High up in the mountains outside of Karakol, Kyrgyzstan, via a nearly inaccessible road, I had reached Altyn Arashan. Here I sat, completely naked, and completely silent, in a natural hot spring with a man whose name had an impossible combination of “v”s and “ch”s, whom we agreed to call “Bob”. Occasionally we hit the pause button and realize we are in a unique moment in time, and this was no exception. But before I come back to this, this story starts back in Bishkek a couple days ago.
Having received 2 of 3 visas in Bishkek, and the third awaiting my call the following Monday morning, I had time to get out of Bishkek for a few days, and there was no better place than Karakol. This sleepy little town is renowned for its outdoor scene, and tends to have a “must not miss” reputation around the traveler’s hub. It’s 6.5 hours from Bishkek to Karakol, and along the way it was nice to see some mountain scenery, fresh air, and the stunning lake Issyk-Köl (I posted some pics already!). Once I got there I walked to my hostel, a very clean and spacious property with an owner who speaks near perfect English (so nice!).
The next day I headed to Jetti-Ogüz. A combination of mashrukta (a sort of public bus system- think a dodge sprinter packed wth people getting on and off, paying about 50 cents a ride), hitch hiking, and taxi got me to the small outpost in the mountains south of Jetti-Ogüz proper. About and hour worth of traveling outside Karakol. Though the hiking trails weren’t marked, and I was fairly confused where to go, I simply hiked up the nearby hill as far as I could and was rewarded with some pretty incredible views of mountain peaks, horses at pasture, and the famed “seven bulls” sandstone formations looming over the valley. I’d say it was worth the wiggling to get here.
I relaxed back at the hostel, and had some very in-depth discussions with our hostel owner about development projects in Kyrgyzstan, as well as the developing world at large. He has a long history working as an international consultant in his past life, and has transitioned into humanitarian work here at home, and is incredibly involved with excellent perspective and ideas. I hope to make a separate post talking about his thoughts, as well as some others conversations I’ve had along these same lines. But back to our story- he suggested some other things I should do: including the Sunday morning animal market (largest in central Asia, and Altyn Arashan, THE must not miss destination).
Up at 6:30 am, the animal market was a real hoot. It’s just what it sound like- a massive bazaar vibe, all centre around selling animals. Lots of yelling, laughing, animal noises, and stall-food (omgyessss). It was a lot of fun for me to roam around, and was requested to take pictures of people and their animals almost every 5 minutes. Every photographers dream! Then came some decisions about Altyn Arashan; you see, it’s about an 8 hour hike there, followed by sleeping in the valley, then about 4-5 hours hike back. Not for the faint of heart, or those with 4 very painful, irritating blisters on their feet (hey, that’s me). But, I figured, I probably shouldn’t miss this, and I’d have to deal with the pain anyway. So I took the mashrukta to the trailhead, and started walking.
About 30 minutes into the hike, I heard the sound of an engine…to be specific…the engine of an old, war-hardedend russian van-tank (at which point a van turns into an indestructible off-road vehicle, I’m not sure, but this piece of machinery was flirting the line). I waved them down, and as my luck would have it, it was the owner of Yak tours (one of the hostels in the valley) and his driver coming back from a supply run. This is incredibly rare, and I was pretty excited to hop on in. And we started our ascent.
Valentine and the van-tank
I can’t properly describe the condition of this “road”. I think hiking it by foot would be difficult, and never in my most daring assumptions would I call it a road meant to be traversed by vehicles. 50% mud, 80% boulder, and 100% fury (here’s to you Furiosa), this is by far the worst piece of socially acceptable vehicle routes I’ve ever encountered. My respect for the vehicle and it’s driver are as high as the risk of being crushed by falling rocks- very high.
After about an hour and a half of rock-climbing-with-a-van, we crested the valley of Altyn-arashan, a steep, alpine valley with some serious mountain peaks in the distance. It was, to say the least, absolutely beautiful. Having ascended with these guys, I essentially signed up to stay with them, which is fine. Their “hostel” was a very simple adirondak-esque cabin, with few accouterments, and which hadn’t been cleaned in perhaps…ever. Valentine (pronounced “teen”, not “tine”) whipped up some vegetable stew, and we shared a lunch together.
It was after this lunch that he suggested I check out the hot springs. So the van-tank driver and I walked over to the hot spring, which consisted of a shed with an actually really well developed little pool feel to it. I figured I’d introduce myself to the monster-truck driver, and we settled on “Bob”. Then Bob stripped naked and got in. I had a decision to make here. Would I go ahead and do the I’ll-stay-in-my-short-b/c-im-obvioulsy-uncomfortable….or…just cultural immersion. I chose the latter. And that brings us around to the the start of this story. Don’t you worry, Valentine joined about 10 minutes later.
Bob the van-tank driver and hot spring tour guide
Hot spring
The overnight was bone chilling, but luckily I had a rock hard bed to sleep on and a thin blanket to remind me that I love my down-jacket. Overnight, a hunter apparently dropped off some wild boar, which we ate as a stew in the morning, Valentine, Bob and I. The three amigos, knowing so much more about each other than a mere 12 hours ago. They had to run back to town for more supplies, so I was lucky again to hitch another spine-shattering ride down. All in all, very glad that I was luckily enough to catch the chance to see the valley, and now have a story I won’t be forgetting soon.
The road to Altyn Arashan
Altyn Arashan and the van-tank
Until next time, thanks for reading!
-BK