Beach – Monday Bazaar: A Travel Blog

Beach Vacationing In Kyrgyzstan

Published on 23 June, 2016 by Mark Jahnke

A lot of major metropolitan areas have a sort of associated summer retreat area that isn’t too far away. New York has the Hamptons, Boston has the Cape, DC has the mountains, San Francisco has Napa… and Bishkek has Issyk-Kul. Some of my local friends go out there as often as they can. And on my way to the airport on a recent Friday on my way to Bishkek, I got a call inviting me along. Always accept the invitation, they say. So, within a few hours I was in a car with a bunch of guys headed for a relaxing weekend on the beach along the South Shore, where I’d never been before. Continue reading “Beach Vacationing In Kyrgyzstan” →

Dacha Day

Published on 3 May, 2016 by Mark Jahnke

Summer is officially here; it hit 30 degrees Celsius in Osh on Sunday, which was also International Workers Day (Debout, les damnés de la terre…). What better day, then, to take a mini-vacation day trip for some much-needed relaxation on the beach at a nearby dacha?

Continue reading “Dacha Day” →

Road Trip Part 3: The Road to Issyk-Kul

Published on 24 August, 2015 by Mark Jahnke

Issyk-Kul means “hot lake” in Kyrgyz, so named because it does not freeze in winter because of its salt content. It’s the second largest alpine lake in the world (after Lake Titicaca), and is saline because it is in an isolated basin without drainage. Lined with beaches and mountains, in the summer it’s hard to tell that you’re in Kyrgyzstan, and not actually on the Mediterrannean coast.

After spending the night in Song Kul, where we were pelted by a terrific thunderstorm and the roof of our felt yurt dripped on us all night, we were greeted by this spectacular sunrise:

Just about all of my best photos from this trip came from that morning. We got up at sunrise, about 5:30 or 6:00, and our Kyrgyz hosts brought a table and mattresses outside, lit the samovar (they use wood-fired samovars to heat water in areas without electricity), and poured us tea and kymyz with bread as we sat in the near-horizontal sunlight. We were fully awake because of the light, but its angle and the cool temperature (it had gone down to 40 degrees overnight) reminded me more of Iceland than of Kyrgyzstan. Words really can’t capture the feeling of sheer expanse, with no trees in sight. Continue reading “Road Trip Part 3: The Road to Issyk-Kul” →