One of the greatest trek one can ever experience in Kyrgyzstan:
Mira gave me her warm coat. That’s probably the most important thing to mention [oh, how I miss the summer back then! -10 degrees (Celsius) compared to today’s -30 sounds like „hey, who wants to go to the beach with me?“]. The horses were already waiting and off we went! SIX hours, all the way through the village of Kyzart, up to the hills, up to the mountains, towards the lake called Song Kol!
The second largest lake in Kyrgyzstan is located at an altitude of 3016 meters, but as you need to cross the valley the maximum height you conquer is 3400 meters. Oh and yes…
Is it windy out there? – Yes.
Is it cold? – Yes.
Is there so beautiful that you actually don’t mind that you can’t feel your toes anymore? – Yes!
We were surrounded by total whiteness when we finally reached the yurt on the shore. Luckily the stove was small but fair – we made a fire and I put my legs into the stove (may sound a bit extreme…). After some minutes I felt like a human being again. Like a really, really happy human being.
Happy that my cold feet are still functioning
On top of the valley, 3400 meters
Yurt in the middle of whiteness and silence
To get water for the tea we had to make a hole to the ice and carry the water with pails. It was a good exercise and one can only imagine that we felt pretty hungry after that. We decided to visit our neighbours – there was a small fisherman’s yurt standing not far away from our home. „Come, come in,“ I heard a really friendly voice before I spotted 5-6 men sitting on the floor in the candlelight. We drank a shot of local drink made out of grains and had a loaf of bread. Then we bought some fish and finished our day with a perfect dinner back to our yurt.
Inside the yurt. For the night we removed the table and put mattresses on the floor for sleeping
A little toilet in the middle of snow.
Horses and the yurt, Song Kol lake in the backround
The next day greeted us with a really bright sun and hoarfrost – perfect day to feel yourself like a movie star! We galloped on the snowy lake, met the fishermen, played chess in the yurt, ate the fish and hold a breath for one crazy Canadian traveller who decided to go for a swim [well, the ice hole was big enough for just dipping in, but man, I got goosebumps… and I didn’t even touch the water].
Good morning!
Local fisherman
You don’t need a big house to be happy
You may now ask how is to sleep in the yurt? I can only tell that I felt like the sleepiest Kyrgyz baby. Horseback riding in the winter – just go for it!
Madlena ❤
