Kyrgyzstan: Crossing the Tian San mountains

Our three-week 4×4 trip from Dushanbe to Almaty

From our expedition from Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, to Almaty in Kazakhstan, I have written three articles on our impressions of the trip, which I present to you in chronological order:

• Part 1: Towards the Panj River and Wakhan Corridor in Tajikistan (Dushanbe to Langar)
• Part 2: Crossing the Pamir Highlands in Tajikistan (Langar to Tulpar Kul)
• Part 3: Crossing the Tian San mountains in Kyrgyzstan (Tulpar Kul to Almaty) – Here you are!

Finally, the fourth article, which explains how we organized our trip to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

All texts in color coral indicate an internal or external link.

Discovering the Tian San Mountains in Kyrgyzstan

To keep track of us , I’ve made a map of our route.

This article covers the third part of our expedition between Tulpar Kul and Almaty.

• After our hike around Lenin Peak we headed for OchKyrgyzstan’s second-largest city
• We then went to Tash-Rabat, famous for its caravanserai on the Silk Road. The road was long, so we stopped off at Kazarman.
• We continued on to Lake Son Kul, a magical place!
• Then we discovered Lake Issyk Kul a true inland sea.
• We took one last hike in the Jeti Öguz valley.
• Finally, we ended our expedition in Almaty, Kazakhstan, after a stopover in Karakol.

Osh: a cheerful shopping town

Peak Lenin completes our discovery of the Pamir massif. It’s been a real feast for the eyes, and we’re lucky that the weather has been exceptional!

We thought it would be better to continue in Kyrgyzstan with a local agency.

We’re back on the road from Tulpar Kul to Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second-largest city, to discover a new mountain range: the Tian San.

Maksat is our new guide. He’s a 21-year-old student from a wealthy family in the capital Bishkek. Baket, our driver, is from Sary Mogol. We’ll find out later that this is his first trip with tourists and that he’s never been further than Osh.

Back to civilization and the heat!

Arriving in Osh, the contrast is stark! It’s a large, civilized city with over 235,000 inhabitants, and it’s very hot as we descend to an altitude of 900m. It’s lush and green, even though we’ve just arrived from the arid plateaus of the Pamir.

Osh is a cheerful, anarchic agglomeration that appeals to us with its mix of Soviet and Eastern influences. It has a long trading tradition as a stopover on the Silk Road.

If you look at the map, you’ll see that Osh is very close to Uzbekistan. The division of the former Soviet republics has not always been consistent with the peoples who inhabit them. For this reason, Osh has in the past been the scene of inter-ethnic clashes between Uzbeks and Kirghiz.

A city that lives outdoors

We’re having a bit of trouble getting Maksat, our guide, to understand that we don’t need him to walk around town. He feels responsible for us, even though we could easily be his father!

The city is much livelier than Dushanbe. We see street scenes such as the water deliveryman or the florist.

Lively public parks!

Numerous public parks dot the city. In the heat of the day, the city’s entire population can be found here.

The most interesting is Navoi park, which has old-fashioned entertainment and even a Soviet plane for children to play with!

A must-see in Osh: the Jayma bazaar

Its huge market, the Jayma bazaar, is well worth a visit. It’s one of the oldest in Asia, and it’s not hard to imagine it in the days of the Silk Road. It’s best to visit in the morning. We went too late in the day to enjoy it.

On the road to Tash-Rabat with a stopover in Kazarman

After the Pamir, we’ll cross a new mountain range: the Tian San or Celestial Mountains. To reach our next stopover, Tash-Rabat, we’ll have to travel 600 km… in two days’ drive!

Maksat recommends that we only leave around 10 a.m., as the journey to Kazarman is only 6 hours and the village is of no interest. We shouldn’t have listened to him!

Soon on the road, we experience a tense moment with Maksat and Baket. We discover that our driver has never been to his country. With our help, and maps.me, he finds his way. He worries about the engine of his old car, which suffers on uphill gradients, and stops regularly to let it cool down. Suffice to say, we’re not close to arriving!

What’s more, we feel that Maksat is a little lost and lacking initiative. We try to get in touch with the agency in Bishkek, but without much success, as we’re in the middle of nowhere.

We don’t feel confident and are even thinking of abandoning them and continuing the journey after Kazarman on our own with public transport.

Finally, the road seems a little bland after all we’ve seen since Dushanbe. And yet the scenery is beautiful!

So, after 10 hours on the road, we finally reach Kazarman to spend the night.

The Gory Dzhamantau massif

The night has paid off and we choose to continue with Maksat and Baket. On the one hand, we don’t have much choice, and besides, we sense their goodwill despite their lack of experience. We’ll simply take the lead.

To reach Tash-Rabat, we decide – much to Maksat’s dismay – to take the track instead of the asphalt road. The distance is shorter and, according to our guides, the scenery is much more beautiful. Maksat tells us that the track is in deplorable condition, but the host who put us up in Kazarman disagrees with him.

Maybe Baket is feeling more confident, but he’s no longer worried about his engine and the 4×4 is now rolling along at a good pace. This will be the case for the rest of the trip.

The track is quite passable and the views, with the crossing of two passes in the Gory Dzhamantau massif, very attractive. The relaxation of vacation and travel returns!

Tash-Rabat: a stop on the Silk Road

Tash-Rabat is an ancient caravanserai dating back to the 15th century. Its exact origin is unknown, but it certainly played an important role on the Silk Road.

It has been well preserved and is now one of Kyrgyzstan’s top tourist attractions. Several yurt camps have sprung up around it. But we’re not alone.

The following day, in five hours, we climb to the Tash-Rabat pass at 3800 m to admire Lake Chatir-Kul and beyond to China. The route is well-known and well-traveled.

Young people in the prime of their twenties cheerfully overtake us! But in the mountains the most important thing is to get to the top. Above all, you have to listen to yourself and go at your own pace.

Lake Son Kul: an air of Mongolia

After Tash-Rabat, we continue to another magical place, at 3130 m, Lake Son Kul, reminiscent of the vastness of Mongolia, with large meadows surrounding it. To get there, we climb an impressive winding road.

Around the lake, we discover several yurt camps. Some are occupied by nomadic shepherds, others by tourists. Fortunately, the space is vast and we’re far apart.

Around Lake Son Kul, there’s nothing special to do, just enjoy the surroundings and take a stroll .

Seeing the horses run free is a superb sight. We stay a full day.

Lake Issyk Kul: Central Asia’s inland sea

Simply put, Kyrgyzstan is all about mountains and lakes!

The next stop of our expedition is another slightly salty lake to be classified as superlative: Issyk Kul. It is more than ten times the size of Lake Geneva and the second largest lake in the world. . The impression of being by the sea is real, yet we’re at an altitude of 1,600 m.

A touch of the French Riviera!

We reach it from Lake Son Kul. The temptation is too strong and we decide to go to the beach and swim as if we were at sea. The illusion is perfect: we have a fine sandy beach with umbrellas and, surprise, the water temperature is quite pleasant.

Issyk Kul is a popular vacation destination for many locals, as this is the place on the planet where the real seas are the furthest away.

This time, we prefer to return to the mountains, which are the country’s main attraction.

The canyons around the lake

Next to the lake, we discover the Ak Sai canyons formed by the rain. It’s quite spectacular, but also frightening to see such erosion, as nature seems so fragile.

Similarly, we stop off at Skaska Canyon, but the influx of tourists, albeit relative, detracts from the place’s charm.

Jeti Ögüz: the valley with the epinal image

Jeti Ögüz will be the last mountain range we visit. Tourists go there to see the “seven oxen” rock and the “broken heart”. We found them uninteresting and too close to the road.

The real mountain walks begin further afield, and they’re fabulous.

This is the last time we’ll be sleeping in a yurt. Throughout our trip, we really liked this form of accommodation, which is close to nature yet comfortable and spacious.

On July 27, 2018, we decide to wake up in the middle of the night for a rare event: a total lunar eclipse. We’re high up, the sky is clear and Central Asia is in the zone where we can witness the entire eclipse. It’s magical, but our cameras can’t capture the spectacle unfolding.

In the early morning, it rains for the first time on our trip as we hike up a valley to reach the Ögüz Bashi peak at 5168m.

Curiously, the peak’s new name is now Boris Elstine! The USSR is still very much present in the mountains of Central Asia. Even Vladimir Putin has his peak! The valley is magnificent.

The mountain is surrounded by greenery, with horses roaming freely. It’s a bit of an epinal image, almost surreal. In any case, it’s a wonderful way to end our mountain tour.

Karakol and return to Almaty

Before heading home, we must still discover a more urban vision of Central Asia. After our hike, we leave for Karakol.

Karakol is a small town east of Lake Issyk Kul with a population of 70,000.

Its most important building is the wooden Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity.

Apart from that, it still has an austere Soviet feel, with wide avenues lined with apartment blocks. But we like this uncluttered urban aesthetic.

Kyrgyzstan / Kazakhstan border crossing

Our final stage takes us to Almaty. We’ll be crossing a second land border between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. This time, everything goes quickly.

The road is about 7 hours long, but we are surprised to find ourselves back on a freeway on the last stretch.

We soon realize that this is Baket’s first time in one of these lanes! At first, he’s very hesitant and worried about overtaking, until he realizes that he won’t meet any oncoming cars in the second lane!

On the way, we stop off at Charyn Canyon. But it’s too hot to visit, and we prefer to continue towards Almaty. After three weeks in the wilderness, we’re looking forward to the city!

Almaty: a metropolis in the heart of Central Asia

Arriving in Almaty makes our heads spin. It’s a conurbation of almost two million inhabitants. Baket is lost in the city traffic and we use Google Map to guide him to our hotel.

It’s time to part ways with him and Maksat.

Ultimately, the trip went better than expected and we found a good way of working with our two young people. We enjoyed talking to Baket, a Kyrgyz from the mountains who was poorly educated but determined and endearing, and Maksat, a student from a wealthy family in the capital, who was open-minded but sometimes a little arrogant and over-confident.

A day in Almaty

We’ll be staying in Almaty for a day before heading back to France. It’s a city we really enjoyed.

The city is a recent development created by the Russians in the 19th century. It has therefore retained its Soviet character, with wide, leafy avenues, but also a modern, Western facet. We could imagine Almaty as a Central European city not far from home.

It is located in the foothills of the Tian Shan mountains, where snow-capped peaks can be seen in the distance. For the record, Almaty means “city of apples”. All the apple species we consume worldwide seem to originate from the region’s wild apple trees!

We can’t visit everything in one day. We start with the food market in the center. While not as big as the Osh bazaar, it’s well worth a visit for its food stalls.

Next door, in Panfilov Park, we’ll see the memorial to the two world wars, impressive in its gigantism.

It is located right next to the Museum of Military History.

We can see Almaty’s main mosque in the distance.

We then walk along a shady pedestrian avenue to the Abai Opera House, one of the city’s oldest buildings. Soviet-style buildings stand side by side with more modern, luxurious edifices.

The Russian heritage is reflected in the metro, which, as in Moscow, is very deep with majestic stations.

We take it to a funicular that takes us up to Kok Tobe hill. From here, we have a panoramic view of the city and its iconic TV tower. For the record, there’s a statue in memory of the four Beatles!

The trip is over!

For our last evening, we go to a Georgian restaurant “Дареджани” at 71 Dostyk Avenue. It’s a cuisine we’re unfamiliar with, and one that comes as a pleasant surprise. It’s one of the reasons why we’ll go and discover Georgia three years later! This is the subject of another series of articles I invite you to read here.

The trip comes to an end. We feel we’ve been away for many months, having seen so many beautiful places and things. In a final article, I’ll tell you how we organized this trip, and give you a few useful links so you can create your own!