second you step out, and we needed a taxi, but first money exchange. Good thing we still had KZT, because they didn't change euros. Then we found one taxi driver (impossible not to find them), he asked for 400 SOM, which is about 5 euros and we agreed, the distance was about 8 km. We were ready to pay double, so the prices in Kyrgyzstan are lower than in Kazakhstan. The driver was a very nice young man, who spoke only some words of English. He spoke Russian to my friend really fast, so my friend understood just something. When you know that the other person knows just basics in your language, why would you speak fast?? He spoke nonstop actually, and he told us about the places we passed and where we should go to visit, and I understood just a few words here and there. He was very helpful and wanted to introduce places, but unfortunately again, the language barrier was there :(.
The driver gave us his number in case we need a ride somewhere, and he brought us to our hotel. We stayed at 4 star hotel Rixon 3 km outside of city centre. It was good price, and had laundry service! Usually after a week you don't have clean clothes anymore so laundry needs to be done, and hotel’s laundry service is simple and easy. The receptionist spoke good English, which made things so much easier. We walked to centre, had dinner at Navat restaurant (traditional), here's a few pics from there.
Then we just walked around, a lot, took a few pics, went to a bar for a couple of drinks.
Not so many bars there by the way, and a lot of hookah bars (also many of them in Kazakhstan). The bar was called Earl Hookah, and I wanted a glass of wine, but they sell only bottles. Our waitress did not speak a word of English, but there was another guy one who spoke English a bit. Then I ordered a mojito. Really, I totally get that not everyone speaks English, but if you don't know "mojito", should you be working in a bar? It is the same everywhere, and it was in their cocktail menu, but the waitress didn't understand it. It is a miracle I actually got a very nice mojito in the end. Cheers! Sorry, forgot to take a pic, I was too thirsty. Walked to the supermarket near the hotel, and they had this…
You can bring your own bottle and fill it up with any beer you want, or they give you a bottle (1l plastic bottle). See, they even have mojito! My friend got 3 l of beer, I just bought red wine. Friday morning was a bit rainy, so after breakfast (finally a lovely buffet breakfast) we just relaxed at the hotel.
Previous night my friend messaged to the taxi driver if he could pick us up at noon and take us to a bazaar for shopping. He picked us up, drove us to bazaar and warned us about pickpockets, and told us which way to go from there to get to Ala Too Square. My friend found the shoes he was looking for and FINALLY we found postcards. You cannot believe how difficult it was to find them, nobody seems to sell them! Finally in the bazaar in one place we found a small pile of Kyrgyzstan postcards, I think we bought half of them… Then finding a post office was not that easy either, but with a bit of help from a local young couple (who walked us there) we found it, and I sent my postcards. We also walked through Panfilov Park to take some pics.
Then some random pics on the way…
I don't know what I need therapy for, but I am quite sure this is the correct treatment for me.
Then we took a bus to get back to the hotel, but we had no idea how busses work… The system seems very chaotic (like all traffic), but it seemed very clear system to locals, and also very smooth. Mostly public transportation is mini buses, there seemed to be dozens of them, people just jump in and out, the buses don't always even stop for that. Same goes for normal buses, the doors are open when buses still, or already, move a bit. The bus ticket is paid to the driver when you leave the bus, and the bus ticket costs about 10 cents. Interesting system, smart people check these things beforehand (not me), but it is always the best to look what the locals do.
Some more pics of Bishkek
Some more pics of Bishkek
Bishkek is quite grey, the roads are in better condition in Kazakhstan, and it seemed that Kazakhstan is a lot more developed in every way. The beauty of Kyrgyzstan is definitely not in the city but in its nature. We sent the driver a message on Friday if he could be our driver for whole Saturday and take us both to the mountains and to the lake. But he asked for a ridiculous amount of money, and didn't probably understand what we were looking for. Communicating with Google translate doesn't help either.
So, we took the minibus. Outside the hotel we just waved our hands, and a car stopped. That is how you get a ride here, a taxi might stop, or anyone, and then you negotiate the price. Two youngsters stopped, and we paid them 300 som to the bus station. The guys seemed a bit surprised that we were tourists from Finland :D. Found a nice English speaking lady at the bus station, who took us to the correct bus and told the driver that we are going to Cholpon-Ata. It took about 4 hours, the roads are mostly wide and in good condition, but some parts are really bad with some road work going on.
The pics from the way
The driver told us when to get off. We started walking to the lake Issyk-Kul, but found Rukh Ordo cultural center, so we decided to check that first. Luckily we did, because that is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in my life.
There's five chapels; Catholic, orthodox, jewish, islam, and buddhist. They all look the same on the outside, only on top you see the religious symbol. Inside they have paintings, that religion's holy book etc. In the centre there are LOTS of statues, I mean dozens of them. The surrounding couldn't be more beautiful, the mountains on the other side, and the blue lake on the other side, and both are very close and not just somewhere in the background. It was very peaceful there, not that many people, and they play peaceful music from the speakers. I enjoyed this place so much, and I am an atheist!
After that we were extremely hungry, so went to get some food! Then we walked to the lake again to walk on the beach and took some gorgeous pics there as well. I was thinking how much potential this place has, but hardly anyone knows it exists. I mean where else you can be on the beach, lovely sandy beach, look at the big blue lake, snowy mountain range behind the lake, and on the other side gorgeous high mountains right next to you! I haven't seen it anywhere else. It seemed that some of the places will open for summer, but some looked like they haven't been used in years. It made me wonder if it is a dying place, or upcoming, and our guess was that it is dying. What a shame, really, because it has so much potential, but it needs a better infrastructure first.
Pics from beach
The town itself doesn't have at the moment what is needed for more tourists, at least not yet. I think that goes for the whole country, it is not as developed as the neighboring countries. But the nature in Kyrgyzstan is just SO gorgeous.
Pics from Cholpon-Ata
Then we took a bus back to Bishkek. Good timing, the bus came in just a few minutes and it had room for us. Just stand by the street and wave your hand when you see a minibus with a sign "Bishkek". The bus runs every hour, but basically it departs when the bus is full, so it doesn't really have a timetable. Same goes for the bus to Almaty. We arrived around 10 pm back to Bishkek, took a taxi to hotel, had some food and went to bed early. On Sunday it was travel day again, back to Almaty. Again we stopped a random car, paid 300 som to the bus station, and we were at the bus station right after 11, found the bus right away, bought the tickets and sat to our seats. For 50 minutes before the bus actually departed. :D This time it took us 5 hours to get to Almaty, the passport control to Kazakhstan was just chaotic, not organised at all, everybody just pushing and pushing and no clear lines. Had to use my elbows too just to keep my place! Trust me, I am good at that when needed. The scenery was again amazing, and it was sunny day, no clouds at all.
The beauty of Kyrgyzstan is not in the cities, get out of the cities and go to see the nature, the lakes and the mountains. These pics I took on the way back, we had again one stop on the way to Bishkek.
Well, that's all for Kyrgyzstan, next part will be about Dushanbe, Tajikistan (country nr 46).
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