Central asia is often a blind spot in the conventional traveling community, but how cool it is! It’s made up of 5 stans: Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, which can often be done together over the span over several months (although be warned, Turkmenistan is notoriously difficult and expensive to get a visa into). However, if you only have limited time like we did, about 2-3 weeks, you probably only have time for a few of these. In the past few years, tourism in this region has received a tremendous boost and massive support from their governments. So now there are direct flights from London, Istanbul and Dubai to most capital cities, e-visas for most nationalities including Indians (except Turkmenistan), airbnbs and hostels everywhere and generally a growing English speaking community that supports socializing and cultural tourism. Now, despite being so close to each other, these countries are vastly different in climate, geography, and government: Uzbekistan: instagrammable blue mosques, silk road cities frozen in time from the 14-18th century, and architecture-tourism. Largely desert. Kyrgyzstan: mountains, alpine lakes, multi-day hikes, horse riding nomads and an overall great for fit outdoorsy people. Tajikistan: Even more nature. The Pamir highway (and the Wakhan corridor bordering Afghanistan) is a trip of lifestyle, by cycle or by car. But it also involves roughing it in local homestays without much luxury, long uncomfortable drives, and a general being okay with where the trip takes you spirit. And at least 10-13 days exclusively for the Pamir highway (with highway being a very loosely descriptive term). Kazakhstan: A massive country with spread out regions. Most people fly to and tend to stay close to the capital Almaty which is fairly modern and western and do day trips to the nature around. Turkmenistan: Dictatorship with soviet vibes, large statues, and the highlight – a man-made eternally burning gas crater – Darvaza. As far as I know, visas cost something like $3000, unless you request a transit visa which gives you three days to go via Turkmenistan into Iran and is a commonly used budget fix to visiting Turkmenistan if you plan to go to Iran anyway. We spend about three weeks in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan as the border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan was closed due to border clashes, making it very difficult to cross the Pamir Highway. While both countries had their charms, and both countries were far easier to travel in than I thought, they have very different vibes, so we were glad to get a glimpse of two very opposite landscapes. We visited in June when Uzbekistan could get up to 40 Celsius, whereas the higher hikes in Kyrgyzstan got down to 0 Celsius, so be warned! Money: In both these countries, there exist ATMs in all cities, but they can charge upto a 5% percent (with 1-3% being more standard), so we found that cash is god. USD Euros and GBP are easily exchanged everywhere and for a shockingly good rate. For a budget comfort traveler, we budgeted about $30 per person per night, which was sufficient unless you want to hire a tour company. Food: Central asia is one of the most difficult places to find vegetarian food. That said, most guest houses provide breakfast and can provide dinner, and if you let them know at least one day in advance exactly what you dietary needs are, they will make it work. As a picky vegetarian, I had to mention explicitly that I would not eat vegetables cooked in animal fat, or wouldn’t eat chicken/fish or eggs, but given enough advance warning, even the most remote yurt stays made it work. Transport: Cities in Uzbekistan are connected by trains (high speed/medium speed, and soviet style trains). Tickets are cheap (about $10 a ticket on average in 2022), but the high speed ones do sell out days in advance. You can book them in advance online with ease, so I recommend doing so about 2 weeks before the trip, although if you miss it, the slow trains aren’t bad. In Kyrgyzstan, there isn’t really a concept of public transportation, but there are marshrutkas that leave at supposedly specific times, but will wait (sometimes for an hour or two on remote routes) to fill up. These are quite cheap ($5) and comfortable, but are long and unreliable. Renting a car is an option, and roads around Issyk kul can be done without 4x4, but if you want to drive to pretty views instead of hiking, you’ll need a 4x4 which is expensive (about $60-70 a day). In Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent, and Bishkek you can also use Yandex (Uber equivalent). Language: English is rare except in cities. Russian is a commonly understood language in all countries though. It helps to learn the Cyrillic alphabet so you can understand signs etc. We made our way mostly with broken Russian, hand gestures and google translate. In fact, we had a 5 hour conversation with a friendly local in a marshrutka entirely through google translate! Clothing: Uzbekistan is significantly more traditional than Kyrgyzstan. Loose skirts, cotton pants, and light colored blouses that cover your shoulders are acceptable. Short shorts can be seen in tourist areas, but you’ll stick out like a sore thumb. I wasn’t asked to cover my head in any madrassas, but had a scarf handy nevertheless. Kyrgyzstan is far more liberal. Shorts are normal, however, the weather is much cooler. If you plan on going hiking, rental gear (jackets, tents, sleeping bags) is cheap but HEAVY so it might be worth bringing your own if you can. Uzbekistan About 5 years ago, Uzbekistan was a very difficult country to travel to, with random border checks, police checks on hostels, limit on currency to be brought into the country. Most travel blogs I read were slightly outdated and reinforced some of these fears, but as of 2022, Uzbekistan is a breeze. No real immigration checks (in fact it was the easiest evisa to get), plenty to cafes, and a growing tourism industry. Tashkent: We landed in Tashkent and spent the day walking around. There isn’t that much to do here, but the opera house is famous for ballet if you can catch it. There’s also the amir timur square and museum with the central statue of Timur. We also went to Chorsu market, which was not very interesting for someone who has been to many big markets before and a little bit dirty. The highlight of Tashkent was the Hazrat Imam mosque complex where the Quran was allegedly written. Their turquoise tiled domes are only the beginning for what is to come in Uzbekistan. A day is sufficient for Tashkent. We went to Samarkand-Bukhara-Khiva next in that order, and flew back from Khiva to Tashkent, but you can also do it in the reverse order, which may be more impressive. We found truly mixed opinions on people’s favorite city, everyone we spoke to had a different preference, so I suggest visiting all three for yourself. Samarkand: Big, regal, blue beautiful. Samarkand was beautiful. On the afternoon of day one after out train from Tahskent we visited the Babi-Khanym mosque (can be seen mostly from the outside, paying to go inside only gets you photo ops), a mosque right next to it (worth visiting and free), Shah-i-Zinda the place of burial of several kings which is absolutely stunning and where all the Instagram photos are taken. The next day we visited the Registan which is massive, stunning, and gorgeous. Three large madrassas with a treasure trove of architectural beauty inside each of them. The square was apparently the set for military parades and executions alike. This will take half a day. The other highlight of the day was the inside of Amir Timur mausoleum, which was also stunning with gold plated ceilings and beautiful tiles. If we had extra time, we would probably try to hit the Ulugbek observatory. Bukhara: the next day we took the train from Samarkand to Bukhara in the morning. Bukhara is a true desert city, brown, dusty and full of clay, in stark contrast with Samarkand. We wandered around the streets of Bukhara, walking in and out of madrassas. Bukhara is much hotter than Samarkand. The highlight of Bukhara is the tower complex of Poy-i-Kalyan with two madrassas and a tower from which prisoners were allegedly thrown to their death many centuries ago. There’s also the Ark (fortress) with museums inside, but we didn’t find this to be worth it. Boro Hauz Masjid is also very pretty and free. Other than this, there’s a central square around a water body at Lyabi hauz square. The little attractions here and there are nice, but not very impressive. What’s nicer is to just walk around taking in the vibes. On the second day, we did a bit more strolling, and then went to the Palace of Moon-like Stars (Sitorai-Mokhi-Khosa - pictured above), which is beautiful and totally worth it! The palace has peacocks roaming the gardens and many beautiful rooms that are comparable in grandeur but contrasting in style to many European palaces. We found a day and a half to be plenty for Bukhara. Khiva: The next morning we took the soviet style sleeper train to Khiva, which was an interesting but not very comfortable experience. Khiva is entirely contained inside a walled city. Buying a day pass for about $10 gives you access to all the sights inside (palace, the ark, several museums-which are less impressive). They also sell an add on ticket to climb the tower and walls, but this isn’t worth it imo. Khiva can be done in one day but two days allow you to truly take in the vibes. We stayed at a lovely guest house just outside the inner city (itchen kala) walls called carousel hotel which was inside a madrassah fitted with western amenities. Khiva truly comes to light after sunset, when all monuments get lit up and evening fanfare and socializing begins. It’s very pleasant to walk around at this time. If you have a second day in Khiva, one can also rent a car and visit some of the desert palaces that are an interesting and unique day trip. If you have more time, one could also extend the trip at this stage to visit the aral sea, the site of a nuclear disaster, where you can see dried lakes and ships grounded in sand. I’m not a fan of dark tourism and this is fairly hard to get to, so we decided to skip it and head to Tashkent to catch our flight to Bishkek instead Kyrgyzstan: I loved Kyrgyztan for its nature, backpacker friendliness, liberal lifestyle and unique experiences! Bishkek: The capital of Kyrgyzstan is a very liveable but not very touristy, There’s a really nice museum of history and lots of western style cafes with veggie and vegan food (giraffe café, boon boon thai, sierra coffee) Song Kul lake: One of the highlights of Kyrgystan was a 3 day horseriding trek to Song Kul lake. We booked it through our hostel that was budget friendly and worked with local nomads in the area that set up yurt camps in the mountains during the summer. To get there one needs to take the 7am marshrutka from Bishkek to Kyzart, where the trek begins. The horse trek involves 4-5 hours of horse riding a day, all meals and night stay in yurts. We spent the first night in a beautiful valley and they second night right by song kul lake playing volleyball with the local kids. The last day was a terrifying climb atop a horse down a mountain pass. The horses in Kyrgyzstan (and animals in general) are treated very well, and my horse riding skills improved dramatically. A very unique experience, it’s one I recommend. Bokanbayevo: After song kul lake, we took three marshrutkas/share taxis from Kyrzart -Kochkor – Balikchy – Bokanbayevo for $10 each. One could also take a direct taxi there for $80. Bokanbayevo is a lovely town on the south shore of Issyk Kul lake, one of the largest lakes in Kyrgyzstan. With several yurt stays and guests houses right by the water and snow capped peaks visible on the other side, this is a relaxing stopover. Famous for all kinds of activities and a bit touristy imo. This is the only place (as far as I know) where one can watch an eagle hunting show. Eagles have been hunting companions for Kyrgyz people for centuries. Golden eagles are massive and these wonderful creatures are trained from a very young age to catch prey as big as fox or deer. Although a bit touristy, this was definitely a must visit for us. You can also watch a horse archery demonstration, book a Kyrgyz home-cooking class, and a yurt building demonstration here. The south shore of Issyk kul is much more charming than the north. Southern shore: the southern shore has several worthwhile stops between bokonbayevo and karakol. We hitched a ride with some folks that had a car which made it easy to do all the stopovers. But if not, one could easily split it up into a couple of day trips accessible by public transportation/hitchhiking with locals (which is extremely common). The places worth stopping at are: Skazka canyon, also called fairytale canyon (pictured below), with it’s steep wall-like rock formations, and colors reminiscent of a cross between cappadoccia and the artists palette from death valley. It’s fairly small though and walkable in a couple of hours. Barksoon waterfall: not accessible by public transportation. A short but steep hike to a set of three waterfalls. The second and third can be seem simultaneously from a viewpoint on a hill and are stunning, it takes about 3 hours to hike to these and back. Jeti Oguz: close to Karakol, the seven bulls, or seven rocks, best visited in the morning. The views from the short hill across from the seven bulls is stunning as well. This can be the starting point of a 5-day hike through Ala kul lake ending in Altyn Arashan. Finally we arrived in Karakol, a little town set up for outdoor tourism. The highlight in this region is the ala kul hike which takes 3-4 days, starting in karakol valley, up to ala kul alpine lake (at 3500m - pictured below), over the pass, and into the town of altyn arashan with the natural hot springs and back down through the altyn arashan valley. Unless you go in July – August where there are yurt camps, you will have to carry hiking gear. Hiking gear can easily be rented in karakol (ecotours) for cheap, but these aren’t western quality and are quite heavy. Expect the tent to be 4 kgs, sleeping bag to be 3 kg, and sleeping mats to be about 1kg. With this gear, hiking up the mountain at an elevation is TOUGH. It’s about 10000 feet or 3000m of elevation which I highly recommend splitting over 4 days if you have gear, but doable in 3 days. There are campsites all along, including at the lake (camping only advisable in summer), and yurt camps are available during on season. Most people end the hike at Altyn Arashan, enjoy the natural hot springs, which feel great after a particularly gruelling previous day. The next day is an easy stroll. The hike extends into Jurgalan valley, which was a gold mining town that’s been repurposed as a hike destination. This is an overnight trip from Karakol. Karakol also has some nice western style cafes (meeting point, lighthouse) for some comfortable recuperation. We then returned to Bishkek via the north coast of Karakol. If you have a few days to spare, one might consider breaking the trip down and spending a night here by the petroglyphs, but we skipped this, choosing to relax in Bishkek instead. Worthwhile extensions to this trip are a few days in Ala Archa national park (but only if you get past the crowds), or at least 3 days to get to Kel Suu lake+Tash rabat, which seems like a pain to get to, and needs a border permit (that any hostel can arrange in 3-7 days), but looks absolutely stunning. Alternately a three day hike around Lenin peak base camp also came highly recommended.
And with that comes the end of a trip of a lifetime! Lovely people, stunning nature, and aching feet! The kindness of people in this region, despite my very limited language skills, is commendable. I’ll definitely be returning soon before the region becomes a tourist hot spot, which I bet it will soon😉
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Sanjukta Krishnagopal
This is where I put random musings created on cold rainy nights whilst typing away furiously on my laptop. I have been published in the 'creative writing' category' at the Unknown Pen, Youth Ki Awaaz, Terribly Tiny Tales, and Berlin Unspoken. I was also Chief Writer of the Department of Journalism and Media at BITS Goa. I also treat this space as a personal travel blog with practical information. If you are interested in talking about writing, I'd love to hear from you! Archives
September 2022
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