Kyrgyz activities

[fivemack]

In the last two weeks, I have:

Swum across an Alpine lake
Peered across the barbed wire into both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
Ridden a black stallion across the plains around Lake Song-Kul
Climbed up beside the Tash Rabat caravanserai to a place where I could see fifty miles around the horizon, and another place where I could see two million light years up
And washed my undergarments in a glacial stream at sunset

Admittedly the stallion was called the Kyrgyz equivalent of Cuddles and was the result of a special request for the most tranquil horse in the beginners' herd, but the rest work in full generality.

There will be photos of everything except the horse-riding (because trotting while wearing a large camera around the neck is unwise) and the skivvy-laundering, in the fullness of time

Comments

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

That sounds brilliant.

What is the Kyrgyz equivalent of Cuddles?

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

What made you choose Kyrgyzstan? I hear it's a mecca for trekkers. I'll go there one day though it's low on my list as I prefer architecture heavy destinations. Heard good reports on the place though.

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

I kept reading books set in the mountains of central Asia, and thought it would be nice to go there some day.

I'm not very keen on visiting oppressive dictatorships (OK, with a fairly high threshold - I've been to China and plan to go again, and would like to go to Iran for the architecture), which rules out Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan for me. I'd heard enough tales of Kyrgyzstan as the Switzerland of Central Asia and of the wondrousness of its mountains that, when I saw a link at the end of a BBC programme to Wild Frontiers and found on their Web site that they were running a specific Kyrgyzstan trip, I jumped for it.

The scenery is as amazing as they said; the people are friendly, the yurts are surprisingly warm and comfortable and the fresh-baked bread in the yurt-camps was wonderful.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I'm researching a possible trip to Iran. It would be as part of a tour though a travelling companion would be great if you're interested. All the people I've spoken to who've been recently raved about how good it was.
Unfortunately it's not looking good. Even taking into account the problems you might expect, I've been warned off visiting as a British National. I'm currently researching if going as a French National might be better. (?)
Those bods who visited recently, and loved it - none of them were British Nationals and all were male. Hmmmmm.

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

I would love to join your tour if it turns out to happen.

But I have only the one nationality to use for these purposes; so I think I would be inclined to wait until the FCO stop marking all of Iran as 'do not visit unless essential', which might take a little while since they appear a touch peeved at having had their embassy burned down three years ago. My inexpert impression is that the Iranian government is becoming slightly fluffier with time, so maybe by the end of the decade ...

I'm contemplating a complete change of category-of-destination and going to South Korea at Easter, stopping off for a few days skyscraper-gazing in Hong Kong on the way; I don't know if that's the kind of architecture that you like your destinations heavy with.