Ilgiz SatkynovSoftware engineerBay Area, CA

Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia.

This is where my story starts. I grew up in Tegizchil, in the Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan. Before the Bay Area, there were these mountains, this language, and the people who helped me get started.

Snow-capped Tian Shan peaks above brown foothills and a wide grassy plain where riders drive a herd of cattle.
The Tian Shan mountains near Karakol, Issyk-Kul Region.Photo: Bgag / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0

Where I’m from

Tegizchil is the village I call home. It’s part of the story I bring with me wherever I go—even when the work, language, and time zone change.

Waves running up a dark shore of Lake Issyk-Kul at sunset, with mountains on the far horizon.
Sunset on Lake Issyk-Kul, Issyk-Kul Region.Photo: Arina Pan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

A few glimpses of home

A white boat on the blue water of Lake Issyk-Kul, with a lakeside town and dry mountains behind it.
Lake Issyk-Kul near Cholpon-Ata.Photo: Bgag / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0
A herd of horses walking across a meadow below a red sandstone ridge.
Horses below the Jeti-Ögüz rocks.Photo: Bgag / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0
White felt yurts on a green meadow at the edge of a spruce forest, below mountains lit by the evening sun.
A yurt camp in the Jeti-Ögüz Sanctuary.Photo: Arina Pan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

See a little more

A short film of Kyrgyzstan’s landscapes, including Issyk-Kul, by photographer Albert Dros.

Watch on YouTube

Photo credits

None of these photos were taken by me, and none of them shows Tegizchil itself.