Through the Ala-Too
Ala-Too mountain range, from Bishkek to Jaichy (near Lake Issyk-Köl), Kyrgyzstan, on Tuesday, October 14, 2014.
The sun rises over the mountains as my driver Azamat (coincidentally the name of Borat’s driver/producer) takes us out of Bishkek and into the countryside in a Honda Fit. “Almaty is more European. Bishkek is not so much. When you’re here, you go to the mountains,” he tells me.
As we drive through the Kyrgyz Ala-Too range of the Tian Shan Mountains on the way to Lake Issyk-Köl, we lose radio reception so Azamat puts on a mix CD. Sade starts playing and I laugh because Mürat in Alamaty also had #Sade on his playlist. (I will forever associate her with driving through the K-stans now.)
The CD playlist continued — with Busta Rhymes and Destiny’s Child —until we got radio reception back once we were near the first lake town of Balykchy.
Gas and coffee stop with Azamat (who looks nothing like the character from “Borat”).
“Does Kyrgyzstan have oil like Kazakhstan?” I ask Azamat.
“No, it’s hard to dig for oil when 80% of the country is mountains,” he answers. (The big Kyrgyz industry is gold mining.)
I think they’re beautiful, but he’s not as enthused since he grew up with them.
The north side of Lake Issyk-Köl is developed with beaches, bars, and clubs frequented by local and Russian tourists. The south side, where most other tourists go, is more rural. Away from the city, the people here still speak Kyrgyz — but the sheep still go “baaaah.”
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