Kyrgyzstan, situated between China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, is almost 200,000 square kilometers in size. 5.5 million inhabitants, 80 percent of whom are Sunni Muslims, inhabit one of the poorest successor states of the Soviet Union.

My journey began in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. I spent two more days in Tashkent and then drove to the Uzbek/Kyrgyz border with the German tour guide I already met there. In the border town of Osh (Kyrgyzstan) we met two other tour participants and started our trip through Kyrgyzstan together with the local guide and the driver.

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And what do the Kyrgyz and we as tourists eat?

We ate with families, in simple kitchens at the bazaar and in restaurants. There was soup, noodles, dumplings, salads, sometimes fish, everything very tasty.

Everywhere on the bazaars bread was sold and also freshly baked. There were towers of bread, everywhere!

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Visiting the family of our Kyrgyz guide, they showed us how they bake bread in their home. The whole family helped and when the bread was finished, we were invited to a delicious meal. Thanks to our group of only 4 people, such a private trip was possible.

A great experience!

The processing of meat in the bazaars was particularly adventurous in Kyrgyzstan. I had already seen similar pictures in Mongolia. Other countries, other customs!