Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan is a place for boarders who like a hike or have loads of cash for a helicopter. The neighbour of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan is a lot more laid back and cheaper. You won’t get stopped by the police but you might get taxed by a local if you walk trough the parks alone at night. Bishkek the capital has wide tree lined streets from which you are surrounded by huge snow covered peaks. 80% of this country is mountainous and most of the other 20% is lakes. During the soviet rule most of Kyrgyzstan was out of bounds to foreigners, due to missile testing in lake Issyk Kul and its boarder with China. Home to felt hats, headless goat polo and wrestling on horse back while covered in goose fat, the Kyrgz are a hospitable lot. The main drink in the countryside is fermented mares milk, which tastes like off yogurt and turns the local men into giggling kids. The food is mostly meat based with horse a favourite, in the countryside you see herds of horses waiting for the pot. Since the brake up of the soviet union the Kyrgz have embraced independence, setting up there own currency and welcoming investment from the west and lorry loads of plastic junk and rip off clothes from China.