A weekend at the lake
Everyone kept telling me to “Come on in, the water is lovely and warm!”
I wasn’t convinced, especially after I had walked over to the water’s edge and dipped my toes into the lapping waves … The name of the lake, Issyk Kul, might mean Warm Lake in Kyrgyz, but that doesn’t really relate to the temperature of the water … more to the fact that the lake never freezes over, even in the depth of winter.
Now the waters of the Mediterranean in July are what I would call warm … this, I kept saying, was decidedly cool. In fact, however, to be honest, the waters of Issyk Kul wasn’t too bad … but I am not a good swimmer, and I don’t have the body of an Adonis which I like to show off, so the most I was prepared to comprise was a to go for a paddle – up to my knees, but that was about the limit of what I was prepared to do.
Those people that know me, might well be surprised that I was there at all. Issyk Kul represents the sort of holiday experience which is not exactly my idea of an ideal vacation: sun, sand and sea – well, lake. It’s not that I mind spending time relaxing on a beach … it’s just that I prefer to travel and see new places.
Since the 1960’s, when the first resorts on the shores of the lake were constructed, it has been a popular summer holiday destination for local people and for visitors from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and parts of Siberia. Altogether, these visitors represent about 90% of the tourists who visit Kyrgyzstan. In recent years the number of visitors have risen considerably, but this year we all expected that the number would drop drastically as a result of the political turmoil that we have been experiencing.
According to some figures, the occupancy rate in the resorts of Issyk Kul, up until the middle of July was only 5% … that’s pretty disastrous by any count, and lower by far than the figures which we would normally expect. The high season doesn’t normally “kick-in” until July … and lasts for just about 40 days … untill the end of August. As a result, it does not bode well for a region which has to earn enough in such a short space of time to cover their costs for the whole year.
The various resorts have adopted a variety of tactics to try and boost occupancy – and prices have fallen between 30% and 50%
Even so, you can imaging my surprise when I was told that the resort was full for the weekend … we took the last few rooms … and for a while it looked as if they might not be able to accommodate us at all. It was, after all the weekend, and so lots of people from Bishkek were apparently taking the opportunity for a weekend break. During the week, I was told, the resort is much quieter. There were also some Kazakhs and we saw the occasional Russian vehicle as well … so some people are venturing to come to Issyk Kul despite the recent upheavals.
The Mayor of Cholpon Ata, about half way along the northern shore and the centre of the tourist resort zone, is has been making confident announcements in press conferences about how the season will still be a success with lots of visitors … I hope he is right and that it’s not just an example of wishful thinking.
My decision to take a weekend break at the lake was quite sudden. Some friends and colleagues had got together and organized a trip … and asked if I wanted to go. They suggested taking the kids. Now, we had taken a similar weekend last year and they had been asking if we might go again this year. I wasn’t sure if I would get another chance and, as it happens, Sunday was Andrei’s birthday and it seemed like quite a good idea for a Birthday Treat … so I agreed.
In fact, as we drove there, (and back), we joined long lines of traffic of like minded people going to Issyk Kul, (or returning), for a weekend break. There were a couple of places where workman were busy resurfacing the road … and I couldn’t help wondering why they waited until the high season to do this instead of a couple of months earlier, or later. The traffic police were out in force, as is usual during the summer season … but we weren’t stopped once, which is unusual during the summer season, and I put down to Rustam’s good driving.
We had booked into a small resort in Cholpon Ata. Leaving at Lunchtime on Friday, I had time to do some work in the morning and we arrived in the late afternoon – in time for a quick swim … well, for everyone else, that it … I went for a quick paddle, but supper.
The resort was called “Tree Korona”, Three Crowns, and is quite new, about three years old, set on one of the bays at the edge of town. The long narrow site contains four corpuses with guest rooms, a cafe (which doubles as a disco at night time), a swimming pool, a pier, a children’s playground .. and, of course, a beachfront. One of things that many of the resorts do really well is to create a colourful display of flowers … as well as the usual display of roses and colourful annuals, outside our particular building they even had decorative cabbages. For those inspired to try and create a similar display at home, the management even sold seeds..
In some ways it reminded me of a cruise ship, self contained so that it wasn’t necessary to leave the complex, but with the opportunity for taking excursions … not that we really had time, as we were scheduled to leave on Sunday afternoon so that Andrei could get back to his Birthday Party here in Bishkek.
The resort seems to cater mainly for families and there was plenty to occupy the younger children. Most of our party were older … the adults were quite happy sunning themselves on the beach, going for a swim, diving off the pier, or nibbling away at cherries of other fresh, locally grown, fruit … and, of course, the occasional glass of vodka, cognac or beer, (they were Russian, after all). The disco worried me a bit … going on until three o’clock in the morning, but the noise didn’t disturb us.
In my hurry on Friday, I forgot to pack a book to read … at the moment I am in the middle of four different books and I pick a different one up depending on my mood at the time. Fortunately, I did remember to take to my mp3 player … so I was able to listen to a selection of podcasts whilst the others went swimming or occupied themselves in other forms of recreation, like taking out a pedallo.
The jet skis were based on another beach … and we could see the paragliders operating off the beach on the other side of the bay … perhaps, my one regret was that I wasn’t able to give that a go.
The food was OK … As is usual here, it was table d’hôte, set meals, but on the Sunday there was a choice for breakfast – fried eggs or porridge – which is a good sign. Things are, perhaps, beginning to change. Some of the portions were a little small but there was always plenty of soup and only one of us really went hungry … but, then, he is very fussy about what he eats, and it was only on the last meal that he couldn’t find something that he liked.
The highlight, in some respects, came at lunchtime on Sunday … when the meal was over the kitchen wheeled out a cake with 19 candles on it. He’s only 15, but we had forgotten to tell them that, so they decided to play safe … but, being the joker that he is, with a mischievous grin he told them there was one short and so they ran back into the kitchen to find another one.
There was, unfortunately, one bad aspect of the whole weekend … but that was my own fault. Because I am not used to sunbathing holidays, I made a big mistake and didn’t exactly “slip, slap, slop” – slip on a t-shirt, slap on a hat and slop on the sun cream. I did wear a shirt … and a hat … but I forgot the power of the sun and even though I had some sun-cream, I forgot to use it. As a result, my arms and legs are a deep shade of pink and a little sore. I know, I know, a poor example to set the kids …
Bishkek