Lake Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan

Another lake in Central Asia.  Two years ago we visited lake Iskander Kul.  This summer we spend few days at Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan.  

Issyk Kul falls second in couple of comparisons:  

It is the second largest saline (salt water) lake after Caspian Sea.

It is the second largest mountain lake after lake Titicaca in South America. 

Still pretty impressive.  

We stayed on the popular north side of the Issyk Kul, at Aurora Plus resort, sometimes spelled as Avrora Plus.  Plus in the name separates it from the Aurora resort where the taxi took us as we forgot to mention the Plus on the resort name.  We heard that a father owns the Aurora and his daughter owns Aurora Plus.  They were right next to each other, so the mistake was easy to correct.  

  

On our first day, as soon as we were ready, our family started the walk across the resort area towards the lake.  After the last little hill the excitement was palpable and finally we saw the beautiful, huge water sparkling in the sun.  

Early June is still pretty early at the Kyrgyz mountains and the water was cool.  The name Issyk Kul means hot lake.  Even if the temperatures get frigid here in the winter, the lake never freezes.  But I would not call it exactly hot.   

Our children, however, combination of Northern - really northern - European and Northern - pretty northern -American blood, are fearless and so we settled at the beach for the morning.  

Beach times are our family's favorite memory making times and I always have tons of pictures of us enjoying the water and the sand. 

The snow topped Kungey Alatau of the Tian Shan mountains runs parallel to the north shore:

If you look carefully, you'll see the  Teskey Ala-Too Range of the Tian Shan mountains on the southern side of Issyk Kul lake in the background: 

The resort compound is large. On the next day we enjoyed a walk to the swan lake.  I think it's an artificial lake, but I'm not sure.  

There are different kinds of accommodation available at Aurora Plus.  These wooden houses (below) were next to the swan lake.  

We stayed in a two story apartment house.  It was surprisingly luxurious, but remember that I have been living in Central Asia for over 10 years.  I find warm running water, floor heating in the bathroom and curtains you can close luxurious.  Still, the large rooms were nicely decorated, beds were comfortable and we found the little kitchen in the apartment very useful for our family.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures in the apartment :(    

In the evening I went for a walk by myself... Well, with my camera  :)  

The summer season starts mid June, so this kitchen at the beach was not open yet.  Seems like they offer traditional Central Asian dishes here.

When I had been living in Central Asia for about two years, we were suggested to take a little holiday in the area.  I really did not find that an attractive idea at all:  "I cannot eat this food on my holiday!" was my gut reaction.  I still find that many places in Central Asia offer mostly Central Asian national dishes.  They taste good to me now!   Therefore if I say the meals at Aurora Plus restaurant were fine, it might not mean what fine dining means to you!  They serve more European type food though.  Our only complaint was that you only get one glass of compout (home made fruit juice) per meal.  Bring more with you if you want to drink more!   

Our friends went on to camp in a Yurt nearby after our week together, so there are other fun things to do around Issyk Kul lake area.  Traveling there takes many hours, but it is part of the journey in Central Asia.