With a few weeks of exploring the southern shores of Lake Issyk-Kul under our belt, it’s time to continue on and head towards our next stop, Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
En-route to Bishkek we stopped at the Burana Tower, a large minaret from the ancient city of Balasagun which dates back to the 9th century. A minaret is typically built into or adjacent to Mosques and are generally used for the Muslim call to prayer, known as the adhan. Once standing at 44 metres tall, the tower today sits at only 25 metres due to the damages of both war and earthquakes.
The ancient city of Balasagun was originally founded by the Sogdians, a people of Persian origin. Balasagun then fell under the rule of many empires over the centuries including the Kara-Khanid, a Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia, followed by Qara Khitai, then finally the Mongols.
The Burana Tower is located at the west end of the ancient city, where it sits next to a field of ancient graves with hand carved tombstones known as “Balbals” from nomadic Turkic tribes who roamed Central Asia during the 6th century. The word balbal in Turkic means “ancestor” or “grandfather”. Coming in many shapes and sizes these statues are installed atop graves and are carved specifically to represent the deceased. For example, those who were known as being a fighter or a leader would have a sword engraved on their Balbal.
To top off the experience of visiting this historical site, the views across the fields to the snow capped mountains are incredible. It was easy to be mentally transported back in time to imagine what life would of been like when this city was at it’s peak.
With the hours of that day disappearing, we continued on to Bishkek. The drive to the capital hugs the Kazakhstan border for most of the way, with just a river diving the two countries.
In Bishkek we planned to meet up with some other overlands, Leigh and Steph. Being Avid rock climbers they took us out for an awesome day at a climbing site just out of the city. Not having been in a city for awhile we camped up with them (at their mechanic Nikolai’s house and workshop) whilst we caught up on bits and bobs on the Troopy, as well as hanging out with these guys for a few days.
Thanks for watching!
Jolie and Mark
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