Back to Kyrgyzstan

After spending a week in Kazakhstan I was incredibly happy to return to Kyrgyzstan, where I know the people, the customs, and everything is way cheaper. I entered into Talas Oblast, which is one of the most isolated oblasts in the country and therefore few volunteers visit. I first stayed with a fellow volunteer in some tiny village near the border for a couple of days to just hang out and relax with friends I hadn’t seen in a long time (and do laundry (>_<)*) before traveling to the oblast capitol (Talas City) to see the Manas Ordo, supposedly the burial site of Manas, the Kyrgyz national hero who is the central figure in the world’s longest epic oral story. I was surprised by how small it was….(never tell a local that!).

After Talas, I traveled to Bishkek (the national capital) for a couple of nights before heading south to see the rest of the country and see friends along the way. I first went to Jalalabad, the third largest city in Kyrgyzstan and was first impressed by how clean the streets were and how developed the city looked, but was then disappointed to learn it was still a typical Kyrgyz/Uzbek city where almost every café or restaurant had the same menu and almost nothing at all to do as far as sight seeing. Regardless, I hung out with volunteers and ate Turkish ice-cream before traveling to a village called Arslanbob.