Colette's Grand Detour

Karakol is the main city of eastern Kyrgyzstan and sits between the foothills of the Terskey Alatau mountains and the eastern end of Issyk-Kul Lake. It is small, only 85,000 people live here, but has played an important part in the history of Kyrgyzstan.

The city was founded in 1869 by the Russian empire as their southern-most frontier post. It was an important strategic location during ‘The Great Game’ with Britain and used as a base as the Russian Empire looked for a route south to get to India. Many expeditions set off from the town heading into the Tien Shan mountains and Xinjiang.

The location also allowed them to access and control trade links between Kashgar and the Fergana Valley. Cossacks, Russians and Ukrainians were encouraged to migrate and settle here. Settlers built wooden churches, houses and administrative builds in a Russian-style and we were able to see a good number of examples of these on our walking tour of the old town. The traditional wooden cottages still have their carved window frames and colorful shutters in tact. And the small cathedral is striking with its green dome and dark wooden exterior with intricate carvings. The inside is quite sparse and less interesting than the outside.

The town also has a large Dungan population, Hui muslim people from China, who fled here during anti-Muslim uprisings during the Qing dynasty in the 1870’s. They built the Dungan mosque in the center of town in 1910, another very colorful and striking building built without nails and resembling a Chinese temple.

Uyghurs, Tatars, and many other ethnic groups have travelled over time to make Karakol their home. So it is a very multi-cultural society. This is reflected in its variety of architectural styles, food and cultural events within the city. For dinner last night many of us tried a traditional Dungan cold noodle soup called ashlyan-fu that can only be found in Karakol and was absolutely delicious. Outside of town you can see traditional yurts set up and still used by indigenous Kyrgyz nomads, particularly in the summer. Google describes the mix of different cultures as a mini silk road crossing.

Karakol is a friendly town and a good place to stop for the night on the way to Issyk Lake. For many people this is the starting point for doing multi-day hiking trips into the Tien Shan mountains and there are also ski resorts nearby. A morning to explore the town is plenty of time. There are some great restaurants to visit that have extensive menus with dishes from all the ethnicities in the region and the one we went to had great live music with traditional instruments and dancing.