Kyrgyzstan

Expert opinion: Kyrgyzstan trips

“Kyrgyzstan’s big draw is the natural beauty and rural lifestyle. There are still nomads here, their yurts and horses scatted along the landscape. As I journeyed through the Tien Shan, the Mountains of Heaven, I visited a Women’s Association for a homemade lunch and bought traditional felt rugs, which the Kyrgyz decorate their yurts with. I visited the home of a traditional eagle hunter and hiked through the beautiful Djety-Oguz valley. Arriving at the resort town of Karakol on the end of Issyk-Kul Lake, the diversity of this small nation became clear as I visited a Russian Orthodox Church and a Dungan Mosque, with its distinctive Buddhist iconography. The Dugan are a small minority who are descendants from Chinese women and Arab traders and fled China for Central Asia. I even got to sample a home-cooked dinner in the home of a local Dugan family."

Exodus Expert Tom Harari. Read more from our experts here.