Animal bazaar

Breakfast started at 0800. It wasn’t an issue as it doesn’t get light that early here. Soon after my omelette and a huge tomato salad, I took a mashrutka to the once-a-week Mal Bazaar where animals were traded.

I got there around 0930 amidst a great deal of activity there. There were lots of cars and lorries. It was quite a sight with the number of people and the goats and sheep. There were a small number of cows and very few horses. I loved the few older men with the traditional hats; I wish there were more as I would have loved to capture a few good ones on camera.

As for the sight around the Bazaar, I’ll let the pictures paint the several thousand words.

I spent over an hour there and walked back to town passing by the Dungan Mosque (reminiscent of Mongolian architecture) before looking for some horse-riding information.

Text continues after this gallery.

The Tourist Information Centre and Community Based Tourism places were both closed. That left me with an Eco-Tourism place which wanted about KGS3300 (USD48) for horse-riding tomorrow. The problem was that I didn’t have anyone to share the expense of the guide.

Heading back disappointed, I stopped at Karakol Coffee and found some contact phone numbers for other providers. I WhatsApped them all.

I spent the afternoon planning for June 2018 as I needed to get from Iran to Europe. I had thought of flying via Azerbaijan but realised that it would be during Eid and fares wouldn’t be cheap. The pressure was on for me to consider Pegasus Air’s latest promo. Because of Eid, fares from Tehran to its hub Istanbul wasn’t cheap but it was slightly cheaper to continue all the way to Europe!

Colonial home in Karakol.

Holy Trinity Cathedral.

I spent a bit of time considering all sorts of options while considering horse-riding responses as well. Unfortunately despite attempts by all parties to look for companions, it didn’t work. I resigned myself to not doing it at that price.

But around 2100, I had a change of heart and decided to just pay the money and do it. Unfortunately the slightly cheaper provider had cancelled his horse and I was left with the marginally pricier guy but he came highly recommended.