I signed up for this trip to Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan with zero expectation, did not even do any research and was pleasantly surprised with how gorgeous both countries are.
Loved that both countries are kept clean by the people so that their natural beauty are not tarnished. The roads from one city to the next are still work in progress, there are some stretches of gravel roads but the surrounding views are so fantastic that you don't really care. I predict that if they stayed on course they are going to be tourism powerhouses in years to come. A must visit countries in every world travellers' lists 😍
This trip was organised by Jeju Muslim Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd. Solo tour price was RM9950. Twin sharing was RM8600/person. The reason why I decided to join this tour is because they don't stay in a yurt (with shared bathroom). Accomodations were all in rooms with attached bathrooms.
This Kazakhstan + Kyrgyzstan tour was from 2-12 October 2025. 11Ds/9Ns. Full board. The itinerary was as follows:
2 October 2025 Kuala Lumpur - Almaty
3 October 2025 Almaty - Bishkek
4 October 2025 Bishkek - Ala Archa - Bishkek
5 October 2025 Bishkek - Chon Kemin Village
6 October 2025 Chon Kemin - Issyk Kul - Bokonbaevo - South Beach
7 October 2025 South Beach - Barskoon Gorge - Jetty Orguz - Karakol
8 October 2025 Karakol
9 October 2025 Karakol - Charyn Canyon
10 October 2025 Charyn Canyon - Almaty
11 October 2025 Almaty - Kuala Lumpur
12 October 2025 Kuala Lumpur
My World Countdown:
Recently tried using apps to count how many countries I've been to. Different apps gave different numbers 😅 So decided to do manual calculation based on United Nation recognised sovereign countries, 195 in total. 193 member states and 2 observer states.
Thus, inclusive of my home country Malaysia, prior to this trip I have reached 64 countries (not 67 😭). Therefore Kazakhstan is #65 and Kyrgyzstan #66.
I will upload the photos and videos of the trip at my IG account (mkhasha.n.travels) as soon as possible. Food videos will be uploaded at my other IG account (mkhasha.n.food).
Hashtag specific to the trip is #mks2025CentralAsia, #mks2025Kazakhstan and #mks2025Kyrgyzstan. Njoy!
POST MORTEM (Updated 1 November 2025)
Tour Company:
First travel with Jeju Muslim. Quite happy with their service. I think their trips are mostly value for money. Might join their Pakistan trip in the future if the price and timing is right.
Itinerary:
Pretty good. Loved that we checked in direct to the hotel in Almaty on the first day instead of immediately went on a city tour or something. Gave us a bit of time to recover from the long journey. The schedule was also not too rushed, we had enough time to take pictures and shopping 😍 I would recommend that if you wish to shop for dried fruits, fresh fruits, nuts and chocolates, do it on the last day of the trip at the Green Market, Almaty, Kazakhstan. The quality is better there than at the market in Kyrgyzstan AND most importantly you do not have to carry it across the border 😋 No need to change too much Kyrgyz Som. Better to have more Kazakh Tenge.
Airlines:
We flew direct from Kuala Lumpur to Almaty (vice versa) via Air Asia. No food provided but Jeju Muslim did ask if we wish to order food, need to pay them extra. I decided not to preorder coz now preorder did not include drinks. You can just order ala carte. It is easier to just purchase the combo meals + desserts on the airplane 🤩
Tour Leader:
Jeju's tour leader was a lady named Fiffy. She took so many videos and pictures of us. My phone was flooded with hundreds of pictures and videos 😅 She also brought us to some interesting places near the hotel after we checked in for the night. I will rate her service B+ 😄
Local Tour Guide:
Our local guide is a Kyrgyz national. His name is Akyl. I don't really understand his English some of the time 😅 but helpful and hardworking. Sometimes he made jokes that took sometime to understand 😋 I didn't join optional tour to Altyn Arashan, I liked that he was quite flexi. Gave me cash to pay for my own lunch in Karakol. I had a good Korean lunch in a nice restaurant (while I was exploring the city on my own) complete with desserts and coffee (need to top up my own cash a bit tho 😅). I will rate his service A- 😁
Bus:
The buses allocated to us was comfortable. We had maybe five separate buses, four in Kazakhstan and one in Kyrgyzstan. More buses in Kazakh because of the short transit from airport to hotel to border (vice versa). We had a dedicated bus in Kyrgyz. Very comfortable. The only gripe was the bus was not cleaned throughout our days in Kyrgyz, full of dust and sand 😆 The windows were dirty which was a pity coz the views were fantastic.
Bus Drivers:
Pretty good driving. No issue. Funnily I cannot even remember our drivers in Kazakh. Too many and over short distance. Our driver in Kyrgyz cannot speak English I think so we just smiled and do sign language if needed to communicate 😅
Hotels:
Main reason why I chose Jeju instead of other tour agency was they provided comfortable rooms with attached bathroom throughout the trip. No sleeping in a yurt or guesthouse with shared bathrooms. Well done Jeju!
Hotel Breakfasts:
Buffet selections were very good in city hotels. Sit in breakfasts at the guesthouses were not too bad. I find it interesting that they served sweets, marshmallows and chocolates (beside the usual eggs, bread etc) for breakfast 😂 A few tour members were seen to eat instant noodles brought from home during breakfast 😅
Lunches:
The food were generally good. Recommended to bring chilli sauce or sambal to enhance the taste, if you're fussy eaters. We had three times buffet style cafeteria. Twice for lunch and once for dinner. First time most tour members took too much, so much wastage. We were also not aware that there are microwaves to heat the food if it was not hot or warm enough. I hate cold dish so I did not enjoy the food at all the first time. Luckily after that I found out about the microwave so the food tasted a lot better 😍 The sit in lunch menu were simple but nice. No complaints.
Dinners:
I liked that they provided varieties. Sometimes you ate in a yurt, sometimes in hotels some other time in restaurants. Choices of food also varies. Some they pre ordered for you, other time they allowed you to order what you wanted to eat yourselves. Very good Jeju! Just to highlight, at the guesthouse near the lake, the apple cake dessert we had for dinner was to die for! So delish 😍🥰❤️
Rapport With Fellow Travellers:
Wonderful group of people. Very sporting and friendly. All are seasoned travellers so very mindful of time. Nobody got lost or not punctual. Some are excellent photographers, learnt quite a few tricks from them 😍 We had such a marvellous time together time simply flew by and it was time to go back home 😭.
Timing:
October was a great month to visit this region. The weather was rather pleasant. Some places you can witness gorgeous autumn leaves. Recommended!
Overall:
The sceneries were fantastic, the food were good, the tour was enjoyable and smooth sailing, the tour members were marvellous and we all arrived safely at home. Syukur alhamdulillah 🥰 I will recommend this trip to all my friends. Worth every penny!
Note: I have uploaded all the food videos at my IG account mkhasha.n.food 😃 the sceneries photos will be uploaded as soon as possible 🤗
