Blogs from Song Kol, Kyrgyzstan, Asia - page 2

It’s not often that I begin my day downing 4 shots of vodka before 11:30 in the morning. Equally rare is starting the day witnessing the slaughter of 2 goats. In Kyrgyzstan’s Song Köl, both are apparently quite common. The lake is a major tourist draw and there were hundreds of tourists passing through during my 3 days there. Most people seemed to be coming from or going to another destination but I just did what was supposed to be a quick in and out. It turned out to be much more difficult to leave than arrive resulting in an extra night stay which was fine because had I left on schedule I would have missed all the goat and vodka activity. Now winding up almost 2 weeks in baking Uzbekistan. Today was the worst for ... read more

Na een wat onrustige nacht werden we met het ochtendgloren om 6 uur wakker. Ik had het niet koud gehad deze nacht, Esther wel. De auto gaf aan dat het momenteel -3 graden was, dus erg koud. Gelukkig kwam de zon al snel achter de heuvel vandaan en konden we aangenaam ontbijten en genieten van de besneeuwde bergtoppen (4000 meter). Brood wordt hier overal verkocht en lijkt veel op het ronde brood wat we ook in Marokko aten. De tent was natuurlijk ook bevroren die nacht, dus deze moest eerst drogen voordat we weg konden rijden. De zon heeft nog veel kracht, dus dat ging voorspoedig. Onze eerste stop was een monument voor de sterkste man van Kirgizië, Kojomkul. Deze man was in begin 20e eeuw de sterkste worstelaar van het land en heeft tijdens de ... read more

The public minivan exploded with excited questions in broken Russian when they realised there was a foreigner onboard. "What's it like in England?" "How is life in England?" "Can people live normally there?" "Can you actually live there?" "Here you just can't live, there just isn't enough money..." "Is that vodka?" asked the man next to me, pointing at my water bottle. "Just water," I replied. "What's that in your bottle, vodka, eh?" he asked me again a bit later. "Yes, actually it is," I said jokingly. His glazed over, seemingly unseeing eyes came to somewhere approaching life and his involuntary jaw movements increased in frequency. "Give me some then!" he said in a cracked, wheazy voice. "No, sorry, I was only joking," I apologised. "Come on, seriously, is it vodka or not?" he asked me. ... read more