The roads of Kyrgyzstan are full of old cars and trucks, especially Lada. Here is a collection of shots I took as we were wandering around.
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Why a post dedicated to cars in Kyrgyzstan?
I am really not fascinated by cars. I am actually quite happy to live now in Paris and not own a car! And this is normally not the first thing I look a when traveling. But in Kyrgyzstan, I did. We all did.
Here are a few things that impressed / suprised me about their cars in Kyrgyzstan:
- There is a mixture of steering wheels on left and right side!
- These old cars are still able to climb to mountain pass as high as 3500 meter! And often they are heavily loaded
- For the bumpy road, they prefer taking old cars because they are higher. However we saw many cars stopped by the side due to engine problems...
- There are a lot of abandonned cars on the streets (although not in Bishkek). And they often give you in the directions to turn at the abandonned cars... well not such a useful features to find your way 🙂
Lada
Lada is a way of life there... see my little collection:
4WD
Although all types of car were used to get off road, we spotted a few interesting ones
Particularly in the village of Arslanbob:
This man was really proud of his car and showed us the engine!
Old Russian Truck
To get to the isolated valley of Altyn Arashan, there is a crazy track. We went there via an old russian 4WD truck. Very impressive!
Busses
In those mountains kids are often spread geographycally. So a bus takes them to school. The first one we found in the viallge of Arkit. We asked and it is still in use every school day.
We crossed path with a few more on the road. Considering what they had to climb I was really amazed that they were still functionning!
Being curious...
We found this truck that looked abandonned on the side of the highway. The writing says eggs, milk, cheese etc but inside we found rocks!!!
In the town of Kazerman lost in the middle of Kyrgyzstan, we even got toursity at a petrol station photographing the old pump. The locals might have thought we were crazy...
Out of order
Example of an old car that does not wrok anymore but is still kept...
Want to see more of Kyrgyzstan's beauty?
Discover more planning information, things to do and places to see in my online Kyrgyzstan Travel Guide.
Do you enjoy old cars?
