To get things started, I thought I would share the story of a trip to Kyrgyzstan I did in May 2026:
An intensive Russian language course in Kyrgyzstan
As I wrote about in another trip report, I
travelled to Mexico earlier in the year to do a Spanish language course. I had recently quit my previous job and wanted to take a bit of time out to do some of the things I had been wanting to do for a long time.
I had considered starting a new full-time job as soon as I returned to Australia from that trip. I then realised that I had enough savings and freelance work to be able to extend my break from full-time work, so I let myself dream for a moment: what would I
really want to do if I could extend my break a bit longer?
I've long had an interest in Central Asia, and have previously visited that part of the world numerous times. I absolutely love the "Stans", but have always felt that I would get more out of being there if I could speak Russian. I had previously learned bits and pieces of the Russian language and am generally interested in learning new languages - I love linguistics and enjoy the challenge. I have also considered perhaps working in a country like Kazakhstan at some point in the future. So, I started looking into the possibility of doing a Russian language course in Kazakhstan - a bit like I had done in Mexico with Spanish.
Ideally, I was looking for a language school in Almaty (the largest city in Kazakhstan) that offered intensive group lessons for beginners. I didn't really find anything suitable, but I
did find a language school called Lingua Yurt that offered this in Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan.
I sent off an inquiry to Lingua Yurt and they confirmed that they were able to offer 3 weeks of intensive beginner Russian classes starting on my preferred date. The price seemed reasonable and the language school had good reviews, so I confirmed my attendance and started looking for flights to Kyrgyzstan.
Getting from Australia to Kyrgyzstan
Now, as you can imagine, there are no direct flights from Australia to Kyrgyzstan. Even one-stop itineraries are few and far between - and aren't cheap.
So, I ended up booking:
- Sydney-Bangkok on Qantas (Economy Classic Reward)
- Bangkok-Almaty on Thai AirAsia X (paid Economy fare)
- Almaty-Bishkek on Air Astana (paid Business fare)
And for the return trip:
- Bishkek-Almaty-Seoul on Air Astana (paid Economy fare, with a successful bid upgrade to Business on Almaty-Seoul)
- Seoul-Bandar Seri Begawan-Melbourne on Royal Brunei Airlines (paid Economy fare, which was surprisingly good value)
Most of the flights were uneventful, but a quick note on the DMK-ALA leg.
The Bangkok-Almaty flight on Thai AirAsia X was on an ex-Singapore Airlines A330-300. It looked like the interior had barely been touched since being delivered to Thai AirAsia X a few years ago. This meant the cabin was looking quite dirty, with stained seats, ripped carpets, etc. The IFE screens hadn't been removed, but didn't work. The good thing is that this also meant Economy Class was in SQ's more comfortable 2-4-2 layout rather than the ultra-tight 3-3-3 you usually see on AirAsia's A330s. I had booked a Flex fare that included an exit row seat, so I found this ~7 hour flight reasonably comfortable - albeit rather boring!
On arrival into Bishkek, I stopped at one of the shops in the arrivals hall to buy a local SIM card that would work for the 3 weeks I would be in Kyrgyzstan. This worked out to be a really good choice, as it was inexpensive and worked well (except while in the mountains - more on that shortly). I find that foreign eSIMs don't always work well in Central Asia, and are much more expensive, so I would recommend doing this if you're staying longer than just a few days.
The city of Bishkek
This was my second time visiting Bishkek. My last visit was during the middle of winter in 2018, which
I covered in a trip report at the time. In that trip report, I opened my section on Bishkek with the following paragraph:
This was my first time visiting Kyrgyzstan and I didn't really know what to expect. What I found was a country that is markedly less developed than Kazakhstan. In fact, it looked like not a lot had changed since the fall of the Soviet Union. And things don't look likely to change any time soon, either. There was very little construction going on.
Fast-forward to 2026, and things could not have been more different! Admittedly, I was visiting in spring this time and the weather was much warmer. But what I found this time was a booming city. It now has a lot more modern and high-rise buildings, and there was construction going on everywhere! The city still has a traffic problem, but I would almost say now that it's a "trendy" place to be. During my three weeks there, I discovered lots of cool bars, cafés and restaurants, and found that a lot more of the younger people there can now speak English.
One of my favourite "expat-friendly" bars was Somewhere Bistro, which also had live music and trivia on some evenings.
I never once felt unsafe in Bishkek, even when walking alone through the city at night. People are very friendly and it's the kind of place where families are out enjoying the city's many parks even late into the evening. The view of the snow-capped mountains to the south of city really add to the charm, too.
The Russian classes
Although I'd enrolled and paid for a group class, there were no other beginners starting on the same week as me, so I ended up with private classes. Every weekday, for 3 weeks in a row, I would have grammar classes with one teacher from 11am-1pm, and then reading/conversation classes with a different teacher from 1.30-3.30pm.
I would then spend several hours each evening doing homework and revising what I'd learned that day.
There's no getting around the fact that the classes were intense. I was learning so many new things every day, and it was a lot to take in. Between this, a bit of freelance work I needed to do, and going out a lot more than I'd expected with the new friends I met in Bishkek (more on that shortly), I had basically no spare time and ended up feeling quite exhausted at the end of the course. But I really enjoyed the challenge and my goodness, I learned a lot!
You don't really notice the progress you're making each day, but by the end of the 3 weeks I could have a basic conversation in Russian, read quite well, and understand the gist of what was going on around me. I still have a long way to go before I would be fluent, but this course was a really solid foundation.
I liked both of my teachers and found the language school really good. So, on the (very) off chance someone is looking for a recommendation for a small Russian language school in Central Asia, I would recommend Lingua Yurt in Bishkek!
The classes aside, I think the best thing about this language school was the other students I met there. The school has maybe around 25 students in total at any one time, so it's not a big operation. But the other students there basically fell into one of two categories:
- English university students who were learning Russian as part of their degree and needed to do an overseas experience in a Russian-speaking country, or
- Other people like me who shared a fascination in Central Asia, an interest in the Russian language, and had chosen to spend an extended period in Bishkek to satiate that interest.
Pretty much everyone there was mature, intelligent, well-travelled, and at least trilingual. These are exactly the kinds of people who I like to meet, and I just found that I got along really well with pretty much everyone at the language school. So much so that I went out with groups from the language school on many evenings as well.
Trip to Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve
The absolute highlight of my time in Kyrgyzstan was a 3-day trip that the language school organised on my first weekend in the country to Sary-Chelek. This is a lake and nature reserve in the western part of the country, about an 8-hour drive from Bishkek.
More than half of the students at the school came along for the trip, where we stayed in a guest house in the mountains with a local family. We were totally immersed in nature, and there was no internet or phone reception, which actually proved to make the experience so much better.
Over those few days, everyone really got to know everyone and by the time we got back to Bishkek, any ice within the group was completely gone.
On the middle day of the trip, we all went for a hike up to the top of a mountain in the nature reserve. This ended up being a lot more physically challenging than anyone expected, but my goodness it was worth it! The views were absolutely incredible.
I did feel for an older German man in the group who was physically struggling with the climb. He was such a good sport though, always maintaining a positive attitude even when he was exhausted, and we ended up arranging a horse to bring him to the summit.
We spent both evenings at the guest house sharing drinks, games and stories. Being so isolated and away from any large population centres, the view of the sky at night time was also rather breathtaking. We had about as clear a view of the stars in the night sky as you'll get anywhere, and one thing that particularly surprised me was the amount of satellites that we could see in the sky. I certainly don't remember seeing all those satellites when looking up at the clear, nighttime skies in regional Australia as a kid.
Accommodation in Bishkek
A friend was with me on the first few days in Bishkek, so we just booked a room at Ramada by Wyndham Hotel for those nights. This was a block away from the language school and was a perfectly fine 4-star hotel.
After my friend left, I would only be in Bishkek another 2 nights before going away over the weekend, so just booked a hostel for those 2 nights. That hostel was OK, but it didn't really have the vibe I was looking for, so I elected not to stay there again in the second or third weeks. (If I would return to Bishkek and want to stay in a hostel, I would book Meeting Place or Koisha, which are also very close to the excellent Riad bar.)
I had originally booked an apartment on Booking.com where I would stay for the second week. I had booked this a month in advance and it had been confirmed. On the day that I was supposed to check in, I messaged the property to ask what the check-in process was. They informed me that they somehow had no record of my booking and could not accommodate me.
I contacted Booking.com, and they told me that I could book an alternative property and they would cover some of the cost difference up to a certain (low) amount. But the new booking had to be for the same date range, and by the time I was back in Bishkek and had reliable internet, it was already 8pm. Of course, by this time, booking an apartment for the next week with a check-in on the same day was basically impossible, so I just booked a room at Novotel for that night. I later asked Booking.com to reimburse me for the difference between what I would have paid at my original accommodation for that night, and the cost of the Novotel. After a lot of back and forth they agreed, but 3 months have since passed and I still haven't seen any of that money despite numerous follow-up messages and promises.
For what it's worth, there were several other Booking.com reviews for that apartment saying that the owner didn't honour their bookings. Booking.com has done nothing about this and this apartment is still advertised on its platform.
I ended up instead booking an Airbnb for most of my remaining time in Bishkek. This was two blocks from the language school, reasonably priced, and was absolutely fit for purpose. I should have just booked that in the first place.
For my last night in Bishkek, I decided to splurge on the Sheraton hotel. This is arguably one of the best hotels in Bishkek, located right above the modern Bishkek Park shopping mall, and it didn't disappoint. This was the view from my room:
The room was nice, staff were lovely, and it had a great pool, gym, sauna, etc. My only criticism is the security theatre. If you enter via the front door, you have to go through a security checkpoint where your bags get x-rayed, etc. But you can also just enter through a back door which is connected to the shopping mall and there are no security checks there.
Overall thoughts
I absolutely loved my time in Kyrgyzstan. I went in with modest expectations, and they were totally exceeded.
The Russian course was not only a great intellectual challenge, but by staying longer and really getting to explore Bishkek, I felt totally immersed. This was honestly one of the best trips I've done in years, and I'm already thinking about going back.
)
