Blogs from Kyrgyzstan, Asia - page 33

Da vi krydsede ind i Kirgisistans del af Fergana-dalen, tænkte vi kun på én ting; at komme op i højderne og væk fra Usbekistans støv, sved og varme. Første stop var Song Köl, en bjergsø i 3530 meters højde, men for at nå den var vi nødt til at tage den form for transport der nu besluttede sig for at dukke op, for der var ingen busser på den side af søen. Vi brugte det meste af den første formiddag i Kirgisistan på at finde et forholdsvist billigt lift til Karzaman, en by cirka halvvejs mod søen. Nurlan, en ung kirgiser der talte en smule engelsk, som vi mødte på busstationen, hjalp os med at forhandle. Mens vi ventede på andre potentielle passagerer, viste Nurlan os vej til en restaurant i nærheden hvor vi kunne ... read more

The Kyrgyz capital Bishkek doesn’t feel Asian in the slightest - quite surreal being situated slap bang in the heart of Asia. Kyrgyz make up only just over 50% of the population in Kyrgyzstan. In the north the other half are Russian and in the south Uzbek. Like all the other Central Asian capitals its changing rapidly. Businesses in the former Soviet Union don’t like employing people over the age of thirty because they can’t adapt to the new capitalist world in which they now live; whereas the young grasp the system with both hands. In affect the older generation are left on the shelf, which at first seems unfair, but in essence they have become natures guardians of tradition - if it were possible to alter an entire populations mindset overnight at the whim of ... read more

Geo: 42.87, 74.5879... read more

After spending 12 hours on a horse, drinking a bottle of vodka with lunch and wearing basically a sheep with sleeves to keep from freezing to death, I didn’t think anything else in the 3500 meter-high jailoos at Lake Song-Kul could catch me off-guard. Lake Song-Kul is the second highest alpine lake in the world, after Lake Titicaca shared by Bolivia and Peru. In summer local shepherds set up camp in the pastures by the lake, called jailoos, where they tend their sheep, graze their cattle, and make fermented mare’s milk, known as kymyz. To make extra income, some also host travelers during the and show them the ways of life on the jailoo. They work in accordance with organizations in a nearby village that set up travelers with a host and a driver. The shepherds ... read more