Kyrgyzstan is so much more than just its capital Bishkek. It at least is also: Osh. As one of my friends described it: “Osh is the OTHER city in Kyrgyztan.”

5 reasons to fly to Osh:

1. You get the chance to feel like you are on a marshrutka with wings glued to it – and you get to see the mountains VERY closely.

2. You can slide down a rock on Suleymantoo.

3. The bazaar in Osh is so much better than the Osh bazaar in Bishkek – especially the dried fruits you can buy there – and the Lenin statue is bigger; at the same time everything costs only half as much as in Bishkek.

4. It is almost like being in Uzbekistan (I heard) – just the stars in Uzbekistan shine brighter.

5. Lagman and Ticos.

5 reasons to leave Osh again:

1. Restaurants and bars close too early.

2. All programs dealing with the obvious problem of waste seem to have failed.

3. Nobody seems to know what a shisha/kalian is.

4. Organized crime will get you someday.

5. If you do not leave, you never get to have a crazy life threatening 10 hours drive on a taxi to Bishkek through the mountains – with a stunning panorama.