DAY 12 (7th September 2024)
Kyrgyzstan (Kochkor Market, Chon-Zemin National Park & Burana Tower)
The first order of business for the day was to settle the tire puncture. Only to discover that there was another tire on the way to giving way. From the instructions given by the AirBnb owner, there should be a few in the village centre. So, after breakfast, while FIL, MIL and Wifey packed up our stuff, I went out hunting for the tire repair shop. I was too early – they weren’t open yet. But I didn’t have to wait too long. There was a huge crowd of people in all kinds of vehicles with all kinds of tire ailments, and one thing is for sure – no one queues.
After that was done, we visited the village’s once-a-week animal market, where people from the surrounding areas brought their animals to the market for sale. The sights and sounds were out of this world. We made a detour to Chon-Zemin National Park since we had a bit of time on our hands. We managed to get to the Burana Tower before closing time, and then we ended the day at Kyrgyzstan’s capital city of Bishkek.
Kochkor Village
I found the tire repair “shop” quite easily, although it doesn’t open until 10:00am. Since it was a weekend, I was slightly afraid that it wouldn’t even be open since there were no signboards. The entire village was already stirring to life and I discovered why – the weekly animal market. Vehicles of all shapes and sizes were piling into the village market square, and if there are vehicles, then there are tires to be repaired. My fear was unfounded – the tire repair shop was bustling, those from out of town took this weekly visit as an opportunity to fix their vehicles.
The ”shop” was nothing more than a 40-ft container, plopped onto some foundation along the main road. All who needed their service just parked wherever, removed their tires (some did that on their own), and just rolled the tires into the “shop” to get them mended. No one queues – you need to elbow your way in and explain your issue. Obviously, I didn’t speak their language, and that severely disadvantaged me. But, it didn’t really matter to me, since I was on holiday – these guys (Bro Ray: These guys, with their buff physiques and appearances were a great deterrent for me to speak up about jumping queue) are working.
My turn came, both tires got mended, and back to the AirBnb I went to pick up the rest. Next stop – animal market. It was almost everything I would’ve thought it to be, and yet the experience of being there to see it myself is something else, not to mention that the smell was out of this world. If your nose is not offended by that, and the fact that animal trading is happening right in front of your eyes, then do watch out for the “landmines” – a splattering here, a dollop there and bits and chunks everywhere!
Sheep, cattle and horses were the common commodities on sale, of all sizes, for food, for breeding and everything else in between. No pigs and no poultry, though.
Chon-Kemin National Park
Our original plan was to head to Konorchek Canyon. After getting some food from the market, we crept out of town and hit Route A365, northbound. Along A365. we caught glimpses of Orko Tokoy Reservoir again, but from its west side. There were viewpoints along the road overlooking the reservoir, and we stopped at one of them. After a few snaps, we continued our journey.
We continued our journey, looking for the entrance to Konorchek Canyon, and as we approached, we saw that direct turn-off into the entrance junction was not possible. There were huge concrete barriers installed in middle of the road, and going there meant that we would have to find a legal place to U-turn up ahead, and head back. After we were done with the canyon, we would have to head towards Kochkor to find another legal U-turn to head to where we were going. Route A365 was quite a busy road as well.
We stopped at a rest area for lunch and discussed our options. The Chu River runs almost parallel with Route 365, and it seems that the rest area is also a good location for fishing. Some guys were fishing at the river, and they caught a few indeed.
The others were not too keen to find a U-turn and then to double back later. So, we decided to try the Chon-Kemin National Park instead. It was just a short detour from our side of the road. The further we travelled up the road, the more remote it got. The views though, were not unlike the others we have seen during this trip – beautiful rolling plains, clear streams and snow-capped mountains…. I mean, this country and Kazakhstan are just simply amazingly beautiful.
Burana Tower
Burana Tower is the next stop, just a slight detour along the route to Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan. We arrived there several minutes before closing time, and the lady at the counter was kind enough to let us in. Located just 80km east of Bishkek, this famous tower is part of what remains of the ancient city of Balasagun, a remnant of a civilization that thrived here in the 11th century. Originally built to the height of 45m, several earthquakes over the centuries have reduced it to just over 25m today.
The government restored the structure when it was in danger of collapsing, and today, can welcome visitors to climb its internal stairs all the way to the top. The others were not too keen to climb the tower, so I made it alone to the top. From afar, it does look like the tower is slightly tilted, but it could be that this was the best that the restoration works could do to ensure that it was safe for tourists.
But the Burana Tower is not just about the tower only. There are many gravestones within the site, again remnants of the old city of Balasagun. There was a small museum near the entrance explaining more about the site and its significance to the history of the area.
Bishkek
By the time we arrived at Bishkek city, it was already dark. We checked into our hotel and immediately went for dinner at a famous restaurant called Mubarak, barely 200m from our hotel. Absolutely no regrets in having to wait awhile before we could get seated because it was packed and we had to queue. In the end, we waited a total of 30 minutes before we were ushered to our seats. The food was magnificent, so much so that we thought of also coming here for lunch the next day!
Summary of Day 12
Immediately at the top of my mind when we first arrived at Bishkek was that we should have allocated more time for this city. After the dinner, we managed to walk around a bit, but only to the areas surrounding the hotel. But this is not a fair reflection of what Bishkek has to offer as the capital city of Kyrgyzstan.
Despite driving a fair bit this day, it didn’t feel as tiring as most of the way was on the highway, a main artery for the city and its surrounding. We didn’t get to go to Konorchek Canyon, but we did Chon-Kemin National Park instead. The highlight of the day was the Burana Tower, named as a United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture site.
