Karakol” were full of interesting
information about the city, it’s build-
ings, history and population. I felt
like I learnt more about the region
in a couple of hours than I had in a
week of touring. The walking tour
concluded with a bowl of delicious
spicy soup and noodles that is the
local specialty. Served cold with an
extremely tasty potato filled bread,
it was refreshing and captured the
blend of Chinese, Mongol and Soviet
influences on this corner of the world
perfectly.
From Karokol we headed along the
southern shore of Issyk Kol towards
the Capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek.
We had a couple of days to explore
this modern and well laid out city.
Another city walking tour showed
us through the green parklands and
wide avenues of the city centre that
are filled with massive soviet style
buildings and imposing monuments.
Kyrgyzstan has an interesting, turbu-
lent and sometimes violent history
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