Today we started our trip around the Issyk-Kul lake.

Over the next couple of days we’ll be taking the long route along the south shore to Cholpon Ata where the Nomad Games are taking place.

Today’s destination: Bokonbayevo – a small town of about 13,000 people about 270km southeast of Bishkek.

It’s known for their Eagle Hunting demonstrations and also the nearby Skazka Canyon affectionately known as the Fairytale Canyon.

Bus from Bishkek to Bokonbayevo

There are minibuses known as “marshrutkas” that will take you from city to city.

You go to the bus station, find the marshrutka you need, claim your seat, and then wait for it to fill.

Sometimes that filling up can take a couple of hours depending on the destination you’re going to.

We got to the Bishkek Bus Station Avtovkzal at 9:30 and it didn’t take long for someone to walk up to us.

I said “Bokonbay” and he showed us to the bus we’d be taking.

A quick check with Google Translate on the sign on the window and, yup, marshrutka #504 was heading to Bokonbayevo.

While we were getting things organized, our Yandex driver who had driven us to the terminal, returned with Nathan’s phone in his hand.

Wow, that could have been disastrous.

Thank God for the friendly hospitality of the Kyrgyz people!

There were only 2 others in the bus at the time which held 17 people so we knew it’d be awhile before we left.

We paid our driver 550som ($9) for the 3-4 hour ride and waited.

It was actually quicker than I thought as, an hour later, we were all loaded up and on our way.

I vaguely remember taking these kind of rides in my time in Southeast Asia but I remember the buses being claustrophobic and hot.

This one was a nice comfortable ride with the air breezing in from the vent at the top of bus.

It helped the roads were newly paved so it was smooth ride the whole way there getting up to speeds of 120kmh.

About halfway through the journey, the bus did a 30 minute pitstop for people to freshen up and buy food and drinks.

And, then, at 2pm we had arrived in Bokonbayevo.

Grandma’s house

Our accommodation for the night was a twin bed room in Klara’s Guesthouse.

It was the top rated place online and many of the reviews mentioned it was like visiting “grandma’s house”.

Honestly, I’d have to second that opinion.

It was like I was staying in someone’s home.   Our host was super friendly and the whole place just felt like home.

There was even a huge selection of candies and pastries waiting for us on the long dining table in the main room.

A quick lunch

After being shown our room, I headed out for a quick lunch.

I went to a place which was marked on my map and also had been recommended by our host.

I sat down, perused their menu, and had made my choices only to find out that out of this huge selection of items, only three were available.

And, you guessed it, non of them were gluten free.

Well, then, I guess I’m going somewhere else.

The next restaurant I went to was completely empty but I’ve eaten in empty places before.

As I entered the door the lady just used her arms to form a cross symbol indicating that they were now closed.

Okay, then, off to the next place.

I found another place across the street and up some stairs.

Again, this place was also empty but when I asked if they were open, one of the girls there grabbed the cook from the back who spoke English.

Yup, they were open.

And they had food!

I ordered a place of beef, vegetables, and potatoes along with a nice jug of homemade fruit compote drink.

A great meal.

The young cook even asked me about my gluten allergy as I had mentioned that I couldn’t have the dumplings he was recommending.

Not surprisingly he had never heard of gluten or celiac and looked it up on his phone.

A friendly driver

We had arranged with our host to have a driver pick us up at 4:30 to do a tour of the nearby Skazka Canyon.

The cost was 3500som ($55) which seemed reasonable for an hour’s drive there and back and he’d wait for us while we explored the canyon.

Almus spoke in broken English but, to his credit, he held a conversation fairly well with us.

He talked about how he lives here in Bokonbayevo over the summer months and then back up in Bishkek the rest of the year so his two kids can go to school up there.

His job is driving.   He does these trips and also drives a bigger bus both here and in Bishkek.

And, for some reason, he loves Enrique Iglesias.

Fairytale Canyon

The road to the canyon was freshly paved and expanded from an old 2 lane dirt road to a magnificent 4 lane paved road which Almus said was done by the Chinese.

Halfway through we hopped out of the car and walked down to the shoreline to take in the beauty of Issyk-Kul Lake.

In just two days, we’d be on the exact opposite shore in Cholpon Ata taking in the Nomad Games.

At 5:30 we had reached Fairytale Canyon and you could see why it’s been given that moniker.

It was like walking into a fairytale.

Naturally there were quite a few other cars and some minibuses parked at the gate but it didn’t look completely overrun by tourists.

Nathan and I headed into the canyon with plans for a grand hike over the next 90 minutes to a handful of different hilltops.

That was the plan.

Ouch!

About a half hour in we had climbed our first little hill.

The view was stunning and really gave you an appreciation for the nature surrounding us.

It had been quite an exertion of energy to get to that point and Nathan wanted to continue further up the hill to the tallest peak in the canyon.

I looked at the climb up there and said “nah, I’m good”.

So, Nathan headed up while I headed back down to climb other lower hills.

My descent down was pretty steep and, in hindsight, I probably should have just gone back down the way I had come up.

No sooner than I had started my descent, I started to lose my footing and ended up flat on my belly.

Scratches on my left forearm and hand.   Scratches on my belly.

Damn, I was bleeding and covered in dirt.

And I still had to get to the bottom of this damn hill!

I ended up just scooting down on my butt like I was going down a slide.

It really was the wrong day to be wearing white shorts.

I finally made it down to the bottom and, yup, that was it for me.

A half hour into our excursion and I was calling it quits.

Ironically, not soon after, Nathan also appeared at the front entrance with cuts and scrapes of his own.

We searched out our driver and finally found him asleep in the back of the car.

Poor guy thought he’d be getting 90 minutes sleep and here we were a mere half hour later asking for a ride back.

A late dinner

We arrived back in town at just after 7pm.

Now, I say late dinner because it turns out the town pretty much closes down at 8pm.

Nathan, who woke up today feeling under the weather, stayed in our room while I ventured straight out to grab something, anything, to eat.

I went back to the place I was at earlier for lunch but, sadly, it was closed.

I ended up just grabbing a couple of kebabs at a stand across the road.

I brought them back to the guesthouse, peeled them open, and ate the insides with a knife and fork.

Ah, celiac disease making you eat kebabs in a whole, brand new way.

And, yes, the photo at the top of this section is off of Google as I didn’t think to take a photo of my kebabs sprawled open on the dining room table.

It wasn’t pretty but it did the job.

I spent the rest of the evening doing up yesterday’s blog and then headed to bed at 11pm.

Tomorrow we’re going to see an Eagle Hunting demonstration in the morning before heading 140km east to the town of Karakol.