After Karakol and the Ala-Kul hike, we spent a week traveling westward to enjoy the two most famous lakes in Kyrgyzstan – Issyk Kul and Song Kul – with a stop at Jeti Oguz en route.
Jeti Oguz – the Beautiful Red Rock “Seven Bulls”
After the Ala Kul hike, we originally planned to go directly to a yurt camp on the southern shore of Issyk Kul. However, after seeing pictures of the beautiful red rock formations at Jeti Oguz (translates to “Seven Bulls”), a village just outside of Karakol, we decided to spend a night there en route to Issyk Kul.
We took our first Marshrutka (mini-bus) from Karakol to Jeti Oguz. I was worried that the Marshrutka would be incredibly uncomfortable, but it wasn’t as bad as I feared. It was hot inside with no air conditioning, but luckily, we got in the van early enough to get seats. The van was standing room only and people were sitting on top of each other. Being foreigners, no one tried to sit on us. However, we did get overcharged by the driver who claimed that we had to pay more for him to drop us off at the stop we requested which was further south than the official village stop. It turned out that he was going there anyways, and other passengers also got off at the same stop. We complained and he returned a bit of money to us. We had read that Marshrutkas and shared taxis have a set rate so you don’t get taken advantage of, but our experience was not so through our trip.
Regardless, we got to where we needed and walked to our Emir Guest House located at the foot of the famous “Seven Bulls” red rocks. I’m not quite sure why it’s called that because I don’t think the rocks look like bulls nor do I count seven. Nevertheless, it was very beautiful and serene. Our guest house was lovely, and the owner was a retired English teacher, so it was easy to communicate which is always a plus.
We met some entrepreneur-ing local kids on the street that were trying to sell us a horse ride. We wanted to walk around and explore, but we were still tired from the Ala Kul hike and it was very hot. So, we agreed – $25 for a one-hour ride with one of the kids being our guide. Not too bad! Salamat, who said he was fourteen but looked eleven, was our guide and he took us up to the top of the Seven Bulls. It might seem weird to have a kid take us, but in Kyrgyzstan, kids grow up on horses so they are pros. I had seen even younger looking kids take groups of adults out. Nate said that we didn’t need a guide, but I insisted. I am very glad we had Salamat because I don’t think we would have made it to the top alone. The path was confusing and steep on some parts. It was peaceful, scenic ride and the views from the top were stunning. By the time we returned to the starting point, my legs and knees were quite uncomfortable, and I was ready to get off the horse. Horseback riding always sounds more pleasant than it is.
We relaxed at the guest house the rest of the afternoon. We ate dinner at the guest house along with all of the other guests – it was a full house including several Kyrgyz families. Volleyball and football (soccer) are common past times in Kyrgyzstan. So after dinner, Nate joined kids and adults in playing Volleyball. These activities are wonderful because you don’t need to speak the same language to interact and have fun together.
The next morning, we went for a quick hike up to a viewpoint. Then we were off to Agat Yurt Camp near the town of Kaji-Say on the southern coast of Issyk Kul. As there were no marshrutkas from Jeti Oguz to Kaji-Say, we decided to try hitchhiking, which is a common way to travel for both locals and tourists. However, we ended up taking the easy route – a private taxi. We had to take a taxi to the main intersection to hitchhike. But then when dropping us off, the taxi driver asked again if we wanted him to take us all the way to the yurt camp. In a moment of indecision and with a bit of a misunderstanding on the price, we said yes and he drove us all the way to the yurt camp. We were seriously overcharged for the ride according to the yurt camp owners; but it was still a very cheap private ride for US standards ($40 for a 3-hr ride) and we got to the camp much quicker. So we decided to not overthink it and enjoyed Issyk Kul.
Two Beach Days at an Old Soviet Children’s Camp
Agat Yurt Camp is a very interesting place. We thought it was going to a small, isolated yurt camp, but the yurts are part of an old Soviet children’s camp. The owners bought the complex and are looking for investors to renovate it into a resort. It feels kind of like a ghost campus with abandoned, old buildings, but not in a creepy way. I can see the vision for a wonderful renovated complex as it is steps from the beach and located by beautiful red canyons and mountains in the backdrop.
Despite the yurt camp not being the isolated nature paradise that I imagined, we spent a wonderful two days at Agat. Our yurt was very cozy and comfortable with real mattresses on the floor which is essential for a good night’s sleep. The food provided by the camp was also delicious. We had Kurudak (meat and potatoes) and beshermak (horse meat with noodles) for dinner and they were great.
We spent both afternoons at the red sand beach just a couple minutes’ walk from the camp. The water is absolutely freezing and the beach is quite rocky so it is not the greatest swimming beach. But it is beautiful with the red rocks on one side and seeing the snow peaked mountains on the opposite side of the lake. We spent a couple hours reading, napping, and listening to podcasts. I was even able to coax myself into going in the water both days. As a huge cold-water wimp, I was very proud of myself. The sun is so hot that it felt refreshing. We generally had the beach all to ourselves or shared with just one or two other parties which was also nice.
A highlight of our time at Agat Yurt was the eagle hunting demonstration. Traditionally, Kyrgyz hunters trained eagles to catch animals for food in the winter. Today, eagle hunting is carried on as a sport or hobby. Our hosts organized two eagle hunters to come to the camp to show us. They brought two eagles and a Kyrgyz hunting dog. The main hunter explained that because eagles are very dangerous, they are generally caught as babies to train. Eagles live for about forty years, so they only keep eagles for up to twenty years then release them back into the wild. The eagles train in the summer and only do real hunting in the winter.
First, we saw an eagle fly from far away to “hunt” or grab a wolf skin. The second hunter climbed a nearby mountain and released the eagle which flew very quickly to grab the wolf skin. It was impressive how the eagle was able to spot the skin from so far away and attack without hesitation. The second demonstration was the eagle being released and finding her way to the eagle man by the whistling noise he made. The eagles were rewarded with raw meat each time.
Then we saw the cute Kyrgyz dog run and attack animal skins. This dog is so sweet and friendly with humans but quite the aggressive hunter. It was striking to see the contrast. The second hunter was also a competitive horseback archer, so we saw some archery demonstrations and got to try it for ourselves too. I was very bad.
The grand finale was holding the eagles. They are quite heavy so I couldn’t hold her for very long. The eagles are very majestic. I wish we could have seen the eagles practice hunting more, but it was still an great and unique experience.
Overall, Agat Yurt Camp was a wonderful, relaxing time.
The Long Journey to Song-Kul
Our next challenge was getting to our next yurt stay in Song-Kul from Agat. We needed to get to Kochkor and from there hire a private taxi to take us to Song-Kul. So the first task was getting to Kochkor. Our plan was to hitchhike to Bokonbayevo, a larger town nearby, and then catch a Marshrutka to Kochkor. But our lovely hosts gave us a ride to Bokonbaevo saying that they needed to go get groceries and even helped us figure out the Marshrutka situation. After talking to some folks, they told us that it would be best for us to take a shared taxi to Balykchy, instead of Kochkor, and then take a Marshrutka or taxi to Kochkor as the Kochkor direct Marshrutkas would likely be full. So, we followed their instructions.
Shared taxis and buses don’t leave until they are full. So we had to wait about 40-minutes before our first shared taxi took off. Once we got to Balykchy, we quickly found a shared taxi heading to Kochkor and were off immediately. This all took about 4 hours. In Kochkor, there were many men asking if we needed a taxi to Song Kul. We first struck a deal to take us round trip for 8,000 soms but when we were ready to leave and he saw the exact camp location, he insisted it would cost 12,000. So we started our search again until we found a man who agreed to take us for 9,000. We were finally off to Song Kul!
His car, like most cars in Kyrgyzstan, was very old and beeping incessantly. The road to Song Kul is unpaved and bumpy with many switchbacks. We were nervous about the car making the trip, but our driver knew what he was doing, and we made it there in one piece after 3-hours. It was a long travel day, but we eventually made it!
Two Days at Beautiful Song-Kul Lake
We stayed at a small, family-run yurt camp for two nights on the southern shore of Song Kul, located at over 3,000m. There was only one other guest group both nights that arrived late and left early, so it felt like a private yurt retreat. The camp is located by the lake on flat grass plains in front of treeless green mountains. There are so many herds of horses, sheep, and cows freely roaming around. It is eerily peaceful, quiet, and beautiful. Being at high altitude, it is generally chilly and cold even in the summer with the weather changing rapidly from hour to hour. During our stay, it would go from clear sunny skies to rain and hail multiple times.
The host family was very nice, but perhaps due to language barriers, the adults did not interact much with us. Instead, the outgoing and friendly children were our friends during our stay. I suppose the kids get a bit lonely or bored when spending the summers in remote areas. They seemed so excited to see us. There were five kids ranging from four to twelve. The two nine-year-olds the most outgoing. We spent many hours with the kids playing football (soccer), on the swings, practicing archery, playing UNO, and just walking around. They were so cute and sweet. We loved the energy and happiness they brought to our stay.
Aside from playing with the kids, our only special activity was horse riding. This is a very common activity at Song-Kul. Since the ground was very flat and since we had recently just ridden horses at Jeti Oguz, I agreed to go without a guide. That ended up being a mistake – not for me, but Nate. My horse was very slow, not wanting to move, while Nate’s horse was restless. We trotted around for about twenty minutes before Nate’s horse decided to start running. Unable to control his horse, Nate decided to dismount before the horse started to get too rowdy. Of course, getting off a running horse is essentially falling off, which is what it looked like to me. Fortunately, Nate was fine, but that cut his horse ride short with his horse excitedly running away. I stayed on my horse and went back to our yurt camp and a horse man took me a guided horse ride for the rest of the hour. This is why I will always continue to insist on only guided horse rides going forward.
One day we hiked to the top of one of the nearby mountains (more like a large hill) to get better views of the area. That was our most physically exerting activity.
The bulk of our time at Song-Kul was resting and eating. I spent a lot of time reading a murder mystery in the yurt and just enjoying the views. We ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner and each meal was massive. But somehow, we were always hungry for the next meal and cleaned our plates. All of the food was delicious.
The other memorable moment at Song-Kul was reading in our yurt in the late afternoon when it started heavily raining and hailing. It was quite soothing to be safe in the yurt with the sound of the rain and watching the hail through our yurt door. Then we saw a huge, perfect, complete rainbow. I had never seen a rainbow where I saw the full arch. It was so beautiful and exciting. Our yurt stay at Song Kul was a truly memorable and unique experience. I will never forget the beauty of the treeless but green landscape against the mountains and the calm lake.
Leaving Song Kul and Going Back to Bishkek
On our third morning, we waited for our taxi driver to come pick us up. He said he would come at 12pm, but we didn’t have his contact information, so we just had to take his word. We figured he could be up to an hour late, so we waited and waited. As it grew closer to 1pm, we started to get a little nervous that he wouldn’t show up. We needed to get all the way back to Bishkek that day, so we didn’t have a lot of room for delays. But thankfully, he pulled in right at 1pm and we were soon back in Kochkor.
We then walked around asking “Bishkek?” to people on the street and walking in the direction they pointed. It did not take us long to find a shared taxi heading to Bishkek that needed exactly two more people. We hopped in and were off to Bishkek immediately. It was a three-hour drive, and we were ecstatic to arrive at our Bishkek hotel around 7pm, much earlier than we thought we’d arrive. After a week of eating only Kyrgyz food, we went straight to another Korean restaurant for dinner. It was a good, not great, meal, but was still very satisfying.
The next morning, we headed to the airport to fly to Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second largest city located in the southwest for the last portion of our Kyrgyzstan journey – an eight-day trek in the Alay Mountains.
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