Postcard from Bishkek

  There are almost 2000 lakes in the Kyrgyz Republic, with a combined area of 6836 sq km. Most of them are small mountain lakes, located at altitudes between 2500 and 4000 meters above sea level and were formed as a result of glaciations.  The largest lake, of course is Lake Issyk Kul, followed by […]

At the moment, those people wanting to travel the Silk Road overland, they basically have to travel through Kyrgyzstan. It’s either up through Pakistan, (over the Khunjerab Pass from the Hunza Valley), or travel travel much further North and East and cross from Kazakhstan over the *** pass, or even further and travel through Mongolia. […]

There is a Kyrgyz legend that tells of the seven mazars, (or shrines – a term often used to refer to the graves of men venerated as Muslim “saints”), which have been built and named for the seven fathers of the Kyrgyz: Baba Ata; Cholpon Ata; Issyk Ata; Jumgal Ata; Kochkor Ata; Suleiman Ata and […]

I’ve been up to Naryn for the weekend.  I wish it had been for a few days off, but it was work connected with our guesthouse there.  I go up nearly every month just to keep an eye on things, do the accounts and so forth.  This time I had to take with me some […]

The road from Suusamyr to Kochkor passes over the Kyz Art pass.   At 2664m it is not a particular high pass, but there is a sad legend about it which draws attention to the hazards of travelling through the mountains.

They say that you can experience all four seasons in one day in Kyrgyzstan.  I have come across this myself in the past.  The mountainous nature of the terrain creates plenty of scope for microclimates in different valleys, varying with altitude, aspect, (North, South East or West facing), different soils creating habitats for differing types […]

To help preserve the priceless, pristine, virgin, natural resources that it possesses, Kyrgyzstan has a total of 83 Specially Protected Natural Territories, (SPNT), with a total area of about 800,000 hectares, which is 4% of Kyrgyzstan’s total land area. Perhaps, the most famous of these specially protected regions is Ala Archa – just outside Bishkek. […]

I am sometimes embarrassed by the fact that, although I have lived here for some fifteen years, I still can’t speak Kyrgyz.  My excuse is that I don’t get the practice … I live in Bishkek, in the North of the country, where everyone speaks Russian, or they want practice speaking in English. That’s not […]

There are a few reasons to take this road: It provides a cross-country route between the Northeast (Issyk Kul) and Southwest (Osh) corners of the country, avoiding the need to travel via Bishkek. The landscapes and villages are different from other, well visited, places and they look remote and untouched. You can visit the Saimaluu-Tash […]

It’s amazing what you come across when surfing the internet.  I was caught by surprise one day this week when I cam across a blog entry that a simple question. Lake Issyk Kul in North Eastern Kyrgyzstan is the world’s second largest mountain lake and stands at an altitude of 1600 meters above sea level.  […]