Part 17: Karakol, Kyrgyzstan
Hotel: Madanur Hotel, 30 USD/night incl. breakfast
Karakol is not only the biggest town in the Issyk-Kul area, but is also considered as the outdoor tourism capital of the country. It is the ideal base to organise hikes, horse rides or homestays to sample Kyrgyz nomadic life. Guidebooks are quite positive about the town, too, with for example Lonely Planet hailing the old Russian colonial architecture. These were not exactly my first impressions of town when I arrived at all. On the contrary, I found Karakol to have a distinct frontier feeling. The few old wooden Russian cottages which I saw from the car window were far outnumbered by uncontrolled construction, including hundreds of containers which are used as shops. My first impression was that the town felt more like a makeshift bazaar.
I stayed at the Madanur Hotel, one of the few hotels in town (most accommodation are guesthouses), which was perfectly acceptable. Even though rooms were basic, there was fast internet and cooked breakfasts in the morning served in the next-doors cafe.
As I still had quite a few hours left on arrival until sunset I had plenty of time to discover the town. When walking more towards the city centre there were already a few more old Russian houses to see.
Even though Karakol feels like a backwater, it is indeed a regional centre where you can buy or arrange nearly everything. There are dozens of banks, telephone shops, supermarkets and all kinds of other shops and stalls to be found throughout town.
Being so close to some giant peaks well above 5,000 metres high, there is a great backdrop wherever you look.
At a local outfit I arranged a one-day horse trek for one of the following two days I would be in town. In Soviet times the town of Karakol was named Przhevalsk after Russian explorer and geographer Nikolay Przewalski (yes, also Przewalski horses were named after him!).
In the centre of town you can find the decidedly communistic-looking university building, which is located next to a park.
You of course cannot call yourself a tourist hub if you don't have a sign with the town name written as photo op.
And you are not really a town in the former Soviet Union if you don't have a cool Lenin statue.
The real heart of Karakol is the central bazaar, where you can mostly find cheap local restaurants to eat. A bowl of ashlyan-fu (the local, slightly spicy noodle dish made from beef, egg and noodles – which is served cold) and some fried bread here does not cost more than 0.50 EUR. Including tea that is. Quite a steal!
Close to the bazaar is the lovely wooden Holy Trinity Cathedral from the Tsarist Russian era.
Another local house of worship is the so-called 'Chinese mosque'. No points for guessing where the name comes from.
One place in town which I would visit multiple times in the next days turned out to be Dastorkan restaurant – which was recommended to me by Mr. A, the driver who drove me all the way from Almaty to Karakol. He was spot-on that it was indeed a great restaurant. Even though it is popular with tour groups, also local Kyrgyz frequented the restaurant, which has an extensive menu, beer from draught and live Kyrgyz music every evening. Best of all, the waitresses were all absolutely lovely here, being friendly, talkative and eager to explain more about food and local culture (they all spoke excellent English). In general, service levels were extremely high at Dastorkan with the waiting staff looking pro-actively after you. More importantly, the food was great too.
What about some local boorsok bread (complimentary by the house) and again some tasty ashlyan-fu as starter?
Followed by some manti (Central Asian-style dumplings – on this occasion I had some fried, the other ones boiled) and a horse meat platter containing a few local horse meat variants, as well as stuff such as ram fat and beef tongue.
Dastorkan had some tasty shashlyks, too! And for those not too fond of Central Asian food, there are a number of Western options as well, although I didn't try those out.
Best of all was the live music – and the fact that the restaurant had some nargilah as well. Nothing better to listen to some music while having a smoke and some tea to settle all the food.
Karakol is really not a bad town to stay for a few nights!
Next up: A day trekking on horseback in the Tian Shan mountains