Day 52 & 53: Cholpon Ata
Day 52: Bishkek to Cholpon Ata
Tried to extend my Visa but I will only know the result in a weeks time. Left my passport with the agency and I made my way to Cholpon Ata, a small town by Lake Issykul.
Like in kazakhstan, the busstops here in Krygyzstan are not easy to locate. There are no proper shelters. You will have to look for them. The best bet will be to look for people who are standing by the roadsides. And when I say bus, it actually means minibus in Krygyzstan and it is most of the time very crowded. To the extend that we are all standing back to back. Packed like in a sardine can.
There are also long distance minibus which only leaves when full. I took one of these to Cholpon Ata. Photos taken along the way.
The guesthouse I stayed at is very nice but alittle expensive. The internet here is also expensive. It charged by per MB sent and recieved instead of per hour. I think that internet is like a luxury item here.
My dinner, Laghman. A very standard and traditional national food in central asia.
Day 53: Cholpon Ata
Breakfast was included in the price of this guesthouse. It has been a long time since I had such a wonderful breakfast.
My bed. The krygyz love to use carpet to decorate their house. They even hang it on the wall.
The lady owner at my guesthouse had a very serious face all the time but she was actually very helpful. She gave me a lift to the PETROGLYPHS. I was not expecting that. These petroglyphs (ancient inscription on rocks) was dated from the later bronze age and the 8th century BC to 1st century AD.
The view from the Petroglyphs. It was beautiful. It look as if these mountains were hanging in the midair. How wonderful.
I took lots of pictures here. Some were drawings of ancient hunting and some were pictures of animals. Lets see if you can actuallly figure out what it is. So sit back and enjoy the beautiful drawings from our forefathers.
After losing myself among these rocks for hours, I went to see Lake IssyKul, the 2nd largest alphine lake in the world. The largest alphine lake is in South America. Here are some pictures taken along the way.
The toilet. This is how it works. They bascially dig a very huge hole in the ground and when this hole is filled up to its breams, then they will cover it up and dig another hole somewhere else.
Lenin. You see him everywhere.
At Lake Issykul. I realised that I perfer this kind of lake that has mountain views at its surroundings over huge lakes where I cannot even see the other side. If the lake is too huge, then it feels like an ocean to me and so It will be nothing special.
I really like it here at this lake. Quiet, peaceful and tranquility. No city rush. Only sound of the water in the lake, sound of the wind blowing, and occasional chipping sound of the birds and the ringing sound of silent. I am so glad that I am now at the low season. No crowd to break the peace.
The water is so clear.
More pictures.
In this trip, I realised that my mindset had changed. I used to just travel and wanna enjoy by myself. But now, whenever I am in such a amazing place, I will think of my parents. I will be telling myself that i think my parents will like it here too. and I will want to bring them here someday. They brought me around when I was young, now its time for me to show them around.
Spent the whole afternoon at the lake. Then when I made my way back, I passed by this hotel and met some people who were interested in me. They want to know more about where I come from and my country and so I ended up chating with them. Like in Kazakhstan, many people here do not know where Singapore is. "Is it a country?" "India right?" "Malaysia?" These are some of the questions I get from them. I am so surprise that they do not know about Singapore as we are all living in Asia!. First thing when people saw me, they will always guess that i am from Japan or China. When I tell them Singapore, they will say "Singapore? In china?"
This is the hotel and the people I spoke with.
We chatted till the sunset.
Before I left the place, they introduce me to some national Krygyzstan food and tell me that I will have to try it. So they draw me a map to the place, and also wrote me a note for me to pass to the waiter when i am in the restuarant. This will solve the problem of language barrier in the restruarant.
So cute. The note goes something like "please give me some manty (which is the food that I had to try) with chilli, pliof(bread) and Chai(Tea). Thank you."
Here's the food.
And in every restuarant or eatery, you will find a fur cushion on the seat as it is cold. I call it the ass warmer. HAHA.
*Click HERE to return to the Main Page of The Cold Journey.*
Tried to extend my Visa but I will only know the result in a weeks time. Left my passport with the agency and I made my way to Cholpon Ata, a small town by Lake Issykul.
Like in kazakhstan, the busstops here in Krygyzstan are not easy to locate. There are no proper shelters. You will have to look for them. The best bet will be to look for people who are standing by the roadsides. And when I say bus, it actually means minibus in Krygyzstan and it is most of the time very crowded. To the extend that we are all standing back to back. Packed like in a sardine can.
There are also long distance minibus which only leaves when full. I took one of these to Cholpon Ata. Photos taken along the way.
The guesthouse I stayed at is very nice but alittle expensive. The internet here is also expensive. It charged by per MB sent and recieved instead of per hour. I think that internet is like a luxury item here.
My dinner, Laghman. A very standard and traditional national food in central asia.
Day 53: Cholpon Ata
Breakfast was included in the price of this guesthouse. It has been a long time since I had such a wonderful breakfast.
My bed. The krygyz love to use carpet to decorate their house. They even hang it on the wall.
The lady owner at my guesthouse had a very serious face all the time but she was actually very helpful. She gave me a lift to the PETROGLYPHS. I was not expecting that. These petroglyphs (ancient inscription on rocks) was dated from the later bronze age and the 8th century BC to 1st century AD.
The view from the Petroglyphs. It was beautiful. It look as if these mountains were hanging in the midair. How wonderful.
I took lots of pictures here. Some were drawings of ancient hunting and some were pictures of animals. Lets see if you can actuallly figure out what it is. So sit back and enjoy the beautiful drawings from our forefathers.
After losing myself among these rocks for hours, I went to see Lake IssyKul, the 2nd largest alphine lake in the world. The largest alphine lake is in South America. Here are some pictures taken along the way.
The toilet. This is how it works. They bascially dig a very huge hole in the ground and when this hole is filled up to its breams, then they will cover it up and dig another hole somewhere else.
Lenin. You see him everywhere.
At Lake Issykul. I realised that I perfer this kind of lake that has mountain views at its surroundings over huge lakes where I cannot even see the other side. If the lake is too huge, then it feels like an ocean to me and so It will be nothing special.
I really like it here at this lake. Quiet, peaceful and tranquility. No city rush. Only sound of the water in the lake, sound of the wind blowing, and occasional chipping sound of the birds and the ringing sound of silent. I am so glad that I am now at the low season. No crowd to break the peace.
The water is so clear.
More pictures.
In this trip, I realised that my mindset had changed. I used to just travel and wanna enjoy by myself. But now, whenever I am in such a amazing place, I will think of my parents. I will be telling myself that i think my parents will like it here too. and I will want to bring them here someday. They brought me around when I was young, now its time for me to show them around.
Spent the whole afternoon at the lake. Then when I made my way back, I passed by this hotel and met some people who were interested in me. They want to know more about where I come from and my country and so I ended up chating with them. Like in Kazakhstan, many people here do not know where Singapore is. "Is it a country?" "India right?" "Malaysia?" These are some of the questions I get from them. I am so surprise that they do not know about Singapore as we are all living in Asia!. First thing when people saw me, they will always guess that i am from Japan or China. When I tell them Singapore, they will say "Singapore? In china?"
This is the hotel and the people I spoke with.
We chatted till the sunset.
Before I left the place, they introduce me to some national Krygyzstan food and tell me that I will have to try it. So they draw me a map to the place, and also wrote me a note for me to pass to the waiter when i am in the restuarant. This will solve the problem of language barrier in the restruarant.
So cute. The note goes something like "please give me some manty (which is the food that I had to try) with chilli, pliof(bread) and Chai(Tea). Thank you."
Here's the food.
And in every restuarant or eatery, you will find a fur cushion on the seat as it is cold. I call it the ass warmer. HAHA.
*Click HERE to return to the Main Page of The Cold Journey.*
posted by ZeeVinCeZ at 12:20 AM
2 Comments:
The toilet design is worrisome...sekali you fall into the hole, screaming..."deep shit"
haha.. nice one!!!
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