After some memorable adventures in Samarkand, Bukhara, and the Zaamin Mountains, our journey through Uzbekistan concluded in Tashkent. Now it was time to venture into neighboring Kyrgyzstan, with our sights set on the charming town of Karakol and the breathtaking Tian Shan Mountains in the country’s eastern region. As a first step, we had to reach the Kyrgyz capital.
Buses to Bishkek depart from the central bus terminal of Tashkent (location) near Olmazor metro station at the city’s southern edge. Lacking prior knowledge of exact routes and timetables, we headed there in the early afternoon and found out on the spot. The queue at the ticket booth was long and slow, taking nearly an hour. There was a direct bus at 20:00. We bought our tickets for 290,000 som each and killed several hours remaining before departure.
The station featured two burger places and a counter offering free coffee and tea to ticket holders. Among the countless bus stations I’ve passed through, this was the first time I encountered such a thoughtful gesture—kudos to the managers for that. Where they could improve was with the seating arrangement. While the terminal was palatially spacious, the seats were scarce and in high demand. Once we secured our spots, we made sure not to give them up.
Escaping Tashkent’s jammed streets was a journey in itself. Shortly after breaking free from the city’s traffic, we found ourselves stuck in a long bus queue before the Kazakh border. As the bus plodded forward at a snail’s pace, all we passengers disembarked and continued on foot to the immigration office. Pandemonium reigned inside. The queues at the passport control booths resembled a mob. At times, we had to literally jostle for air.
Adding to the disarray, staff maneuvered large metallic carts laden with unidentifiable blue plastic objects through the packed crowd, mildly injuring people on a couple of occasions that I witnessed. Amid this chaos, police hounds moseyed around, sniffing for drugs and occasionally socializing with wandering stray dogs. In all my innumerable border crossings across all continents that have border crossings, I’ve never experienced a more disorderly process.
After presenting our passports at what felt like ten different checkpoints, enduring luggage searches, and waiting for the bus to clear the border, we finally continued along Kazakhstan’s long, straight, empty roads. As dawn approached, we reached the Kyrgyz border. Here the process was also quite slow but more orderly.
The sun had risen, unveiling breathtaking mountain views as we resumed our journey into Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek was only 10 kilometers from the border, but with an extended stop at a petrol station and the morning traffic in the suburbs, it took us a couple more hours to reach the terminal by 11 am. What was meant to be a 9-hour trip ultimately stretched to 13 hours.
Our original plan was to carry on straight to Karakol. Tired as we were though, we thought it better to rest for a day and continue tomorrow. We walked away from the station and began looking for a cafe to get WiFi and find a hotel.
Two blocks down the street, a lad, seeing us carrying backpacks, ran to us and shouted “Karakol!”
I’m like “When?”
“Right now!”
Sophie and I exchanged glances.
“500 som. AC,” he added.
Go on then. We were sold. We followed him down an alley, entered a modern, comfortable van, and promptly crashed. We woke up only for a hearty lunch in a roadside restaurant and to marvel at some serene views of Issyk-Kul Lake toward the end of the trip. We got off in Karakol at 6 pm, after 22 hours since we boarded the bus in Tashkent.
We found WiFi, booked a room, had a pizza, and crashed anew before getting up in the morning to explore Karakol and begin preparing for our trek to the majestic Ala-Kul Lake.
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Accommodation and activities in Kyrgyzstan
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