The Switzerland of Central Asia
Trip Start
Aug 09, 2010
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3
11
Trip End
Dec 20, 2010
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Friday, August 27, 2010
Jailoos are high-altitude summer pastures where shepherds go in the summers to graze their flocks while living in yurts. We did a 3-day horse trek to Lake Son-Köl, 'jewel of the jailoos.' We spent 6 hours on a horse the first day, which was about 4 hours too long. We crossed a steep pass where the horses clung precipitously to the side of a mountain so steep we would be scared to walk up. We spent 2 nights in yurts at over 3000m freezing our butts off. But the stunning scenery made it all worthwhile.
The nomadic Kyrgyz people are excellent horsemen. We were able to witness this prowess by watching traditional horse games. The most fascinating game was ulak tartysh - sort of rugby-on-a-horse, with the headless carcass of a goat as the ball. The battle is fierce as young Kyrgyz men wrestle for control of the prize and attempt to drop it on the scoring mat.
We then made our way to Lake Yssyk-Köl, on the border with Kazakhstan in the central Tian Shans. It is the second-largest alpine lake in the world (after Titicaca), and the 4th deepest. Our 3-day trek took us to glaciers and natural hot springs, camping along the way. We crossed a pass at 3860m where we had views of Karakol peak (5218m) in the distance. We had a great time except for day 2, which turned into a 10+ hour hike because of our very slow porter - who we suspect was on his first trek ever.
The Kyrgyz people are very friendly and hospitable. It is too bad that tourism is way down due to the political situation (they had a coup in April and serious ethnic violence in June), but we had no problems and are certainly glad we went.
Next stop: westward to Uzbekistan and the glories of the old Silk Road.
