At the end of August this year, my friend Ali and I headed to Kyrgyzstan. Our goal was to get a first impression of the country and do some hiking in the many beautiful mountain ranges there. The 2 or 3-day Ala-Kul hike is probably one of the most famous hikes for tourists to do. That said, it's still a beautiful and peaceful hike and we never had the feeling it was overly touristy. We asked some locals if we needed a guide or not, and they said it's probably manageable witho