MatthewGain.com » Kyrgyzstan

Observations from Kyrgyzstan

Matthew Gain — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:09:01 +0000

Sarala-Saz Jailoo

Yesterday as we drove from Naryn, Kyrgyzstan over the 3,752 metre Toruguart Pass into the Xingjiang province of China we bid farewell to Kyrgyzstan and in fact Central Asia. Thus as has been my tradition with the previous countries, this post is dedicated to our ten observations from Kyrgyzstan.

As I have said previously, when making observations about Turkey and Uzbekistan, these are merely my observations, drawn from a very short stay in a complex country, where I didn’t speak the language and only visited a handful of places. So needless to say they are not definitive.

1. Mountains – even a blind man couldn’t miss the mountains in Kyrgyzstan. They are spectacularly beautiful and a very welcome wake up jolt to our lazy flat-London leg muscles.

2. Russian influence – unlike Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan has retained many of the hallmarks of its Russian occupation. They Kyrgyz still use the Cyrillic alphabet (thankfully Elizabeth taught herself this so we could read things) and seem rather partial to lashings of vodka, which is scarily comparable in price to bottled water, is available in abundance. You could also be forgiven for thinking the USSR was still in existence given the number of Lenin statues and busts that litter the towns and cities.

3. Less obvious state control – unlike Uzbekistan, policemen were not a sight on every street corner, our accommodation each night did not need to be registered with the government and the internet appeared to be unfiltered and uncensored. That being said President Bakiev is figuratively omnipresent – peering out of the myriad billboards on the roadsides an in towns and villages.

Ever-watchful President Bakiyev

4. Community Based Tourism (CBT) – CBT is a nationwide network of community based tourism projects that marry westerners with local Kyrgyz families and communities. The scheme, whilst a little on the pricey side when compared with other options, is an excellent one and enables local people to continue to live their traditional (in some cases nomadic) lives whilst capitalising on the tourist dollar.

5. Beers with straws – ladies drink beer with a straw in Kyrgyzstan, something Elizabeth found simply too strange to comprehend.

Elizabeth never quite got used to drinking beer with a straw

6. Limited historic built environment – unlike the grand structures and monuments we encountered in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan had relatively few historical building or sights. I can only assume this is due to the fact that the Kyrgyz people were nomadic for much longer after the Uzbeks .

7. German cars – like used Japanese cars in New Zealand, it seems all of Germany’s used cars end up in Krygyzstan. Every second car it seems is an Audi 100 and there are also plenty of BMWs and VWs too.

Audi 100s are everywhere in Kyrgyzstan

8. Fabulous felt – from shyrdak rugs, the ak kalpak hats, to the covering of their yurts, the Kyrgyz people sure do know their felt. We were so impressed in fact that we bought ourselves a rug that we are currently trying to send home.

9. Young population – it seems everybody in Kyrgyzstan is young! There are kids everywhere and rarely do you see an aksakal (which directly translates to white beard). According to the UN children and teenagers (age 0-15) comprised 38.1 percent of the population in 1999 (National Statistical Committee 1999).

10. Cemeteries – It seemed that on the outskirts of every town there was a cemetery. Though don’t imagine some modest affair, they were often times massive, housing enormous tomb like monuments with sandblasted images of the deceased staring out at you. Interestingly many people performed a subtle Muslim blessing that looked as though they were washing their face when we travelled past a cemetery in a bus of shared taxi.

So with this post we have completed our tales of Central Asia. The region has been difficult travelling in many ways, with the fairly ordinary food and the fact that we forgot out Russian phrasebook being the two standout items. Both the countries we visited, though incredibly old in history, still feel like they are finding their feet after their Russian occupation. Though, if the pride and the determination of the people are anything to go by, this will change. The sights we have seen and the experiences gathered will be with us for a long time yet.

Posting this I am sitting using Wi-Fi (something that was for us non-existent in Central Asia) in Kashgar having just last night having potentially the best meal of our trip so far. The marvels and quirks of China lay ahead of us, so best get out amongst them.

All of the Kyrgyzstan images can be seen here.

Yurt baby, yurt!

Matthew Gain — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:42:16 +0000

Elizabeth and the yurt

So,Elizabeth has fulfilled one of her childhood ambitions of sleeping in a yurt. What is a yurt you ask? Why it is that funny looking shelter in the picture above. Traditionally the nomadic Kyrgyz people would live in these and move them to high ground in the summers and back down to the warmer valleys in the winter. Nowadays though it is typically only the shepherds who use them during summer as they tend their flocks on the jailoos (alpine grass plains).

The yurt is covered by sheep’s felt on the outside and decorated with shyrdak (felt) rugs on the inside. Complete with a fire, for burning sheep dung (don’t worry when burnt it is fully dried and not smelly), soft mats for sleeping on and a skylight to let in the light, it was a cosy little place for us to spend the night – it had to be, it was bloody freezing outside!

Over our stay we went horse riding and hiking around the hills up around the patches of remaining snow clinging on into summer. It was great to get a glimpse into family life up in the mountains – definitely a no frills way to live. We made a video and got some photos which hopefully paint a picture better than I can with words.

Our hosts Mr and Mrs Bobby

The yurt and our guard dog at dusk

I took this photo shortly before we retired for the night. The temperature was rapidly dropping, but the little fire burining dried sheep dung inside the yurt ensured we were cosy as we drifted off to sleep.

Elizabeth horse riding near the snow capped peaks of Sarala-Saz Jailoo

Horses on the Sarala-Saz Jailoo

The day following this shot all the foals were speperated from their mothers so that the mares could be milked to make kymys , a local low alcoholic drink. Like home brew in Aus, each household has their own take on it and everybody thinks their’s is best, so you have to try a few.

Mr Bobby's wife

Having been chased out of Kochkor as a result of my heavy internet using habits (long story), we are now back in Bishkek as we wait out the Chinese Dragon Boat festival and the reopening of the Torugart Pass. The next post, assuming all goes well, should be from western China!

View all our Kyrgyzstan images taken to date here .

Altyn Arashan

Matthew Gain — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:42:12 +0000

Altyn Arashan

A couple of days ago we hiked out of the alpine town of Karakol to Altyn Arashan, joined by Christine from the US who we met in town (and who gave us some awesome travel tips for China where she has been living for the last four years – thanks Christine!).

Given the elevation of the valley is 3,000 metres we were a little out of breath at the end of the hike, but the views the whole way were well worth it, as was the presence of hot springs at the top to ease those post-hike aching muscles! We spent the night in a home stay mountain lodge – definitely on the chilly side after sundown. After two and a half years living in the bright lights of London it was awesome to see a night sky carpeted with stars.

The place is beautiful and we were incredibly lucky to get such sunny, clear weather. Pics and video below:

Sunset in the Altyn Arashan Valley

Hiking in the Altyn Arashan Valley

Horses in the Altyn Arashan Valley

To view all our Kyrgyzstan images go here.

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We’ll be coming through the mountain…

Matthew Gain — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:19:23 +0000

GUEST POST – BY ELIZABETH DAWSON

Our first stop across the border into Kyrgyzstan was a town called Osh. Nice place, worth a visit, only it was at least a ten hour drive north across two mountain ranges to our next stop – the capital city Bishkek.

We had sorted out our shared taxi through our hostel and we were all set for an early morning start. A quick dinner the night before in the standard local chaykana seemed the way to go – cheap and tasty. Alas, said dinner was less than gratefully received by Matthew’s digestive system and a rough night of technicolour yawns left us both fairly unsettled and Matthew still tres queasy come the morning.

Still, the show must go on and into the car we got, ready for a full day on the road. Unfortunately the turn of the ignition was all the emetic that Matthew needed and within seconds of the car leaving the kerb the poor love’s stomach gave it up all over again (thankfully a plastic bag was on hand!). The driver and our fellow passenger were obviously intrigued at the speedy onset of travel sickness given we had barely moved a hundred metres.

We pressed on however and we were soon out in the lush, green landscape of the Kyrgyzstan side of the Fergana Valley. Snow capped peaks far off in the distance framed the view.

Our friendly driver rifled through his eclectic selection of cassette tapes to set the soundtrack for our road trip. He had a clear favourite that was played at least nine times over the course of the journey. Top highlights included 70s/ 80s classics such as Abracadabra, Woman in Love, a selection of Abba and aptly summing up our level of conversation with our road trip buddies – Words (Don’t Come Easy).

As well as mixing driving with DJ-ing the lovely man was always only to happy to stop for us to take photos and even pulled over to pick wild mulberries from the side of the road.

Our journey took us past a mirror-like turquoise lake reflecting the craggy wildflower covered mountains and alongside the Naryn River cut off by a series of massive Soviet dams. Fresh mountain honey stands, trout sellers, grazing horses and scatterings of yurts were just some of the other sights to be seen from the window of the car as we climbed the twisty road.

Those distant snow capped peaks we saw at the beginning of the day got closer and closer until we were up at 3,184mt driving past glaciers surrounded by thick snow that buried car wrecks and huts. A 2.6km dark, dripping tunnel spat us out onto the other side of the mountain before we began our descent towards Bishkek.

We made it to the bottom of the mountain as dusk fell, the scenery now a strong contrast to the remote, rugged landscape of the past few hours. The long straight road towards the city was lined by factories, markets, houses and all the buzzing life that makes up a metropolis.

Eleven hours after leaving Osh we made it to our destination. The road to Bishkek was also a road to recovery for Matthew who after a shaky start was in much better shape by the end of it all.

I am writing this post in the town of Karakol on the shores of Lake Issy-Köl from where we will be doing some hikes expect some pics soon.

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