Ala-Archa Canyon

Bishkek is fortunate enough to have a world class mountaineering playground only 30kms from its city centre. Ala-Archa National Park contains more than 20 glaciers and over 50 jaggered peaks.

With the number of the correct marshrutka in mind, and our overnight packs decked out with supplies for the next few days, we swung by the Kazakhstan Embassy to collect our visas, before intending to jump on the marshrutka and head for the hills.

We had submitted our applications over two weeks ago and were told our visas would be ready the following Thursday. So it should be ready, right? 

Wrong.

It appears that while we were enjoying ourselves in Karakol, Kazakhstan's visa policy had changed and Australian passport holders no longer need a visa if their stay is less than 15 days. 

Even though we had applied for a 30 day visa, and already paid, the embassy decided to hold off on processing our visa! What the...?!?

I explained to the man behind the counter that we would be in the country for more than 15 days and so would require the 30 day visa for which we had originally applied and paid.

'Okay. It will be ready at 6pm tonight.'

What!?! We had our bags packed and were ready to hit the road for Ala-Archa. We couldn't hang around till 6pm.

I leaned over the counter towards the official and said with determination, 'We were told our visas would be ready last Thursday at 6pm. We are leaving Bishkek today. Can you process them before you close at 12pm?' 

It was 11am already, so I knew it was a big ask. The expressionless man behind the counter told us to wait one moment before going to speak to his colleague. Upon coming back he said, 'Alright, they will be ready at 12pm'. 

I smiled inside. We took our packs and waited outside. I had my doubts whether it would be ready on time and thought maybe he was just trying to placate us. At 11:45am Claire went back to the counter. 'Not ready' was the response as soon as she stepped in the door. 

At 11:55am, I sat in the foyer. I wasn't going to give them the opportunity to lock us out. Then exactly at 12pm I saw the man I spoke to exit through a back door. Noooo!  My hopes were dashed. It was supposed to be one of the easy visas and now we would have to miss out on Ala-Archa while we sat around in Bishkek another day. 

Just as I had lost hope a man came to the counter and said 'Australia?' He had our passports with a newly inserted Kazakh visa. Hooray! We stepped outside with much glee, double checked the visa dates were correct and headed for the 265 marshrutka which stopped virtually outside the embassy.

It was now early afternoom and the temperature was soaring above thirty degrees. The marshrutka ride was hot, cramped and full of oldies who I dont think appreciated us foreigners taking up their marshrutka space. Our packs were blocking the door and one old grandma, as she disembarked, picked up my pack with superhuman strength and threw it away from the door. I would have been pissed off, but I was too impressed by her ability to lift my pack one handed. 

The 265 marshrutka only goes all the way to the park entrance on weekends,  but we managed to convince the driver to take us all the way for 150 som each. Once at the gate, we bumped into an Indian guy who was also heading to the Alplager and managed to bargain a taxi for 300 som for the three of us. It seemed too cheap to me and the taxi driver displayed his dissatisfaction by speeding around the corners at full pelt. It took me a good 15 minutes for my stomach to find itself once I got out of the car. 

The Alplager is a tiny village with a hotel that looks like it belongs in the Swiss Alps...

After admiring the surroundings, which included a few necessary tourist yurts, we pulled out our trekking poles and began our ascent. When the Lonely Planet said it was a strenuous climb it wasn't kidding. Up and up and up. Very steep. At several points the track split and momentarily Claire and I lost one another but eventually met back up. I waited on a rock in the shade to avoid the stinking heat and took photos of the view.

Finally, after three hours of excruciating pain, we made it to a forrested area which had a few flat spots to pitch a tent.

It was just below the base of the waterfall which is half way to Ak-Sai Glacier, so we decided to leave all our gear here and do a day walk to Ratsek hut the following day, hoping no one would steal our stuff.

We woke up early to start our climb in ordsr to avoid the heat. It only took two hours to get to Ratsek hut and the glacier, thanks to not having our 15kg packs. It was steeper today than yesterday, but thankfully a lot of it was in shade due to the rocky outcrops.

Finally, we reached the quaint valley in which Ratsek hut sits. There was a trickling stream with half dozen tents near by.

There were no people around as it was a perfect day for climbing and hiking and most people were off exploring the glacier and summiting Mt Korona. Above the Ratsek hut is a narrow ridge which is accessible via a scree slope. Once on top, the glacier is in full view and looks a little something like this. 

We could hear voices echoing around the rocky crags above us and soon spotted five rock climbers on a precarious-looking piece of rock up very high. We saw another couple walking down from the glacier but besides that it was pretty deserted and not nearly as busy as we were expecting. 

After chilling on the ridge for about an hour...

... we made our way back down the incredibly steep and slippery slope.

Upon our return it was nice to see nothing had been stolen from our tent. In fact, we gained an addition to our campsite.

I'm guessing he's some kind of Kyrgyzstan squirrel?? Bye bye little friend. Back to Bishkek tomorrow for us. 

Lake Issyk-Kol and Skazka Canyon

After taking a day to recuperate from our epic hike, it wasn't long before we got back on the horse. Literally. After doing some reading on Trip Advisor we came across a horse trekking company called Bulak Say. We decided on the 'Panoramic day trip' starting at 9am and finishing at 3pm. Although it wasn't the cheapest in Karakol, paying around $80 AUS for the two of us, it was well worth it. The valley was beautiful with snow capped peaks, hundreds of brightly coloured wild flowers and no other tourists.

The next day we had sore bums and were thankful for an easy day on a marshurtka getting to the village of Tosor.

Tosor is a small settlement, relatively untouched by tourists, situated on the southern side of Lake Issyk-Kol. 

After scoping out the lake front, we found a place in amongst some shrubbery to pitch our tents for the night.

At sunset we headed down to the lake front and bumped into two Polish girls who had been on the same marshrutka as us from Karakol. They had a purchased a whole watermelon at the local store (they don't sell them in halves or quarters) and needed a knife to cut it and assistance in eating it. Fortuitously, we had just such a knife, so we passed the evening stuffing our faces with watermelon and sharing travel stories.

Five kms down the road from our camp site was the picturesque Skazka (also know as Fairy Tale Canyon).

We thought it would be simple enough to get a marshrutka, but had been warned that transport on the south side is a lot harder than the north. We waited on the roadside for 45 minutes before deciding to walk. After 10 minutes of walking, we saw a marshrutka heading down the road towards us and hailed it down. When we climbed aboard, we found the two Polish girls crammed in the front with their packs, also heading to Skazka. This was very handy because they spoke some Russian and made sure we were dropped off at the right place. 

We were soon at out stop and were met by this stunning view.

The two Polish girls headed to the beach to set up their camp for the night, while we headed on up to the canyon. It was such an amazing contrast to what we had seen in Kyrgyzstan so far. The red gorges can be likened to Utah with the contrasting colours of Lake Issyk-Kol in the background. It was beautiful and definitely worth the 50 som entry fee.

We spent several hours wandering around the canyon and climbing the beautiful red hills. Everywhere we looked was stunning, and we got a bit excessive with our photographing.

We stopped for lunch in the shade of a rock and slowly made our way back to the entrance. The sky started to turn grey and stormy as we walked, so we picked up the pace and high-tailed on outta there, but not before Claire took this beautiful photo.

Next stop, Kochkor, for some horse trekking around Lake Song Kol.