Felt Making and the Land where Ladas still rule

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We left Narryn after breakfast and headed for Kochkor . Great Scenery all along the way. Kochkor is one of the three major centres (Kochkor, Bishkek and Osh). We tried to change money here as we were too late for the banks when we got to Naryn. Alas, the bank teller was on their lunch break for a couple of hours and then they ran out of money after the Polish couple first yelled at them in Russian (not so helpful) and then cleared them out of currency by changing $500! (I think we were paying the price of the yelling). We managed to borrow some money from Claire and went for a magnificnet Laghman (a noodle dish) Yummm..

Had a felt making demonstration in the afternoon. It was a kind of collective where they taught women new skills. We learnt the techniques for carding the wool, laying it in place and then squashing it into a kind of shyrdik (woollen rug). It was interesting to watch and realise how much work went into making the hats, slippers and rugs. A lot of people bought things but I keep feeling like I was in a Byron Bay Market and felt that the felt items would not look quite the same in Mt Eliza as they do in Kochkor (though the rugs were really good). The shop also had the big furry hats and the heavy white hats that traditional Kyrgyzstan married women would wear - the Bytchyzstan women had lighter fluffy hats in winter!) We had another homestay in Kochkor which was really nice.

The next morning we headed for the capital - Bishkek. (where every second car is a Lada and there are more Russians in the streets than Kyrgys)

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