Kyrgyzstan Booklet

Expedition Manual

Kyrgyzstan The Silk Road

19 June - 28 June, 2019

2

Useful Phrases

Hi! Salam!

How are you? Kandai?

Fine! Jakshy!

Ok! Makul!

Thank you! Rakhmat!

I love you! Men seni suyom!

My name is... Menin atym...

What is your name?

Senin atyng kim?

Good bye!

Salamatta kalyngyz!

Bon Appetite!

Tamagyngyz tattu bolsun!

Wow! (surprise) Ayeeeee!

Fast!

Bat! Tez! Wait! Tokto!

Yes Ooba No Jok Aunt Eje Uncle Baike Please Suranych Thanks Rakhmat Let’s go!

Kettik!

1

Bishkek Day 1: 19-06-2019

0 km

Plaza Hotel Osh Bazaar : Bishkek’s most central bazaar where one can buy food products, almost any common household good, clothes, souvenirs, musical instruments and even Kyrgyz national clothes. It has a vibrant atmosphere and is a great place to experience the culture of the country.

Ala Too Square : Ala-Too Square, is the central plaza in Bishkek and one of the city’s major landmarks. Ala-Too in Kyrgyz means “great mountain”, symbolizing the mountainous terrain and nature of the country.

State Museum of Fine Arts : Collections of Kyrgyz embroidery and felt rugs, a splendid variety of paintings, and rotating exhibitions of local and international touring works all make a visit here worthwhile.

2

start: Bishkek end: Cholpon Ata Start Bishkek

End Tokmok

Day 2: 20-06-2019 Distance Kilometre 75.2

Tokmok

Chon Kemin

120

Chon Kemin

Cholpon Ata

85.6

Cholpon Ata

Kapriz Resort

6.5

Total

1

287.3

Kapriz Resort

287 km

Burana Tower: One of Kyrgyzstan’s best known archaeological sites. Burana is also home to a museum of important archaeological pieces that tell the history of the Silk Road and Kyrgyzstan’s place on it. It is all that’s left of the city of Balasagun, which was the capital of the Karakhanid Empire in the 9th century.

Horse Games: Horse Games, are possibly the most famous of all traditional Central Asian sports and is more commonly known as buzkashi, origin - Afghan.

Issyk Kul: An endorheic lake in the northern Tian Shan mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan. It is the seventh deepest lake in the world, the tenth largest lake in the world by volume, and the second largest saline lake after the Caspian Sea. Issyk-Kul means “warm lake” in the Kyrgyz language; although it is surrounded by snow-capped peaks, it never freezes.

start: Cholpon Ata end: KarakolDay Day 3: 21-06-2019

142 km

Hotel Green Yard

Start

End

Distance Kilometre

Cholpon Ata

Semenov Gorge

41

Semenov Gorge

Oital

38

Oital

Karakol

63.1

Total

142.1

Petroglyphs : One of the main sights in Cholpon-Ata is the open-air museum of petroglyphs, located just outside the city center. The 42 hectares of the museum are dotted with stone circles, tombs, balbals, and a variety of petroglyphs. These petroglyphs date from the 2nd millennium BCE up to the 4th century AD. Dungan mosque: This stunning mosque is an architectural wonder that uses no nails whatsoever. A tip-tilted triple roof,carved-layered eaves and wooden exterior pillars give this colourful 1910 mosque the look of a Chinese Buddhist temple. Remarkably it survived the early Bolshevik era, which saw the town’s other eight mosques destroyed.

2

start: Karakol end: Karakol

Day 4: 22-06-2019 START Karakol

END Ak-Bulun

DISTANCE Kilometre

Enilcheck

98

Enilcheck

Karakol

138

1

276 km

40

Ak-Bulun

Total

Hotel Green Yard

276

Karkara Valley : Enjoy the views of high mountains covered with glaciers.

You will drive along striking rivers and great passes.The beautiful, broad valley of the Karkara River is an age-old summer pasture for herds from both sides of what’s now the Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan border.

Enelchek : The Enelcheck Glacier is considered to be one of the largest glaciers in Kyrgyzstan and also the fastest. The South Enilchek Glacier ranks as the sixth longest non-polar glacier in the world and is the largest and fastest moving glacier in Kyrgyzstan.

start: Karakol end: Tamga

Day 5: 23-06-2019

120.5 km

Homestay

Jeti Oguz : One of Kyrgyzstan’s most photographed natural features, the Seven Bulls (Jeti-Ögüz) is an abrupt serrated ridge of ferric-red sandstone cliffs that have been vertically diced into a series of rounded bluffs. The formation isn’t especially big, but it looks particularly striking in late spring when the rock’s rosy colours contrast with the surrounding green fields and hills.

Baraskoon Valley : Etched in history, Baraskoon Valley is a rich glacial valley which was an important trading port on the ancient Silk Road. The valley is now famous for its lush green pastures, making it home to Kyrgyz Nomads, as well as a great picnic spot for city folk from Bishkek. We will have a picnic lunch here.

START

END

DISTANCE Kilometre

Karakol

Jeti Oguz

42

Jeti Oguz

Barskoon Gorge

67.5

Barskoon Gorge

Tamga

11

Total

120.5

2

start: Tamga end: Naryn Day 6: 24-06-2019

START

END

DISTANCE Kilometre

Tamga

Bokonbayevo

50

Bokonbayevo

Kochkor

118

Kochkor

Kichi Naryn Gorge 119

Kichi Naryn Gorge Naryn Total 1

287

Kahn Tengri Guest

287 km

Kyrgyz Eagle Hunting : There are only a handful of expert hunters left to this day who are determined to keep this ancient practice alive. While falcons and hawks are used in many parts of the world, Kyrgyz consider these birds right for ametuers. They train the Golden Eagle, calling it the bird of God, preferring to hunt with them as they find them more intelligent, powerful and lethal.

Jalpak Bel : A high altitude pass, situated at an altitude of 3,300 Meters.

This will be one of the highest points of our journey through the TanShien Mountains.

start: Naryn end: Naryn

Day 7: 25-06-2019 Kahn Tengri Guest House

228 km

Tash Rabat : With a dramatic mountainous backdrop, the Tash Rabat Caravanserai in Kyrgyzstan stands out in the middle of nowhere.

It’s a true Silk Road relic! Tash Rabat is what is known as a ‘caravanserai’, the name given to a sort of roadside inn where travellers could stop for the night or a few days to rest. They catered for both, humans and animals, that were travelling along the Silk Road and, while having accommodation and food facilities, often provided some opportunities for trade and religious rituals. What makes Tash Rabat slightly mysterious is that its layout is unusual for this kind of caravanserai.

What’s left is a single structure that looks like a blend between a castle and a temple. Built of hefty stone, it stands out against the mountainous backdrop and vast nothingness. In total there are 31 rooms. The walls are 1 m thick. There are also underground prison cells formerly used to incarcerate thieves in ancient times.

START

END

DISTANCE Kilometre

Naryn

Tash Rabat

114

Tash Rabat

Naryn

114

Total

228

2

start: Naryn end: Song Kul Day 8: 26-06-2019

Traditional Nomadic Yurts

START

END

DISTANCE Kilometre

Naryn

Kara Unkur

52.5

Kara Unkur

Song Kul

85.9

TOTAL

1

138.4

138.4 km

Yurts : A traditional yurt is a portable, round tent covered with skins or felt and used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure comprises an angled assembly or latticework of pieces of wood or bamboo for walls, a door frame, ribs (poles, rafters), and a wheel (crown, compression ring) possibly steam-bent. The roof structure is often self-supporting, but large yurts may have interior posts supporting the crown. Tonight, we will stay in traditional nomadic yurts.

Song Kul : Song Kul is a high alpine lake, and the second largest lake in Kyrgyzstan. It is surrounded by high mountain pastures called jailoos, where Kyrgyz herdsmen graze their livestock during the summer months (June to August), living a semi-nomadic life in yurt camps.with a vast, expansive park that together offer hundreds of activities!

start: Song Kul end: BishkekDay Day 9: 27-06-2019

296 km

Plaza Hotel START

END

DISTANCE Kilometre

Song Kul

Kochkor

88

Kochkor

Tokmok

132

Tokmok

Bishkek

76

Total

296

2

FOOD & DRINK IN BISHKEK Supara Ethno Complex

Chaikana Navak

Kyrgyz International

Teahouse

Shashlyk No 1

Pur Pur

Grill

Georgian

Vinoteka

Kulikovskii

European

Bakery

Area

Varenichnaya Korchama

Afghani

Ukrainian

Lapsha Po Landzhouski

Arzu

Chinese Islamic

Central Asian

NOTES

NOTES

EMERGENCY CONTACT INFOMATION

Ambulance: 103

Police: 102

Fire Brigade: 101

Medical Service: 151

Sergey: +996 555 99 37 33 Indian Embassy: +996 312 979 256 2

© Terraquest Expeditions 2019 © The Silk Road by Terraquest www.terraquest.in Bharat: +91.9810168680 Abhey: +91.9811811816

1