Blogs from Yssyk Kol, Kyrgyzstan, Asia

Today we had the pleasure of watching a falcon hunting demonstration and a game of Kok-boru or Ulak Tartysh (goat polo) which is a national sport of Kyrgyzstan. The falcon hunting was interesting, but it was more or less feeding a bunny to a falcon rather than actual hunting. Tough for the bunny, but I guess it's really no different than feeding animals in a zoo. The goat polo was really a sight to be seen. Basically, they kill a goat, remove the head and hooves, then use the goat's carcass for the game. The teams battle for posession of the goat carcass like rugby on horseback. The object of the game is to toss the goat onto the opposing team's goal (a ring of tires). It sounds brutal, and it is. But, the goat is ... read more

Day 12, July 6, 2009, Monday, Duishombu: We are back in Bishkek. I awoke this morning the first time at 5 am, but knew that trying to stay awake would be impossible, so I went back to the bed and slept again until about 8:30 am. Bishkek is warm and sultry this morning, but there is something nice about being back to the familiar. A good shower, consistent hot water, food on demand, and even when you don't want it. Coffee for me and permission to make it myself. We did finally made it to beach sometime after noon yesterday. I swam in the cold water, we ate watermelon (arpus) on the beach, played with the youngsters, Alea, Adelia, and Eldar. Timka and I rented one of the ponton pedal boats and he pedaled us out ... read more

Day 11, July 5, 2009, Sunday, Jekshembi: Well, yesterday's poor weather resulted in some new information and a fun day after all. I am always reminded of the quotation in Pooh's Birthday Book for July 2nd birthdays which is “Suddenly, Piglet realized that it was a much better day than he had thought it was.” My friend Joe Weaver had one and he maintained it religiously, always sending some homemade art project to you for your birthday. At any rate it was that kind of day. The weather was cold and windy and the beach was out of the question. So, we loaded up in two cars with Gulnara and her friends and headed for Cholpon-Ata. There we went to a park that I had seen from the lake the day before. Several small structures appeared ... read more

Day 6, June 30, 2009, Tuesday, Sheishembi: Did I mention the rain? Yesterday was a washout, no trip to the beach. The clouds darkened and gathered over the mountain tops and then brought the rain and cold down with them. It was snowing at the higher elevations and there is new snow on the mountain tops that we can see from our motel and our vantage points. I have tried to look-up just how high these mountains and the lake are, but I don't have that information stored in my computer. I put the pdf version of one guide and some language lessons on my computer before leaving the US, but I see that I should have brought one of the more comprehensive guides with me for this kind of information. Of course, if I had ... read more

Day 8, July 2, 2009, Thursday, Beishembi Surprise, surprise, we are still in Cholpan-Ata at the Cafe Chebek and the motel with the empty swimming pool. Our plans to return to Bishkek were changed around noon. Emil called from America to tell me that we were not going back to the city until Friday. When we had first worked on a bit of a schedule for me during this month without him we had discussed staying at the lake for about a week. Apparently when he found out that his mother had only scheduled 4 days, he changed everybody's plans. Timurlan and I were not sure how we felt about it yesterday. After all, we were all packed and ready to go back. But we decided to make the most of it and took yesterday as ... read more