Kyrgyzstan / Кыргызстан (try spelling that when you're drunk)

Kyrgyzstan: 18th June 2011 to 29th June 2011

Total distance travelled: 11,231km

Total days travelled: 73

And so to Kyrgyzstan, one of my new favourite countries.  The place is absolutely great, and we had a lovely guide Anastasia as well.

We started off in Bishkek which wasn't necessarily the most exciting town in the world, but we had a brilliant time,  courtesy of CJ's friends who we went out drinking with and who we followed to a gay bar.  An amusing night all round!

Think I figured out most of the Cyrillic alphabet by the time we were done.
This says Bishkek.

Scenic Bishkek

Bishkek

Parliament building, Bishkek

People getting their picture taken with tethered peacocks, doves and rabbits.  All very strange.

From Bishkek we drove up to Lake Issyk Kol which is a large alpine lake and camped right on the shore of the lake.  The braver folks went swimming, but the water's a bit salty and there was nowhere to rinse off so I didn't go in (at least that's my excuse - it was a bit cold too!).

There were guys up the top of the hill hanging off ropes and causing landslides.

Lake Issyk Kol and beer!

Lake Issyk Kol

Lake Issyk Kol

We only stayed the one night there and then headed up into the Valley of Flowers which was absolutely stunning. The truck had to navigate 5 wooden bridges on the way up, some sturdier looking than others.

Jim, checking to see if the bridge is strong enough to take 15t of truck!

Apparently so

Taking pictures of us taking pictures of them

The Valley of Flowers

Sylvia and Wendy gather some firewood

We were too heavy for the truck to make it up the hill so had to walk the rest of the way to camp!

Some bright spark had decided that we needed another party (there's a list of birthdays, national holidays and any other excuses to drink in the truck but we had a gap) and therefore we went with a Christmas celebration around the summer solstice.  No Christmas would be complete without a tree, so off went the foresters in the group to lop the top off a suitable tree for us (tut tut - it's a national park!) and the ladies set about decorating it.....  Wendy (crazy lady that she is) got even more into the spirit and steamed up an absolutely enormous xmas pudding.  Zoe took charge of roasting a leg of lamb over the fire and there were secret santa presents all round. It was a little surreal, but really enjoyable.

Christmas preparations

Zoe proudly displaying Wendy's xmas pudding

The boys enjoying Xmas cigars

A few of us were lucky enough to be taken for a long walk up a steep hill by our guide Anastasia.  The scenery was absolutely stunning.  There were loads of horses and cows just roaming about, with yurts dotting the meadows.  Apparently the families live in nearby villages most of the year, but bring their livestock up the valley to live for the summer.

The view from a long walk up a steep hill. 

One of our more scenic camps

We then headed back down the valley via a town with a very pretty little church and some more views of Lake Issky Kol, up some gravelly roads in the mountains, onto a plateau and to Lake Song Kol.  The scenery was completely different from the valley.  There were still yurts everywhere, but no cows, no flowers, no pretty alpine scenery or river to camp beside.  There was more of a windswept barrenness feel to the place, but it was still absolutely stunning.

Pretty little wooden church

Lake Issyk Kol

We set up camp and were almost immediately joined by local kids.  They're completely fearless and really lovely. They hung out with us over the next couple of days and got a great haul of presents from the truck including NZ hats from Colin, many of the toys and a good haul of plasticine.  In return we were given mare's milk.  I was lucky enough not to be one of the unlucky ones who had to down a shot out of politeness!

Camp near Lake Song Kol

Little Fatima - good at squatting, spitting and punching dogs in the face!

CJ making paper animals for the boys (wearing their new NZ caps)

Whilst the kids were fun and all, the headlining act was a game of goat polo put on for our benefit, but clearly taken seriously and enjoyed by all those taking part.

Goat polo

Step 1: select a goat

Step 2: Remove head and bits of the legs from aforementioned goat (this was done very cleanly and with minimal fuss/distress)

Step 3:  Make friends with your severed goat head

Step 4:  Set aside head and legs as the game is played with the bloody, oozing torso

Step 5:  Gather your friends

Step 6:  Let the battle commence.  

There were nominally 2 teams of 2 and the aim of the game was to drop the torso onto a black cloth on the plateau.  Nowhere (especially where the audience were) was out of bounds.  

Audience

This kid was 4 and a great rider.

The kids might be great riders, but haven't mastered tying up their horses yet - CJ had to chase this one down!

My turn!

And from there it was a long drive to a bush camp at the side of a road in a hurricane (Jim's pegless tent went sailing off into the distance - that'll teach him to allow girls (me and Aoife!) to put up his tent for him!), visited by a family stuck in the river in a minibus, and a bunch of Chinese roadbuilders who were clearly completely bemused by us.

Family, post removal from river

Loved loved loved Kyrgyzstan.