On the way to Issyk Kul, I stopped in the village of Totmok to see the Burana Tower from the 11th century. Until our times, only this is what is left of the Balasagun, the capital of the once powerful Karachanid Khanate. The trip was worth the trouble, because standing alone, in the middle of the empty Chuy Valley, the tower makes an amazing impression, and the view from its peak to the Kyrgyz Mountains is breathtaking.