May 5, 2025: On Our Way to Kyrgyzstan, the Next “Stan” on Our List!

May 5, 2025 cjbishop@yahoo.com

We are headed to Kyrgyzstan today but will be sightseeing as we go, with our first stop to explore an area called Charyn Canyon, which is sometimes referred to as the “little brother of the Grand Canyon”. We will see how true that may be. Charyn Canyon is about 200 km east of Almaty, so it is closer to the Chinese border( ~480 km). The canyon itself is about 154 km (96 miles) long. It was 84 degrees when we arrived but luckily there was a good breeze so the temperature was not a problem. Once there we were given the opportunity to take one of two trails in the area. The first was a 1 km trail along the top of the canyon to two viewpoints. The second option was a trail down to the bottom of the canyon which was longer and had more elevation to deal with. Everyone chose the leisurely walk.

The beautiful mountains outside .almaty.

I did not recognize this vehicle. Could it be Chinese? We saw quite a few cars we could not identify. On the other hand there were a ton of Kia and Hyundai vehilces on the road.

The gas station where there was a prayer room.

Furkat bought some local snacks to share on the bus.

A description of the area we are visiting.

There is the shorter, less elevation trail versus the longer, steeper trail in the canyon bottom. You can guess which one we chose.

Even though it says Almaty this is the elevation at the canyon.

The start of the hike along the canyon rim.

Seeing how far down the canyon walk is I am glad we did not choose to do that route!

A wildflower managing to grow in this rocky environment.

Not sure why this piece of metal is here. We used it as a photo op.

That is Suki, a fellow traveler who walked the upper trail with me.

I returned to the parking lot at the assigned time to find our “picnic” lunch laid out under a pergola. It felt good sitting for awhile and the sandwiches were freshly made. All was well!

What the area could look like if you were here at the right time!

Refreshed and fed we began our long drive to Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan which included our first border crossing-from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan. We were warned to make sure we took no pictures anywhere near the border. The border crossing procedure goes as follows. You stop and get your luggage off the bus. You walk through the Kazakh border where first a guard checks your passport. You then go into an office where the Kazakh passport people “check you out” of the country with a picture and a passport stamp. Another guard checks your passport as you exit the country. Next you walk some distance in the neutral no-man’s land between borders and check in at Kyrgyzk border where a guard looks at your passport and I assume looks for the exit passport stamp from the previous country. You then proceed into a building to check in with the Kyrgyzk immigration people who also take your photo and stamp your passport. You are then free to walk across the border where another army personnel checks your passport to make sure you were cleared by immigration. There is a lot of looking at your passport! Depending on how many people are trying to get through the timing to do all this can vary greatly. In this case we were fairly lucky and we cleared the border in about 35 minutes. And once we crossed the border we were met with a new bus and a local guide, Firhad, who happened to have studied a year at U of Texas. His English was excellent and he turned out to be a wealth of knowledge about his country, Kyrgyzstan. He would be with us the entire time we are in Kyrgyzstan. We boarded our new ride and continued our journey.

The driving process always includes regular scheduled “happy stops” along the way to stretch our legs and visit the local bathrooms, which so far have been fairly decent, but we were warned some might not be western style toilets and the ladies always knew to carry tissue with them. Most are at gas stations so we had a chance to grab some snacks if we chose. We did have an unusual one this trip as we pulled up to what appeared to be a commercial business and it turned out to be a school dedicated to sports training. They were gracious and allowed us to use their bathrooms.

A school that trains students to be athletes. We stopped and asked if we could use their bathrooms!

In this village it is a custom to leave open your gate as an invite to whoever comes by to stop in. Closed gate, do not bother to knock.

One of many small churches we saw along the highway.

One of several roadside cemeteries we passed. The headstones are plain-a Muslim tradition.

Once in Kyrgyzstan we noticed a change in the landscape. It was more mountainous (90% of the country are mountains) and evergreen trees. The highest peak is over 23,000 feet. It was really lovely and several of our fellow travelers remarked on how pretty it was. From the semi-mountainous area we next entered what is called the “greenlands” which was obviously agricultural, and again very pretty. By the way the government owns all the land but people can be granted long term leases to build a home or start an agricultural endeavor, or simply plant a family garden.

The bus that picked us up on the Kyrgyzstan side of the border. It was new, clean and spacious.

Beautiful mountain vistas as we entered Kyrgyzstan.

Moving cattle to new pastures higher in the mountains. We had to be cautious as they sometimes crossed the road.

Suddenly we are in green farmland they call “the grasslands”.

Very crudely made fencing on many properties.

There was major road upgrades being made as we worked our way to the lake, resulting in us bouncing along on unpaved roads for over 50 miles! The ride was not bad but it did slow us down, so we did not arrive at our hotel (Baytur Resort & Spa) until 6:30PM, later than expected. The good news was that it is a very new hotel right on the lake and we will be spending two nights here.