Tag: Issyk Kul

Beach Vacationing In Kyrgyzstan

Published on 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” →

Mile 13: Health Lessons And A Sixth Marathon

Published on by Mark Jahnke

When you’re not allowed to finish (or even start) a marathon, what do you do?  Why you pick one the next month and enter it, of course.

The thirteenth month of my service saw my visa get renewed and a lot of planning take place.  Then we had a bunch of holidays, and then a really awesome and productive trip to Issyk-Kul where I taught health lessons in a bunch of schools before running a marathon.  Let’s dive in.

Continue reading “Mile 13: Health Lessons And A Sixth Marathon” →

My Favorite Photos Of 2015

Published on by Mark Jahnke

This year, some website somewhere decided to spy on us all to check and see which of our photos were our most liked on Instagram this past year.  But, since the number of likes doesn’t always correlate to the best photos, I’ve decided to curate a list of what I think were by best shots that went up on my Instagram this year. Continue reading “My Favorite Photos Of 2015” →

Road Trip Part 4: Around Issyk-Kul

Published on by Mark Jahnke

After what seemed like weeks of travel, we made it to Tamchy for rest. After a few days on the beach, we climbed back into the car and made our way toward a village called Taldy-Suu near the city of Tup, which is where one of my host family members is from. But, naturally, before we could get there, we had to stop and rest, and we chose a beautiful hot spring to stop at. I didn’t take photos of the spring, but it was crowded with Russian and Kyrgyz tourists alike, all starting in the cool pool, moving up to the warm pool, before slowly inching their sunburns fully beneath a waterfall of scalding hot water. Every so often, they’d get out and plunge into an ice bath nearby. There was a juice stand (like the ones in New York), a raptor trainer, and even a restaurant.

After getting our fill, we headed down to the beach again for more relaxation, this time in much more peace and solitude.   Continue reading “Road Trip Part 4: Around Issyk-Kul” →

Road Trip Part 3: The Road to Issyk-Kul

Published on 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:

Sunrise after the storm
Sunrise after the storm

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” →