Postcard from Bishkek

April 29th, 1957, saw the opening of the Prezhervalskiy Museum on the headland between the Karakol and Kara Suu Rivers, at the eastern end of Lake Issyk Kul – some 12 km from the regional center of Karakol. Nikolai Mikhailovich Prezhervalsk had died at the Military hospital on the same site on 20th October, 1888. […]

Earlier this week I came across an interesting post containing photos from an expedition to the Enilchek Glacier in 1900, which I thought might be of interest to others. The expedition was mounted by Prince Scipione Borghese, the tenth Pince of Sulomona.  (His full name was Luigi Marcantonio Francesco Rodolfo Scipione Borghes, but he is usually […]

A little boy called Nikolai was born on 31st March, 1839, (or 1st April – I have seen both dates quoted – in the same book(!)), in the village of Kimbor, in the Smolenmsk region of Russia. The boy, Nikolai Mikhailovich Prezhevalsk, went on to become a great Russian explorer who opened up vast areas of Central […]

There are a number of beautiful valleys in the Kungey Ala-Too Mountains (The “Sunny” Ala-Too Mountains) on the Northern side of Lake Issyk Kul. The largest and best known of these are Grigorievka and Semyenovka – some 30 kilometers further on from Cholpon Ata as you travel from Bishkek. Both of these valleys offer spectacular […]

On my wall, above my computer, I have a map of Kyrgyzstan with almost a hundred little coloured pins stuck in it.  Visitors often ask if it shows where we, (that is, the Celestial Mountains Tour Company), take visitors … but I have to explain that, no … it’s a personal record to show where […]

Toru Aigur is a village about 20 kilometres East of Balykchi. It’s a small and seemingly unimposing village which one might easy pass by and miss it, but it is one that I often cite as an example of the fact that there is almost always something of interest to be found wherever you look. […]

Lenin Peak in the Osh oblast lies on the border with Tajikistan – it rises to a height of 7134m and was the third highest mountain in the former Soviet Union, shaped something like a “high armchair”. The outline, however, is not always obvious because the summit is almost always covered in cloud – and […]

There are some visitors from the National Geographic Magazine up at Lake Issyk Kul at the moment, taking part in an Underwater archaeological expedition.  Although they may not have the place entirely to themselves, there wont be that many tourists getting in their way despite the fact that Issyk Kul is a major tourist zone […]

The southern shore of Lake Issyk Kul has a number of interesting sites, (or should that be sights), which are off the beaten track, (that is, off the routes of most tourist itineraries), and yet have something to offer and are worth a detour. That doesn’t mean to say, however, that they will be deserted; […]

  Situated at the extreme Western end of Lake Issyk Kul, Balykchi is one of the three major towns in the Issyk Kul region. The town has, over the years, had several different names: Kutmaldy, Ribachiye, Issuk Kul and Balykchi.