Postcard from Bishkek

Although our company, The Celestial Mountains Tour Company, is known locally as an British company, it is based and registered here in Kyrgyzstan.  There is no parent company based in the UK.   only reason for considering it as a Foreign Company is the ownership; under Kyrgyz law, if anything over 20% of the shares are owned by foreigners, then the company is classified as a foreign entity.

The reason we set up the company some fifteen years ago, back in 1997, was that we thought we had identified a gap in the existing market.  The core of the Tourism industry was then, (and is now), based on visitors from the former Soviet Union to Lake Issky Kul.  There were several tour companies, both here and abroad, that offered tours along the Great Silk Road and a growing number of companies that catered for backpackers and other young, independent, travelers intent on “active holidays” or “adventure tourism”- hiking, horse riding, rafting, mountain biking, etc.

Although we were happy to organize such trips, we thought that there was scope for concentrating on Kyrgyzstan as a destination in itself – aimed at people like ourselves: slightly older, experienced travelers who want to visit new and interesting places, meet new people and experience different situations; but people who had responsibilities and little time to indulge their interests.

As such, our focus has always been Kyrgyzstan … the landscape, the history, the wildlife, the traditional nomadic culture and so on.  There are several problems with this approach, however, including the fact that:

• it depends on people knowing about Kyrgyzstan and what it has to offer in the first place – that means that there needs to be a concerted awareness raising campaign in the countries where we are hoping to attract clients;
• Kyrgyzstan is a relatively small country, far from our potential markets, and thus represents a considerable commitment in terms of time, effort and money – many people will be happy to visit Kyrgyzstan but want to do so as part of longer journey incorporating several different countries;

As a result, although we like to concentrate on Kyrgyzstan – that is where we are based and what we know best, we also offer a wide range of itineraries in neighbouring countries in Central Asia and along the Silk Road, where we work with partners based in those countries.

The first such tour itinerary that we offered was along the Karakorum Highway, between Islamabad in Pakistan and Bishkek here in Kyrgyzstan, traveling through Kashgar and Tashkurgan in China.   Although this is still one of my favourite itineraries, because of the problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan, there has been limited interest in it in recent years – a pity.

Most of these Central Asian Tours tend to be quite long – two or three weeks – chiefly because of the distances involved.  They have the advantage, however, of introducing the visitors to a wide variety of landscapes, peoples, cultures and experiences.

The region has much to offer: from the ancient Silk Road cities of Uzbekistan, the mountains and natural environment of Kyrgyzstan, to the mysterious orient in China; from the traditional nomadic culture of the Kyrgyz and the Kazakhs to the Soviet heritage of the twentieth Century.

Here are some itineraries which we have organized in the past presented in pdf format:

• The Pamir Highway - A classic 14 day journey through the Pamir Mountains from Tashkent and Samarkand in Uzbekistan to Dushanbe in Tajikistan and then through Hissor, Khorog, Murghab and Osh to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.
• The Tajik Silk Road - A 12 day tour visiting Tashkent and Samarkand in Uzbekistan, Dushanbe, Iskandarkul Lake, Iasfahan and Khujand in Tajikistan
• The Ancient Cities of Uzbekistan - 8 days visiting Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva.
• The Kazakh Silk Route - 8 days traveling from Almaty to Taraz, Chimkent. Turkestan and Tashkent (in Uzbekistan)
• The Chinese Silk Road - 16 days traveling through China, visiting Beijing, Urumqi, Kashgar, Turpan, Dunhuang, Xian, Yangling and Shanghai.
• Kashgar and Beyond - a variety of options from 6 to 10 days, for visiting Kashgar and its environs.
• Turkmenistan’s Cities - 10 days in one of the most enigmatic countries of Central Asia, visiting Ashgabad, Mary and the ancient city of Merv, Turkmenabat and Dashogus

In addition, here are some links to some specimen Central Asian tours that we currently feature on our website, www.tours.kg:

• SR-1 - 14 days in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan;
• SR-2 - 25 days in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan;
• SR-3 - 20 days in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan;
• SR-4  - 35 days in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, China and Kazakhstan;
• SR-5 - 21 days trekking in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan;
• UZ-1 - 9 days in Uzbekistan: Tashkent, Urgench, Khiva, Bukhara, and Samarkand;
• KZ-1 - 5 days in Almaty, Turkestan and the Aksu Djabagly Reserve in Southern Kazakhstan;
• KZ-2 - 3 days in and around Almaty, Kazakhstan;

These are only specimen tours … we have organized a number of others such as that along the Karakorum Highway … as well as several in China.  Often the itineraries are customized to meet specific requests according to a client’s particular interests and timetable.

Tags: Celestial_Mountains, Tourism