Where is it located?
Kyrgyzstan is a country in Central Asia and is sharing the border with Uzbekistan, China, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. The capital Bishkek is where most of the people live and it is located not too far away from the border with Kazakhstan.
Where to find hosts in the country?
When looking at Couchsurfing, there are only three places to really search for hosts in my opinion. Bishkek, Karakol and Osh. That’s also about which article is going to be. Couchsurfing isn’t even big in these cities so finding hosts in smaller places if maybe possible, but really hard. For that I would suggest just bringing camping equipment.
Is it easy finding a host in Osh?
Osh is the second biggest city of the country and is located right at the border of Uzbekistan. So it is perfect, when you wanna change the country, or when you are arriving from Uzbekistan. Like you read in the article to Bishkek and Karakol, finding a host isn’t easy.
In Osh we were kind of lucky. We found a host, but he wasn’t in town, so basically after having some video chats, he was asking around in his family, if they could host us.
His sister, who was living in the family house, was able to host us. It was actually her first hosting experience.
What did I do with the hosts?
Our host wasn’t really speaking English, but with hands, feets and also translating on the phone it was all working. We were able to communicate and that was perfect. She and her cousin were showing us around in the city after her work. We went to parks and also on top of the Suleiman-Too which is for the locals a holy mountain. It was a great experience. We also needed a covid test and with that she helped us as well, told us where to get it and everything else.
We were invited for food with her family and were able to spend time with them as well. Having time in a traditional family was actually something I really enjoyed. It made the final days of the country something really special.
The holy mountain
How was the experience?
The experience was actually really great, because we were able to look deeply into a traditional family and their daily life. We were able to relax as well and seeing the city. So the combination of everything was just great and I was feeling honored to be able to experience that.
What is important to know?
In general in Osh it is important to know that the border is looking really sketchy and dangerous, but it really isn’t that much, when compared to many other borders. Just due to the bad infrastructure like all other cities, it just doesn’t look any great. The border crossing should work out fine, even during covid it was no problem.
Same as in the other cities, the amount of English Speakers isn’t high, the infrastructure is bad and not many hosts are using this application, but still that doesn’t mean that you won’t find someone to stay with. Where there is a strong will, there will be a way then, also to be authentic!
Summary
Osh, the second biggest city of the country, is located right at the border to Uzbekistan. Not many people on Couchsurfing but those who are and those people who you meet in the city are super kind and want to talk to you sometimes as well. It is nice to see the welcoming altitude of the Kyrgyz people, such an amazing country.
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