beautiful Naryn... if only I spoke Kyrgyz

Hello! I got back from visiting Naryn yesterday, a lovely city nestled in the mountains in kind of the middle of the country. The weather was refreshing and cool, such a change from Bishkek, where I was completely unable to sleep last week because it was just SO HOT! But now that I'm back, for some reason, the weather smells like fall and there's a bit of a breeze, for which I am incredibly grateful.

Anyways, to start. The first picture is of the Museum of Fine Arts, a very interesting building filled with a lot of wonderful modern art, but whose presentation could maybe use a little work. The labels are just computer-typed cut-outs taped to the wall or to the frame, and unfortunately no pictures are allowed at all :( Ah well, I enjoyed my walk through, in spite of the dragons guarding every room and making sure that I didn't do anything untoward.

And I have actually had a social life! How fun :) There is a picture of myself and Sarah, a volunteer from the Mercy Corps, at Yusa, a fantastic Turkish restaurant. And the next night I went to a very authentic (and inexpensive) Chinese restaurant with Bryan from Osh before he left Bishkek. It's so nice to know about these great places, as next time I'll know exactly where to go.

Have I mentioned that I've lost my job? It isn't a problem, as I only have one week (!!!) left and really need this time to meet people and enjoy the city and everything before going, but if any of you are ever interested in doing business in Central Asia, I'll have a few stories for you :)

And next the pictures from Naryn. It really is a beautiful city. I'd been told before that Bishkek is European (comparatively), Osh is Uzbekified, and (aside from the villages) the place to find the real Kyrgyz life is Naryn. Almost everyone speaks Kyrgyz here, which meant that I was very grateful that I came with Nazgul and a friend of hers from Naryn, Eliza. We had a great time.

You can take a bus or a marshutka to Naryn, but it's advisable to take a taxi, given that the trip is at least 4 hours. So we bounced up and down and I prayed that we wouldn't crash the whole way there. The mountains are gorgeous, and I included a bunch of pics so you get some idea of the scenery. I HAVE to come back next year and do some hiking! Also along the way are a lot more people living in yurts, at least for the summer. Most of them seem to be raising herds of horses or herding sheep or selling kimiz, the mare's milk that I am less than enchanted with, along the side of the road. We also saw a huge animal market taking place on Saturday - it really felt like we were getting the authentic Kyrgyz experience.

Naryn isn't too big, although I'm not sure how many people live there. We walked all over the city on Saturday, and I've thrown in a picture of the central square. We went to the Art Museum (had to negotiate a cheaper price for me, as most foreigners have to pay a very inflated rate to get in), and I've included a picture of a hockey game :) And they had a yurt all set up, with all their beautiful blankets and hangings.

After walking around more of the city and parks and all that, we managed to catch the curator of the National Museum as he was walking out. He let us in (for free!) and we got some good pictures in their yurt as well :)

We stayed at Eliza's mother's place, and ate tons of food. I can never eat enough to satisfy Nazgul, but even she had to argue a little to prove that she couldn't eat another thing! But apparently they weren't too bothered by my not eating enough, as Eliza's mother offered me her son to marry, and they kept telling me that I should stick around and they could find me plenty of suitable boys.

On Sunday we went to another national park, only about twenty minutes outside of the city. Again, so beautiful, I love the countryside and can't wait to get back to Colorado and get in some serious hiking. I'll do more here next year, the problem this time has been that I just can't go by myself, and until recently, I didn't know other people who would come with me.

We had one last meal before leaving, and taking the taxi back to Bishkek. It was a really quick trip, but definitely worth it.

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