After seeing enough cities to last a long time we were all
excited to head into Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. In my mind we were heading for
the wild central asian steppes, with nomadic tribes, wide open grasslands,
beautiful lakes and snow capped mountains.
We were not disappointed. We didn't spend long in Kazakhstan
but what we did see was beautiful.
Gaps on his massive horse.
Bishkek, our first stop in Kyrgyzstan and the capital, was a
weird mix of everything the country has to offer. Kyrgyzstan is a huge mix of
people. People that live here have come from China, Korea, Russia and Europe.
You can see it in the way people look, so many differences. A large amount of
Kyrgz people are still very nomadic. They live in Yurts, near lakes and in the
mountains in summer and move into the villages during winter. Most of the
country is over 1700m above sea level and the winters are very harsh. Most have
cattle, sheep and horses that are their lively hood. Some also have yaks, as
they can deal with the high altitude and cold better.
The Russian family that shared their plov and vodka with us, their daughter is a European swimming champ.
Diner inside a yurt.
The place to go for cell service.
And the concrete block that is the only cell service for hours.
Afternoon tea Kyrgyz style.
Animals are not cheap in the country, a sheep is worth $160,
a cow $1000, and much more for a horse. People grow up on horses and they are
very much an important part of their lives and it shows when you watch a game
of ulak tartysh. It is kind of like polo, but with no sticks and instead of a
ball they use a goat or sheep carcass. They cut the head off it first and it is
then used for a game of polo and cooked after. The aim of the game is to put
the goat on a blanket to score a goal while the other team tries to take it off
you. Each team has from 2 to maybe 10 players, all on horse back. They use the
horse to smash into the person with the goat to try and get them to let go of
the goat, amazing to watch and it is fair to say the meat was well tenderized
and delicious!!!
That is the goat they are fighting over.
Another very important tradition is eagle hunting. For
thousands of years all through central asia they have used eagles to help them
hunt. Sometimes they do it from horse back and sometimes on foot. The eagle
will hunt and kill prey and the eagle will get some of it and the hunter some.
Hunters sometimes have the same eagle for 20 years and they train it from young
to hunt. Most now kill foxes and the eagle gets the meat and the hunter the
skin. We organised an eagle hunter to give us a show of how it works, but
instead of a mean fox, the live bait for the show was a beautiful white rabbit,
poor wee thing didn't know what was going to happen. It tried to run to us for
protection from the eagle but just sent us all running as the eagle come
through us to get the rabbit.
I have always told people you aren't on an overland trip
until you get stuck, well we got stuck in Kyrgyzstan, took a lot of digging,
mostly with our hands as the front axle was on the ground and a nice tractor
driver from the village to get us out, all part of the fun.
Grace doing some digging with her hands.
If you want amazing treking, horse riding, crazy nomads and
sleeping in the wild in a yurt go to Kyrgyzstan, it was one of our favourites.
A fire engine for Dad.
Beautiful caravanserai near the China border, where traders on the silk route would stop and rest with their camels.
Who wants to play corners?
Not a bad place to camp....thanks for the photo Gaps.
