Dec 9th

It was snowing the whole day today. Started the journey down from Arashan at 10am. However, the van broke down half way and had to hike 3 hours down to the village.

Car Broke down

Hike down

In normal circumstances, I should able to get a small refund if the car broke down but the hostel owner blamed the driver. A lesson I learned was if possible, always pay later.

Got to the bus station at around 4pm and took a shared taxi back to Bishkek (450 Som~USD$10). After spending around a week in Kyrgyzstan, I would say most people here are not that friendly. However, met a friendly lady on the taxi who can speak English with her son. She even taught me a few Russian words.

Arrived in Bishkek around 11.30pm. Went to Hotel Semetei but it’s full, so I walked to Sabrek guesthouse. No one answered the door so I had to took a taxi to Hotel Ak Say for a 6 beds dorm at the north part of town (250 Som~USD$6). It’s low season now, so there wasn’t anyone at the dorm like most hostels I stayed at for the passed few days.

Russian Orthodox Church

Jashilik Bazaar

Took a bus to Pristan and visited the Przewalski museum.

It’s around 30 minutes ride (10 Som). Przewalski is a famous Russian traveller during 1850s that made 4 expeditions around Central Asia, China and the far east.

On the bus back to Karakol

Karakol is considered the 3rd biggest city in Krygyzstanand is the adminstrative center for the Lake Issyk Kol region. The city has a population of less than 100,000 people. The city is quite small and it’s easy to walk around. There weren’t many tourist at this time because the weather is quite cold now.

Stopped by the tourist information center and they mentioned that I am the first tourist that dropped by for the passed few days.

Krygyz Kids playing

At at Dinara cafe recommended by the people from the tourist info center. Had Alsyhanfu (cold noodles)

and Ganfan (rice with vegetables and meat) for lunch (120 Som~USD$2.80, Karakol food)

Ak Tilek Bazaar

In the evening, the owner of Yak Hostel persuaded me to join his tour to Altyn Arashan. I was not keen on going for the trip because it’ll be just me. From Uzbekistan to Krygyzstan, most places I stay, I am the only traveller and haven’t met many tourists. HOwever, later I decided to go up the mountain mainly because Altyn Arashan is sort of a must do activity in Krygyzstan which is famous for its mountain and hot spring.

He gave me a discount of around 1700 Som~USD$38 which included transportation, food and lodging for the trip.

Dec 8th

Bought a used H&M flea sweater for 100 Som~USD$2.5. Valentin, the owner of the hostel brought me to his house in his motorbike,

he has all kinds of animals in his house, Yaks, Lhamas, chickens…

Lhamas

Closeup shot

Ate Dongan food at a small cafe, Ashlanfu

There are many Dongan people in Kyrgyzstan. Dongans are Chinese Muslims that moved out from China many years ago.

Got on a 4 wheel van at 12pm towards Altyn Arashan. There were 9 people together in the van, they were were Valentin’s friends and workers. He wanted me to go for the trip so I can pay for the food and gas for the trip (1000 Som for the driver and 700 Som for lodging and food). The road was pretty rough up the mountains and it took 2 hours for the 25km trip. Half way through, they had to put chain over the wheel so the van won’t slip.

My Olympus camera fell from my pocket and was broken so I wasn’t able to take many photos of the nice scenery.

Up to Arashan

Spent time in the cottage

and went to the hot spring later in the evening. There a guy taught me that it’s healthy to put snow over the body after spending some time in the hot water. He even suggested to jump into the cold water. I think the weather was around -5C.

Met some travelers at a café and exchanged information.

Took bus 48 to the bus station which is located at the north west part of the city. Then took the 3pm bus to Karakol (around 400 Km, 8 hours, 250 Som~USD$6).

I was kind of worried on the bus because Karakol should be on the east part of Bishkek but my compass kept showing me the bus is going to the west. There is another city called Karakul on my map and I thought I got on the wrong bus. Then I thought maybe my compass might be wrong because of some other magnetic influences.
Arrived at Karakol around 11pm and took a taxi to Yak Hostel.

Dec 5th
Visited American University in Central Asia.

Threre is an Indiana Univeristy banner on the wall, not sure why IU.

Wedding

Dordoy bazaar which is the largest bazaar in Central Asia.

Bought my cap

They sell all kinds of stuffs here. There are many Chinese speaking people and like most wholesale market, there are Chinese wholesalers.

Walked around and found out that there was a Ballet/Opera/Play (70 Som~USD$1.5).

Dec 4th

Woke up from the taxi

Since today is Friday, getting a Kazakhstan visa is top priority for me. Took a taxi to Kazakhstan embassy located at Mira street first thing in the morning.

I tried to get a transit visa but the embassy won’t give out transit visa unless I have a prove of onward travel arrangement. They required photocopies of visa, passports and bank vouchers. After getting all the required documents, returned back to the consulate and the person in charged asked me to come back on Monday evening to collect my passport. The consulate doesn’t provide express service and a 30 days tourist visa cost USD$30.

The embassy is located at the south of the city so took a marshrutka to the city center and got a room at Hotel Semetei (900 Som~USD$20).

There weren’t many options for accommodation in Bishkek, most of the places recommended in lonely planet were out of date.

City pics

Night View

Went to Golden Bull recommended in the guide book and met some Kyrgyz friends.

Took a marshrutka to Karasu In the morning (30 minutes ride, 20 Som). There is a big bazaar in Karasu

and there were a lot of Chinese traders doing wholesale business at the market. Most of the products in Kyrgyzstan are made in China and many clothings and goods have Chinese brand name on it.

Took a shared taxi to Bishkek (1000 Som ~USD$22) at 2pm instead of flying.

Stopping for a break, with other passengers.

For the first half of the journey, the view was pretty flat.

However, when we drove around the mountains, it’s too dark to take pictures of the beautiful scenary.

Arrived in Bishkek at around 12am. Went to Hotel Ak Sary which is quite dirty and Sakura guesthouse was closed, so finally I bought the taxi driver food and drinks and slept in his car which was quite cold.

Dec 2nd

Osh University

Laghman again

City street

Yurt

Osh Museum (50 Som~ USD$1)

Shape of the country

Solomon’s throne

View from above

Lenin’s statue

Bazaar

Local housing

Manti (dumplings)

Walked to Munduz travel agency at the south part of town to get some information regarding transportation to Bishkek. Flight from Osh to Bishkek cost around USD50, 1 hour flight and shared taxi cost USD$30 for 10 hours ride. I think I will take the shared taxi just to see the scenery on the way to Bishkek.

Park

Chess

Moved to Hotel Sanadar and got a dorm room (150 Som~USD3.5)

because I find the road to the hotel in the bazaar a little dangerous at night. Plus, the owner is not friendly and the room is too cold. Went to Hotel Beijing to have a chat with the Chinese worker. He was quite friendly and told something about business in Kyrgyzstan.

Dec 1st
Met up with Bakhtiar at around 7am, walked around and visited the museum at 8am.

I didn’t know that Koreizmi and Ibn Sina were Uzbek from Andijon. Koreizimi is the famous mathematician and Ibn Sina, the famous doctor.

Fergana Valley

Cotton plant. Uzbekistan is the 2nd biggest exporter of cotton.

A medressa (islamic school) which was shut down by the government because the government is afraid of Islamic fundamentalist teaching.

Young center (A center for young people to hang out with facilities such as reading room and the first bowling alley in Andijon)

Crying mother statue

The security is tighter in Andijon because of the Andijon massacre in 1995 where the military killed around 1000 unarmed protesters. There were also a few terrorist attack, the most recent case being a bomb in front of the government building close to Hotel Andijon. I guess probably that’s why Hotel Andijon refused foreigners now.
Statue of Babur. He is from Andijon and is the founder of Mughal Indian empire. His great grandfather is Timur. There were statues of Timur everywhere in Samarkand but in Andijon, there are statues of Babur instead.

Since my Uzbek visa is only valid until Dec 1st, I have to get out of the country fast. Took a shared taxi to Dosytk at 12pm (around 45 minutes ride, 2,500 Som~USD1.30) and then changed to another taxi for a short ride to the Uzbekistan border.

There are many people waiting outside in the cold weather. Uzbekistan border crossing is very bureaucratic. They required me to fill up 2 similar forms as the 2 forms I filled when I got in the country.
Kyrgyzstan border crossing is slightly easier. A custom officer brought me to a room and checked my bags. He was acting a little weird and I am pretty sure he wanted some bribes so I just ignored him.
Then took a bus from Kyrgyzstan border to Osh which is just around 8kms away. Osh is the second biggest city in Kyrgyzstan and is an old city and some people mentioned that the city was founded by King Solomon or even Alexander the great. There are a mixture of Uzbeks and Kyrgyz people in Osh. Osh was a territory of Uzbekistan some years back and there were an ethnic conflict in 1990 between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz.
Kyrgyz looks just like East Asians which is different from their Uzbek neighbors.
There were a lot of money changers on the street and a lot of Mercedes on the street. These combination seemed like a place for Mafias.

Jameh Bazaar

Local Kyrgyz hat

Asked around a few hotels and found a hotel inside the bazaar, (300 Kyrgyz Som~USD7.5, 1 USD~43.80 Kyrgyz Som).

Laghman for dinner (40 Som ~ USD$1)

Asia hotel provided quite a good breakfast.

Jerry had an appointment to meet a prospective bride in the morning. We met up later, walked around the park.

Statue of Babur

Like most countries around this region, Uzbekistan is famous for its carpet. This huge carpet 3X5 meters cost around USD$150.

Street performance

Another Bazaar

We met with Jerry’s prospective bride at a bazaar and I tagged along to visit the girl’s workplace,
Law faculty

and then had lunch together. It’s kind of hard to understand the conversation because it’s a three way conversation. The guide translated Russian to Korean for Jerry and Jerry then explained to me in some English.
Hang around the city with Jerry.

Then took a shared taxi at around 5pm to Andijon which is around 75kms away (1 hour, 2,000 Som~USD$1).

Took a cab to Hotel Andijon recommended in lonely planet guide book. However, the staff working there mentioned that I am not allowed to stay there after giving me the price. I don’t understand what’s the reason because she couldn’t speak English.

Took marshrutka 33 to Hotel Voldyn instead (16,500 sum~USD$8).

Andijon Plov for dinner

Met a friendly Uzbek guy, Bakhtiar at the internet café and he told me that he is willing to show me around the city tomorrow.