News is welcome in theAk-Tilek forum thread. Alatau: A hiking path from Almaty to Lake Issyk-Kul. This was once one of the top hiking trails in the Soviet Union, but at the moment this border post cannot be crossed by foreigners, or even locals. Kenbulun & Sartobe:New since 2017,...
Kyrgyzstan briefly became world news in March 2005, when it was the third in a row of velvet revolutions among former Soviet Union countries. President Akayev, who had been the president since 1990 (one year before Kyrgyzstan’s independence) was ousted, to be replaced by opposition leaders who...
Good news my friends! Kyrgyzstan has the most relaxed visa policies of any Central Asian nation. Foreigners holding passports from Europe, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and many others can get a 30 or 60-day visa on arrival with zero hassle attached. ...
“Most foreigners can’t even point to Kyrgyzstan on a map,” says Saidana Kichitayeva, a journalism student from Bishkek University, one of 600 volunteers here. “The Games are our chance to show our country to the world, to show our culture and our traditions.” And for the Kyrgyz, ...
The low-level street harassment so prevalent in some countries is absent here, and while attitudes towards women can be incredibly traditional (bride kidnappings, for example), customs apply to local women, not foreigners. In Bishkek, I worried about the packs of roaming dogs hanging around for...
Our experiences on the 64km Keskenkija Loop trek were simply phenomenal, and knowing that we absolutely the first foreigners to ever do this entire loop is something we’re truly humbled by. To help out future hikers who would like to do this themselves,here is our ultimate guide to trekki...
Safetyin Kyrgyzstan– Despite what you may think, Kyrgyzstan is a perfectly safe and stable country to visit. Kyrgyzstan’s tourism is on the upswing, but many locals will still be fascinated just to encounter foreigners. When to Visit Kyrgyzstan– Unless you want to ski, you should visit in...
Perhaps, what foreigners perceive, is that if trouble erupts in a village or town, several areas which are miles away from the area in question is also unsafe. The reality is: if conflict in a village or town erupts, it is usually contained in that area alone. Adjacent villages or towns...