Water is a defining feature of Kyrgyzstan. In winter it freezes on glaciers and buries the land deep in snow. In summer it melts into cascading streams, tumbling waterfalls and ferocious torrents which carve their way through jagged cliffs and rocky gorges.
Due to its topography the country is very much split into the northern and t southern part. In the north of the country, there are big valleys like the Chui-valley (where the capital Bishkek is situated), and the Talas-valley, as well as the lake Issyk-Kul The Kyrgyz also call the lake "Blue Pearl of the Tien-Shan" or "Sea of the Kyrgyz".
Bishkek, the capital of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, with a population of about 1 million, located in the Chui valley at the northern foot of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too on an inclined plain, at an altitude of 700-900 meters above sea level.