Why Kyrgyzstan:
IESE, like many European schools has a monthlong break in between the end of classes and graduation. Traditionally, the graduating class all goes to Japan. However, due to COVID, that trip was cancelled and instead, students were left to come up with their own plans. Most students stayed in Spain. However, having already visited all 17 autonomous communities, I decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to take an international trip.
When selecting a country to visit, I used 6 criteria:
- The country had to allow US tourists without a quarantine
- The country could not be on Spain´s quarantine list
- The country could not be severely impacted due to Ramadan
- The country had to be far enough from the US to make it worthwhile to visit now rather than when I live in the US
- The country had to have adventurous activities
- The country should have at least decent weather this time of year
Based on these criteria, I decided that Kyrgyzstan was the optimal choice.
After booking my plane ticket, I tried to find someone to go with me. I posted on Instagram and Facebook and ended up getting a yes from Sonia, a classmate from Portugal. She had never been to Asia before and was up for an adventure.
The next step was to find a tour company or guide to take us around. As I did not speak Russian, I felt that having someone would not only allow us to better optimize our time but also gain better insights into the culture. After scouring the Every Passport Stamp Facebook group, I found a company called Kyrgyz Riders based out of Kochkor. The company specialized in horse trekking. May was considered shoulder season for horse trekking, but this company ran a trip in February. This gave me the confidence to know that I could go in May.
The price quoted for a 6-day trip. The price seemed very fair when compared to my online research. We agreed to pay in cash on arrival.
May 2, 2021: Welcome to Kyrgyzstan
Sonia and I arrived at Bishkek´s Manas International Airport from Istanbul at 2am. Immigration was a breeze. In the baggage claim I purchased my SIM card. For €1.5, I got unlimited data for a week making it the cheapest data I have ever purchased.
Outside of the terminal, we were met by our guide Aman. He was a shorter Kyrgyz man wearing a dark athletic outfit. He is 29, married and has a young daughter born during the pandemic.
Many readers of this blog may ask who the Kyrgyz people are and what do they Kyrgyz people look like. The answer reflects the many outside influences that have shaped Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz people are nomadic. Their origins are in Siberia. Over 3,000 years ago they migrated to what is now called Kyrgyzstan. Therefore, the people of Kyrgyzstan look similar to Mongolians and the nomadic cultures are similar. Kyrgyzstan is still a tribal society. 40 tribes inhabit Kyrgyzstan.
Some of those same nomads then migrated to Turkey, where they eventually settled. The Turkish believe that their people originated in Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz language (along with the Kazakh, Uzbek, and Turkmen languages) is related to Turkish. Perhaps this explains why Turkish Airlines has so many flights to Central Asia.
For most of history, empires came through Kyrgyzstan but never stayed because the nomadic people had no cities to conquer and no resources to plunder. However, in the late 1800´s, the area became part of the Russian Empire. At this point in history, the Kyrgyz language had never been written down and there were no cities. The Russians codified the language using their Cyrillic script. The Kyrgyz language has a few extra letters, but the casual observer would not be able to recognize this difference.
The Russians also built most of the cities in Kyrgyzstan including Bishkek, the capital, which was founded in 1868.
Kyrgyzstan became an independent country with the collapse of the Soviet Union. With one notable exception in the south, the Soviets did a good job creating these borders, unlike in the Caucasus and near Ukraine. This makes Kyrgyzstan a rare country where an ethic group controls its entire traditional homeland and never had to fight for it.
Kyrgyz people are Muslim. The country of Kyrgyzstan is 86% Muslim, with Russians and other former Soviet peoples comprising the other 14%. Many Kyrgyz people have traditional Islamic names. Despite the official demographics, Kyrgyz people are not very religious. That is for two reasons. First is the nomadic lifestyle which means that there are very few mosques and less power for the religious authorities. The second reason is the Soviet Union, which tried to stamp out all religions. The Soviet influence is evident in Kyrgyzstan via the large quantities of vodka seen in grocery stores and in peoples´ hands.
We got into Aman´s right-side drive car and headed town. Aman explained that many cars in Kyrgyzstan are imported from Japan, which drives on the left side of the road. Other cars are imported mainly from Germany, but those cost 3x more. Despite the strange configuration, the car functioned perfectly well.
After 40 minutes in the car, we reached the center of Bishkek. Aman led us up the stairs of a classic Soviet bloc-style building and to a door. We knocked and an old lady opened. It turned out to be a hostel.
She showed us to our room which had two single beds and a small but noticeable Lenin portrait handing over one of the beds. We went to bed around 3/3:30 am.
May 3, 2021: Chong Kemin
Sonia and I woke up at 9 am and got breakfast in a nearby Soviet-style cafeteria. The entire meal for both Sonia and me cost $3.
Aman, our tour guide, then drove us out of the city to start the tour.
Our first stop was the Burana Tower, the sole historic sight of the entire trip. The tower was built is the 9thcentury as the minaret for an enormous mosque in the ancient town of Basalagun. The city and the upper half of the tower were destroyed centuries ago. The tower is all that remains.
Despite an awkward Soviet renovation in the 1970´s the tower is in good shape. In 2014, the tower was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
You can climb to the top of the tower. The staircase was narrow and bewilderingly steep.
Additionally, surrounding the tower are large carved stones in the shape of humans. The stones represent people who died, but they are not tombstones because they do not mark human remains. They were simply built to honor the dead.
Next, we drove 1 hour along the Kazakh border to Chong Kemin National Park. This open valley is ringed with snow-covered mountains. Near the sole town in the center of the valley, we checked into our beautiful guesthouse.
We then ate lunch in the airy wooden paneled restaurant on the first floor.
After lunch, it was time for our first horse ride. I put on my padded bike shorts purchased specifically for this trip.
Outside the guesthouse, we met Aziz, the son of the owner of the guesthouse. He first asked us if Sonia and I would like to have a room with one bed instead of two. I replied two because we were not romantically attached to which Aziz replied that he was “very single”. This put us both, but especially Sonia, on edge.
We all then got on horses and rode for 3 hours along the valley floor. We crossed rivers and fields with perfect vistas of mountains covered in snow. Sonia had only ridden a horse once before so this was to be our warm up ride before the real horse trek in a couple days.
As it turned out my horse walked considerably faster than everyone else´s so I was on my own. Every time I turned back, I saw Aziz talking with Sonia. I hoped he was giving her horse riding tips, but my guess was not.
The ride ended and we all got tea in the guesthouse. There, we chatted with an American Foreign Service Officer (diplomat) and her family. The family has been in Kyrgyzstan for 6 months, but they arrived in November, right at the start of winter. Before that, they were living in sunny Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The family said that the winters in Kyrgyzstan are brutal, so they have not been enjoying the country. Nevertheless, they are hopeful that the summer will bring better experiences.
Then we got dinner, which was really delicious.
Then we drank local wine courtesy of Aziz, who sat down at our table. After a long conversation, we discussed the unfortunate Kyrgyz tradition of ala kachuu or bride kidnapping.
Bride kidnapping has existed in Kyrgyzstan for centuries. Traditionally, the man would arrive on horseback and take the women to his house. Today this typically takes place in a car with the help of the kidnapper´s friends. He would take the woman to his family´s house. There, the kidnapper´s female relatives (sisters, mom) would attempt to convince the woman to put on a scarf which represents acceptance.
Sometimes the woman would refuse, and she would eventually be released (although not always – in April 2021, a woman was killed for not accepting a kidnapping proposal). Unfortunately, most women accept these marriage “proposals” due to a cultural stigma regarding virginity. Even though it does not always happen, there is a presumption that because the woman has spent time in the man´s house, she might no longer be a virgin. This presumption will make her undesirable to other suitors.
Interestingly, many of the kidnappings are consensual (meaning that they are planning to get married and do this step for cultural reasons).
Kyrgyzstan officially made bride kidnapping illegal in 1994 but there were no penalties enforced until 2013. It is estimated that today half of all Kyrgyz brides enter marriage through kidnapping, of those 2/3 are non-consensual.
In general, the kidnappings are far more common in rural areas than in cities. Aziz mentioned that he had a girlfriend who was kidnapped while they were dating. She is now married to the kidnapper. He said that men who kidnap brides do it because they have no game and otherwise could not find a wife.
While bride kidnapping is a real worry for local women, it is not a worry for foreigners. A foreigner has been bride kidnapped only once. Once the kidnapper discovered that the girl was not Kyrgyz, he immediately returned her.
We then went to bed.
At 3AM, a large group of people entered the hotel. The voices appeared to be both men and women. After dealing with creepy Aziz and hearing about the bride kidnapping, Sonia was extremely freaked out (rightfully so). She woke me up and I stood guard by the door while the group appeared to walk around the building attempting to open doors. After 5 minutes, the group left, and I went back to sleep.
The same group entered the hotel at 5am and of course Sonia woke me up again. For a second time, the people came and left. I then went back to sleep.
Nothing bad ended up happening, but it certainly spooked Sonia and started the trip off on the wrong foot. Hopefully, this would be a one-off incident instead of the norm.
May 4, 2021: Issyk Kul
Aziz served us breakfast at 8:30 and was shocked to hear about the noises. He guessed that it was local young adults coming to the hotel to party. That said, we will never truly know what happened.
We then got in Aman´s car and headed out. Our drive took 2.5 hours through some seriously impressive mountains. On the far side of the mountains, we reached it: Issyk Kul.
Issyk Kul (Kyrgyz for “warm lake”) is Kyrgyzstan´s largest lake. Despite being at a high elevation in a cold country, the lake never freezes in the winter due to underwater geothermal activity.
The lake is one of Kyrgyzstan´s most popular destinations, especially for wealthy Kazakhs who come in the summer to experience the closest thing in the region to an ocean. The north side of the island, the side closest to Kazakhstan, is full of beach resorts and reportedly has a really fun clubbing scene.
We were on the south side of the lake, which has real towns including the popular trekking destination of Karakol.
Our first stop at Issyk Kul was a yurt glamping site. There, we ate lunch and walked along the lakeshore.
Next, we drove 5 minutes away to watch a cultural demonstration of eagle hunting.
Hunting with eagles has been an important part of the nomadic cultures of Central Asia for centuries.
The birds are captured from their nests when they are newly hatched. The birds are still young enough to consider the hunter their “mom”. They then accompany the hunter. Eagles have incredible eyesight and can spot prey from kilometers away. With the hunter´s blessing, the eagle will take out the prey.
The most common prey are rabbits, but eagles can kill animals as large as a wolf!
The eagles are released back into the wild when they are 18-20 years old. Their lifespan is typically between 50-60 years.
Hunting normally only occurs during the winter, so in the summer, the eagle hunters do these demonstrations for tourists.
First, we held the eagle. I was surprised by its 2.5-meter wingspan and humongous talons that must be at least 10 centimeters. When you see these eagles up close, it makes perfect sense that they can kill a wolf. Heck, they can probably kill a human! The bird was also heavy. I would estimate it weighs between 5-7 kilograms.
We watched the eagle in action 3 times. The first time, one of the hunters ran with a sheep pelt. The eagle chased down the hunter and clawed onto the sheep pelt, bringing it to the floor and pinning it to the ground like a wrestler with its humongous sharp talons.
The second demo involved the eagle grabbing a piece of meat out of the hunter´s assistant´s hands from 50 meters away.
For the third demo, the eagle killed a rabbit dropped onto the ground by the hunter´s assistant. Once the eagle had secured the rabbit, it cawed to alert the hunter to pick up the kill. The hunter then fed the rabbit to the eagle. Eagles can only eat live meat, so this was going to be his lunch.
Eagles are not the only animal used for hunting. We also got to see a dog-hunting demo. Once again the hunter´s assistant ran with a sheep pelt. The exceptionally cute dog chased it down and pinned it to the ground.
Next, we did some archery. I did pretty well!
We said goodbye to our hunter friends and drove 30 minutes to the Fairy Tale Canyon. This canyon, which looks just like the red rock areas of the SW United States was the location of our short hike. We scrambled our way up to a viewpoint of both the lake and the impressive rock formations.
Finally, we drove to the lakeshore where Aman prepared a fish grilled on a stone. Fish is not a very popular food item in landlocked Kyrgyzstan, but there are a few fish farms near Bishkek.
For the night, we drove to a guesthouse in the town of Bokonbayevo. Sonia was relieved to learn that the guesthouse was run by a woman named Gulmira. Her husband is a former police officer and is now the chief detective in the region. We felt extra safe tonight.
The next morning, we headed out for our 2-day horse trek.
Final Thoughts:
The scenery both in Chong Kemin and around the lake are absolutely beautiful. I am very glad that I bought the bike shorts because horse riding is tough! The eagle hunting demonstration was also unique.
While nothing bad ended up happening, the combination of incidents that occurred with Aziz during the first day and night underscored the extra difficulties that female travelers face everyday. Kyrgyzstan is not considered a tough place for female travelers, but clearly things can happen anywhere. Perhaps it is because I am a man, but I have generally been oblivious to these aggressions/overly flirtatious behaviors. Moving forward, I need to better assess how people can interpret or experience situations very differently depending on their circumstances and be ready to step in sooner.
May 3, 2021: Chong Kemin
After landing in Bishkek and heading to our Soviet-style hotel, my friend Sonia and I woke up at 9 am and got breakfast in a nearby Soviet-style cafeteria. The entire meal for both Sonia and me cost $3.
Aman, our tour guide, then drove us out of the city to start the tour.
Our first stop was the Burana Tower, the sole historic sight of the entire trip. The tower was built is the 9thcentury as the minaret for an enormous mosque in the ancient town of Basalagun. The city and the upper half of the tower were destroyed centuries ago. The tower is all that remains.
Despite an awkward Soviet renovation in the 1970´s the tower is in good shape. In 2014, the tower was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
You can climb to the top of the tower. The staircase was narrow and bewilderingly steep.
Additionally, surrounding the tower are large carved stones in the shape of humans. The stones represent people who died, but they are not tombstones because they do not mark human remains. They were simply built to honor the dead.
Next, we drove 1 hour along the Kazakh border to Chong Kemin National Park. This open valley is ringed with snow-covered mountains. Near the sole town in the center of the valley, we checked into our beautiful guesthouse.
We then ate lunch in the airy wooden paneled restaurant on the first floor.
After lunch, it was time for our first horse ride. I put on my padded bike shorts purchased specifically for this trip.
Outside the guesthouse, we met Aziz, the son of the owner of the guesthouse. He first asked us if Sonia and I would like to have a room with one bed instead of two. I replied two because we were not romantically attached to which Aziz replied that he was “very single”. This put us both, but especially Sonia, on edge.
We all then got on horses and rode for 3 hours along the valley floor. We crossed rivers and fields with perfect vistas of mountains covered in snow. Sonia had only ridden a horse once before so this was to be our warm up ride before the real horse trek in a couple days.
As it turned out my horse walked considerably faster than everyone else´s so I was on my own. Every time I turned back, I saw Aziz talking with Sonia. I hoped he was giving her horse riding tips, but my guess was not.
The ride ended and we all got tea in the guesthouse. There, we chatted with an American Foreign Service Officer (diplomat) and her family. The family has been in Kyrgyzstan for 6 months, but they arrived in November, right at the start of winter. Before that, they were living in sunny Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The family said that the winters in Kyrgyzstan are brutal, so they have not been enjoying the country. Nevertheless, they are hopeful that the summer will bring better experiences.
Then we got dinner, which was really delicious.
Then we drank local wine courtesy of Aziz, who sat down at our table. After a long conversation, we discussed the unfortunate Kyrgyz tradition of ala kachuu or bride kidnapping.
Bride kidnapping has existed in Kyrgyzstan for centuries. Traditionally, the man would arrive on horseback and take the women to his house. Today this typically takes place in a car with the help of the kidnapper´s friends. He would take the woman to his family´s house. There, the kidnapper´s female relatives (sisters, mom) would attempt to convince the woman to put on a scarf which represents acceptance.
Sometimes the woman would refuse, and she would eventually be released (although not always – in April 2021, a woman was killed for not accepting a kidnapping proposal). Unfortunately, most women accept these marriage “proposals” due to a cultural stigma regarding virginity. Even though it does not always happen, there is a presumption that because the woman has spent time in the man´s house, she might no longer be a virgin. This presumption will make her undesirable to other suitors.
Interestingly, many of the kidnappings are consensual (meaning that they are planning to get married and do this step for cultural reasons).
Kyrgyzstan officially made bride kidnapping illegal in 1994 but there were no penalties enforced until 2013. It is estimated that today half of all Kyrgyz brides enter marriage through kidnapping, of those 2/3 are non-consensual.
In general, the kidnappings are far more common in rural areas than in cities. Aziz mentioned that he had a girlfriend who was kidnapped while they were dating. She is now married to the kidnapper. He said that men who kidnap brides do it because they have no game and otherwise could not find a wife.
While bride kidnapping is a real worry for local women, it is not a worry for foreigners. A foreigner has been bride kidnapped only once. Once the kidnapper discovered that the girl was not Kyrgyz, he immediately returned her.
We then went to bed.
At 3AM, a large group of people entered the hotel. The voices appeared to be both men and women. After dealing with creepy Aziz and hearing about the bride kidnapping, Sonia was extremely freaked out (rightfully so). She woke me up and I stood guard by the door while the group appeared to walk around the building attempting to open doors. After 5 minutes, the group left, and I went back to sleep.
The same group entered the hotel at 5am and of course Sonia woke me up again. For a second time, the people came and left. I then went back to sleep.
Nothing bad ended up happening, but it certainly spooked Sonia and started the trip off on the wrong foot. Hopefully, this would be a one-off incident instead of the norm.
May 4, 2021: Issyk Kul
Aziz served us breakfast at 8:30 and was shocked to hear about the noises. He guessed that it was local young adults coming to the hotel to party. That said, we will never truly know what happened.
We then got in Aman´s car and headed out. Our drive took 2.5 hours through some seriously impressive mountains. On the far side of the mountains, we reached it: Issyk Kul.
Issyk Kul (Kyrgyz for “warm lake”) is Kyrgyzstan´s largest lake. Despite being at a high elevation in a cold country, the lake never freezes in the winter due to underwater geothermal activity.
The lake is one of Kyrgyzstan´s most popular destinations, especially for wealthy Kazakhs who come in the summer to experience the closest thing in the region to an ocean. The north side of the island, the side closest to Kazakhstan, is full of beach resorts and reportedly has a really fun clubbing scene.
We were on the south side of the lake, which has real towns including the popular trekking destination of Karakol.
Our first stop at Issyk Kul was a yurt glamping site. There, we ate lunch and walked along the lakeshore.
Next, we drove 5 minutes away to watch a cultural demonstration of eagle hunting.
Hunting with eagles has been an important part of the nomadic cultures of Central Asia for centuries.
The birds are captured from their nests when they are newly hatched. The birds are still young enough to consider the hunter their “mom”. They then accompany the hunter. Eagles have incredible eyesight and can spot prey from kilometers away. With the hunter´s blessing, the eagle will take out the prey.
The most common prey are rabbits, but eagles can kill animals as large as a wolf!
The eagles are released back into the wild when they are 18-20 years old. Their lifespan is typically between 50-60 years.
Hunting normally only occurs during the winter, so in the summer, the eagle hunters do these demonstrations for tourists.
First, we held the eagle. I was surprised by its 2.5-meter wingspan and humongous talons that must be at least 10 centimeters. When you see these eagles up close, it makes perfect sense that they can kill a wolf. Heck, they can probably kill a human! The bird was also heavy. I would estimate it weighs between 5-7 kilograms.
We watched the eagle in action 3 times. The first time, one of the hunters ran with a sheep pelt. The eagle chased down the hunter and clawed onto the sheep pelt, bringing it to the floor and pinning it to the ground like a wrestler with its humongous sharp talons.
The second demo involved the eagle grabbing a piece of meat out of the hunter´s assistant´s hands from 50 meters away.
For the third demo, the eagle killed a rabbit dropped onto the ground by the hunter´s assistant. Once the eagle had secured the rabbit, it cawed to alert the hunter to pick up the kill. The hunter then fed the rabbit to the eagle. Eagles can only eat live meat, so this was going to be his lunch.
Eagles are not the only animal used for hunting. We also got to see a dog-hunting demo. Once again the hunter´s assistant ran with a sheep pelt. The exceptionally cute dog chased it down and pinned it to the ground.
Next, we did some archery. I did pretty well!
We said goodbye to our hunter friends and drove 30 minutes to the Fairy Tale Canyon. This canyon, which looks just like the red rock areas of the SW United States was the location of our short hike. We scrambled our way up to a viewpoint of both the lake and the impressive rock formations.
Finally, we drove to the lakeshore where Aman prepared a fish grilled on a stone. Fish is not a very popular food item in landlocked Kyrgyzstan, but there are a few fish farms near Bishkek.
For the night, we drove to a guesthouse in the town of Bokonbayevo. Sonia was relieved to learn that the guesthouse was run by a woman named Gulmira. Her husband is a former police officer and is now the chief detective in the region. We felt extra safe tonight.
The next morning, we headed out for our 2-day horse trek.
Final Thoughts:
The scenery both in Chong Kemin and around the lake are absolutely beautiful. I am very glad that I bought the bike shorts because horse riding is tough! The eagle hunting demonstration was also unique.
While nothing bad ended up happening, the combination of incidents that occurred with Aziz during the first day and night underscored the extra difficulties that female travelers face everyday. Kyrgyzstan is not considered a tough place for female travelers, but clearly things can happen anywhere. Perhaps it is because I am a man, but I have generally been oblivious to these aggressions/overly flirtatious behaviors. Moving forward, I need to better assess how people can interpret or experience situations very differently depending on their circumstances and be ready to step in sooner.
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