Postcard from Arslanbob

We traveled up into the mountains in Kyrgyzstan to a town called Arslanbob. It turned out to be one of the most idyllic and beautiful places we have been yet. We didn't stay in town long though, only long enough to head up into the mountains. We were going camping for a week which is really great since we have been lugging around many pounds of camping gear for months. The mountains around the area were absolutely stunning. Much of Kyrgyzstan is mountains and all of the cities are in valleys. Makes for a beautiful country.

We started up loaded down with tons of food and made it up into the hills a bit before stopping for the night. We found a nice camping spot between two streams.

This is us hanging out with our gear at the first camping spot. The next morning we had a leisurly breakfast and headed out to visit the waterfall. There was water and it was falling a long way (80 meters or 240 feet) but it was impossible to photograph since it was so long. Just imagine water falling a long way and you get a pretty good idea of what it looked like.

We found an absolutely beautiful camping spot not too much later and pitched what ended up being our camping spot for several days. It was next to some very large rocks which provided protection and cover from rain and snow. There was also a beautiful little brook not too far away and the ground was really level. Here are our neighbors coming over to mow our lawn. How considerate!

Actually, they were sheep and the shepherd came by later and chatted with us. Of course we don't really speak Russian or Uzbek (He was Uzbek) but with a dictionary we were able to chat quite well. He kept bringing us fermented goats milk which was almost drinkable and break. He also showed us which berries we could eat. He was really nice. We left him a lot of our gear that we did not want to carry back.

During the next couple days we just took it easy and did some day hikes in the surrounding areas. It was absolutely gorgeous. It felt at times like walking in really old places. The trees were old and gnarly and there really wasn't any undergrowth. There were also tons of beautiful little brooks.

The third to last night there it snowed.

We were already pushing the timing since they don't recommend camping after September and it was already November but it had been beautiful so far and we took our chances. Luckily we came prepared with good sleeping bags and plenty of cold weather clothes. It was definitely cold though. It started out the night by raining for 2 hours which didn't help the situation any. We ended up really wet before it started snowing so we got cold as well while we slept. During the day the sun came out long enough for us to dry most of our stuff out for the next night.

After a second night of wet and cold though we had had enough. We packed up and headed to town. We stayed with a really nice family there and they cooked us some really good food. Then we headed back.

Arslanbob is one of the most beautiful places either of us had ever been. It was a small town still dominated by sheep, cows and horses with simple people and surrounded by a walnut forest. Mountains and beautiful lakes are a long days trek up into the moutains making it an ideal place to visit. In the town square is a lion. On our way out I asked someone about it.

They told me that the name of the town, Arslanbob, was named by an Islamic Imam from the 11th century. Arlsan means lion in Arabic, interesting if you are a Narnia fan, and bob means garden since he planted a garden. Then we headed back to the Fergana Valley.