Our last stop, Arslanbob, was quite the journey to reach but more than worth it. We arrived with plans to camp, hike and maybe mountain bike but were quickly put on a tight budget when we learned there was no ATM or credit card access in town. In the end it worked our perfectly as we spent almost three days exploring the town and surroundings on foot.
The town is actually very popular with local tourists trying to escape the city heat and features a soviet time camp with little cabins over a sprawling area. We stayed in a home stay near the centre with a family. We had our own little second-storey cabin that overlooked the mountains. It was the best food of the whole trip and we had a great time blowing bubbles with the 3 year old.
After using our last soms to secure a shared taxi back to Bishkek, we embarked on a nail biting journey over two passes and through open jailoos before arriving back in Bishkek. Total travel time was about 12 hours and we both were looking forward to our last day before our flight, we had no idea it would end up including new friends and a special tour of the city.
We had contacted Azamat, the son of the family we stayed with outside At Bashi, whom we met for coffee our last morning. Although Kyrgyz, here received the opportunity to go to the states for the last year of high school and ended up staying through college for 10 years. It was so nice to sit down and reflect on our experiences and ask some burning questions about observations we had made about the country and culture. We were so fortunate to be invited to his flat for dinner where we met his wonderful wife and 9 month old son. Turns out we were all the same age and had a great evening sharing stories. They had recently bought a plot of land and took us to see it as well as the lookout point over Bishkek. It was a very special end to an amazing trip.
Although it is sad to leave this great country that really grew on us, it is merely a pause before the next adventure reveals itself, can't wait!
No comments:
Post a Comment