Holiday in Central Asia (9): Karakol & Arashan in Kyrgyzstan
Now in Karakol, we started Day 8 with a quick look around. The town was founded in 1869 and named Karakol meaning ‘black hand’ because of the working inhabitants. In Soviet times, it was called Przhevalsk after the explorer Nikolai Przhevalsk whose last expedition ended here. It is an indication of how sparsely populated is Kyrgyzstan that today Karakol with its population of just 75,000 is the country’s fourth largest town.
We viewed two major buildings. The Holy Trinity Cathedral was finished in 1895 and built of wood to enable it to survive earthquakes (the five onion domes were removed by the Bolsheviks but restored some three decades later). The Dungan Mosque was founded in 1910 and closed for worship between 1933 and 1943, but managed to survive (the other eight mosques in the town were destroyed by the Bolsheviks). The Dungan community of Chinese Muslims fled to Kyrgyzstan in 1877 and the mosque looks more like a Chinese Buddhist temple.
The rest of the day was occupied with a visit to a hot spring development called Altyn-Arashan (Golden Spa). This is set in a glorious alpine valley located at a height of 2,500 metres (8,000 feet) with the Arashan river running along the whole route there and the Palatka Peak looming over the southern end. The problem is reaching and returning from this picture-perfect sight.
We needed a special Soviet-era military vehicle called a GAZ 66 and we were thrown around constantly as the vehicle edged slowly over stones of every size bumping violently literally every second or two. It took us two and a half hours to reach the valley and then a further three hours to descend and we only spent 40 minutes at our destination where we had a packed lunch and found a suitable bush in lieu of a toilet.
Like yesterday, we were offered the opportunity to walk part of the way down. This time our vehicle stopped regularly to pick up members of the group who felt that they had walked as far as they wished. I walked two separate sections totalling about one hour, but the altitude and the scree meant that this hour was enough for me.
We had been told by our guide Olga: “It is a kind of extreme adventure”. She was not kidding. For all of us this was the roughest ride of our lives and we had to wonder whether it was really appropriate for individuals of our age (up to 77). But it had indeed been an adventure and the views were superb.
Dinner was a quiet affair. It was at the hotel and we were the only people in the restaurant.
October 1st, 2022 at 10:42 am
Hi Roger,
I see, you have survived your trip down from Altyn-Arashan. Me too, but me feet were not the same after that 😀
I hope the Scot didn’t lose his antique Nokia ;D
I’ve arrived in Germany a few days ago. But tomorrow I’m going on a roadtrip in Rumania.
Hope you are fine,
Bianca
October 1st, 2022 at 3:33 pm
Cheeky bugger!