Greg recently returned after a long amazing trip to Central Asia, from bike riding, hiking, and exploring Greg had quite the adventure. The idea of wanting to travel to this region happened when looking for places to go bike riding, he stumbled upon a youtube video of Kyrgyzstan and people bike riding in that area. Once he saw the beauty and the adventure to come from this place he had his intentions set to go bike riding there. He didn’t just stop at Kyrgyzstan, Greg got to see and learn about a few different places in Central Asia!
When Greg landed he was instantly hit with the beauty of the landscape, having mountain regions covering 90% of the land with a sunny sky he couldn’t wait to start his adventures. Greg would mostly stay in small homes that are rented out specifically to the people exploring these mountain regions, he also stayed in hotels, yurts, and tents. The locals in the community were very accepting, kind, and eager to meet new people with different backgrounds, the natives would cater to the traveling groups such as the one Greg was in while they were at the small homes, also known as “home stays”.
The first two weeks Greg went biking in a big loop around lake San Kul, staying in guest houses along the way. During this time his group had a tour guide who spoke Russian (the local language) as well as English, which helped make getting around a-lot easier. The best and yet also the worst stay would be the yurts, as Greg explained, “it was high up in the mountains where you got to see a beautiful view of the land, however the nights were below freezing”,. In this area there is no wood so they would burn dried cow manure and coal that would warm up the building, unfortunately there wasn’t that much poop that night, however the view, sunrises and sunsets were amazing!
Once he was done biking Greg headed over to Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan where he would explore this region, getting to visit mosques and orthodox churches and also learn about their culture.While traveling he learned that all the mosques have a dome with a beautiful detailed mosaic piece painted on the inside, representing the heavens while you look up, only to see beauty. Each mosque and Church had a unique, different, beautiful piece inside their building. Greg didn’t stay too long, instead taking advantage of a lovely hotel he enjoyed a few relaxing nights before he headed to his next adventure.
Going back to Bishkek to join his second group he did a-lot of backtracking and saw even more amazing wonders of this region such as yaks, camels, and wild horses along the dirt road he was traveling on, gettin to visit the home stays and see all the natives meeting new people, the beautiful view of the yurt and thankfully having more cow poop this time! Getting to see a village over 1000 years old where the roofs of the lower houses on this mountain side is the front porch to the houses above! Exploring this area again he still got to see so many new amazing things.
Greg got to see and learn so much, such as that donkeys will walk themselves home at night when it’s bedtime, as well as a river that was made into a small lake during an earthquake in the 1800’s, you can see the trees in the lake that are still surviving in its new environment. While visiting Turkmenistan he discovered it’s a busy city due to being wealthy from the profit of natural gas, it also has very strict laws for the people that live there such as no internet or social media, the locals that live there have freedom to an extent such that the women do not have to wear a hijab, however they are not allowed to wear certain clothing or accessories.
Overall Greg’s favorite adventure was when he was traveling Kyrgyzstan and exploring it’s mountains, he’s already planning a trip back in the beginning of the upcoming year! We love hearing Greg’s adventures almost as much as we love Greg’s massages, be sure to come into Jaiyen spa today and book your massage with Greg before he leaves again!
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