7/2/07
I left the village of Kochkor on Thursday morning and drove to another (smaller) village roughly an hour and a half southwest from Kochkor. It was from here that I set out on my horse trek with an Italian and my guide, Azim. Just before we set out it started to rain. So we had some tea and waited a while. The sky began to clear so we got on our horses and headed south from the village.
It took about two minutes until it started to rain. At first it was just a drizzle, but then it picked up in speed. So I put on my bright orange raincoat. I was joking that the rain was just what I needed because I hadn’t seen a shower since I’d left Bishkek (not entirely true, there was one in Jeti Oguz, it just didn’t have any cold water). About 20 minutes into our ride I heard this shrieking noise. I asked my guide what it was and he said baby jackals. So I had to turn around my horse to see them. He warned me not to get too close because the horse would try to eat them. Anyhow, lying in a ditch on the side of the road was a litter (if that’s what you call it) of baby jackals. They sort of looked like baby dogs and they were cute and very small.
I think it was then that my guide asked if we could go any faster. So I nudged my nice black horse and said “choot choot.” Azim said “beat the horse.” That doesn’t sound as good in English as I’m sure it does in Kyrgyz. A few choot choots later and my horse was steadily on its way. So was the rain. In fact it got colder and the rain got heavier and the wind started blowing. And so went the first day of my ride. The clouds rolled in and I couldn’t see anything in the valley or even the mountains just a few hundred meters in front of me. My pants were soaked and there was water dripping down my back. Cotton in retrospect didn’t seem like a bright choice anymore for my shirt.
We met some kids on donkeys. They seemed to be riding faster than us. We started to go around the mountain and ascend through the pass. By now we were easily into hour two. The rain still hadn’t let up. I think it was around now that I thought, “why did I think of doing this stupid horse trek anyway.” It got windier. And then my hands started to go numb. My feet too. Now my thick thorlo socks joined the cotton t-shirt in retrospectively not being the best idea. Every time I thought to myself that the rain looked like it was letting up and the sky just might be clearing, the rain started up again…and it was heavier than before. At about hour three I began shivering. Yikes. My guide promised that we only had an hour more.
That last hour was probably the worst – in that I was freezing (maybe it was +5 Celsius) – and the best – in that we were winding up these gorgeous green hills that must look beautiful with blue skies and some sunshine. And there it was, one hour later, a yurt. I have never in my life been so happy to see a yurt or shelter of any sort. Getting off my horse I moved as fast as I could (not very given the 4+ hours on a horse and my freezing body) into one of the yurts where there was a coal stove. I couldn’t feel my hands or feet at this point. After an hour by the stove my pants had dried (yay synthetics), but I was still soaking and still shivering. I shared the fire with about five three-day old sheep. They were so cute and cuddly, but I was really cold.
The hosts then lit the stove in the yurt I was going to be sleeping in and I moved in there and finally got to take off my drenched shoes and socks. Even worse, all of my dry clothing in my bag was soaked. Everything. Thermal underwear for the subzero nights, long sleeve shirts, socks; you name it, it was drenched. Valter (the Italian) was kind enough to loan me a dry pair of socks and a long sleeve shirt. The host family put a blanket on me. I drank liters of hot tea and finally, 3.5 hours after I had come in from the rain I could feel my extremities and my feet were beginning to thaw. I was relieved that I was not going to get hypothermia.
My poor guide was so miserable that he was begging us not to continue on the next morning as planned to Song Kul. It was sunny and the skies were blue, but the clouds were coming in from over the summit and from the direction of Song Kul. He was convinced that it was going to pour again and he really didn’t want to continue. I figured that if we left early we could beat most of the rain and get to our yurt on Song Kul lake before we were frozen again. I had not just been on horseback for 4.5 hours to turn back in what was likely to be rain to grab a car to the lake. Our plan to leave early didn’t materialize because they had to round up our horses and that took roughly 90 minutes.
So we left at nine and started ascending through this amazing valley up along the ridges. I had to hold on to the mane of my horse to make sure the saddle didn’t slide backwards. We reached the summit around an hour and a half after leaving. I believe it was 3300m, over two miles above sea level. When we reached the top I could see miles of lush green valley with the shimmering lake in the distance. Behind that were mountains rising up on the other side of the lake. This is why I came by horse and not by car. We began our descent through the valley and there were patches of edelweiss and other wild flowers. We were well above the tree line. By about 1130 we must have been by the lake riding along the shores. The views all along were breathtaking (and I will post pictures in about one week). We stopped for a picnic lunch on the shore of Song Kul although my guide must have picked the windiest spot…not to mention a place where there was no where to sit. We continue on and shortly after lunch we arrived at our CBT yurt on the shore of Song Kul. We had made it 2 hours quicker than anticipated…must have been all the “choot choot” I told my horse. My horse would go quickly for a bit and then stop…he was not the galloping type but still we made good time.
Song Kul is just magnificent. The water in the lake is a steel blue color or nice green depending on the sunlight. I think it might be the most peaceful and serene place I’ve ever been. It is about has far as you can get from civilization and is more or less untouched. There are no hotels, just yurts. There is one road in, but it takes a while to get there. On our eastern shore of the lake there were yurts lined up two by two or three by three for as far as you could see. My host told me that the next yurt encampment over was full of tourists from Bishkek. Apparently the Kyrgyz need to reconnect with their nomadic traditions in the summer. The family I stayed with had two kids that I met. They had a 17 year old daughter who is studying economics at the university in Bishkek. She must be thrilled to spend her summers away from all her friends with no communication. She had the trendiest sunglasses and it was interesting to see the juxtaposition between her and her mother, who was always dressed in traditional clothing. The little boy kept on trying to befriend me…but in all the wrong ways. On Saturday morning I was lying inside my yurt reading The Kite Runner when he rushed it with a clenched fist. He opened it up to show me the wide array of bugs he had caught for me. He even tried to give me one. How nice. The last time I give that boy a lollipop, I thought, or I’ll have to accept his good will offering. Later on the day he came running back in to show me the (what looked like) mini eels he had caught. Just for me?! Yikes. All I know is that I didn’t want any more of his peace offerings.
I spent most of Saturday watching the birds and reading The Kite Runner. In the late afternoon I decided to go for a walk up to the foothills of the mountain. It was significantly further than it looked. I guess those jailoo pastures can be deceiving. The yurts where I was staying had two “toilets.” I met two tourists – one from France one from Italy – who recommended the fair one: “it might be further and I know it’s cold at night, but trust me it’s 4 stars compared to the close one and it’s worth the hike.” How right he was.
On Sunday morning after breakfast a car came to pick me up and take me back to Kochkor. I played with the little kids at Kuku’s house and gave them all more lollipops. Then Kuku and her daughter (a bit older than me) sat down to give me a demonstration on how they make shyrdak. It was interesting to see close up and I also got a chance to see the ones they had made while I was gone. At around 2pm I said my goodbyes and got lots of kisses and walked to the bus station to catch a shared taxi to Bishkek.
Lucky me I got the middle seat for the 2+ hour drive back to the capital. Then after arriving in Bishkek I got the worst cab driver who couldn’t follow directions to my hotel in Russian. So he drove around in circles. The third time he stopped for directions (I gave him a map which had the intersection marked) I got out of the car and got my bag out and found another taxi. The other taxi took me to my hotel, but overcharged me. At least he knew where he was going.
Last night I ran into some semi-locals. I met a Canadian-American who was having a birthday party and celebrating with his Russian (Kyrgyz nationality) wife and their son. They’re waiting on immigration papers. I also met a Kyrgyz who lived in nyc and speaks English with an amazing American accent. And then there was another couple where the husband is Turkish and the wife is from Siberia. They’re in Bishkek studying English…there’s apparently a good school here and it’s cheap. I was offered a job at dinner to teach here. It was a good time and it was nice to be among English speakers again.
This morning (Monday) Soren arrived from the US, making him the 5th American that I’ve met since leaving Moscow. After smoothing out a few logistical issues like getting a taxi we went on a day trip with a German named Irena. We thought we were going to Alayedin canyon, but our driver took us to Ala Archa. We were planning on going there on July 4th but there seems enough to do that we could go back. There is a river and a trail that goes through a valley. Amazing flora all over. The only problem was that it kept on raining so our hike was cut a bit short. I’ve written too much already. That’s all for today.
