Kyrgyzstan - a hidden gem

The further east we travel the more spectacular the scenery becomes, and I am now in love......with Kyrgyzstan.

What an amazing country, beautiful scenery and lovely people.  Most of our time in Kyrgyzstan was spent bush camping either by lakes, rivers or close to family's living in yurts, and this was definitely preferable to staying in a hotel.  The lakes were deserted, so Jenn and I pitched our tent a metre from the lakes edge, and some brave people chose to swim in the lake, but not me, I'm a warm water swimmer!

Waking to the sound of lapping water was wonderful, and the first glance out of the tent in the morning was priceless.

A room with a view

Setting up camp

A chilly dip in the lake

Chilling by the lake with a cuppa

Admiring the vista

It was decided that on one of our bush camps where we would be staying for 3 nights, we would have a "Christmas day" party, so we all went out and bought secret santa presents and decorated a tree by the camp fire.  We also had pork, vegetables and potatoes and played games after dinner.  It was a bit strange to be celebrating Christmas mid June, but we all had a brilliant day at the most idyllic setting by a river, with only cows, horses and goats for company.

Calypso

Driving over precarious bridges

Collecting firewood

Traditional yurt

A typical scene....horses and yurts

Zoe and Susan around the Christmas tree

inside a yurt

The view as we climbed to visit a waterfall

Cooling off by a waterfall

Clare on a hike before the weather turned

Happy hikers

Yurt being built, the next day it was completed

 cow investigating the truck

Susan making friends

Clare relaxing around the fire

Another idyllic bushcamp

The group chose to do whatever took their fancy during our time in Kyrgystan, hiking, horse riding, reading and relaxing, and most of us observed a game of traditional "goat polo".

We paid the locals living in the yurts nearby as most of the group, bar two or three, were interested in what the game involved.  We knew that it meant the killing of a goat (or sheep in our case), but knew that the animal would be eaten afterwards.

What we weren't quite expecting was the sheep to arrive with the polo players, alive and kicking still.  We realised that it was to be killed in front of us, so braced ourselves while it had it's throat cut.  After it's death, the head and legs were cut off just below the knee, and the polo game was about to commence!

The men would grab the sheep from the ground whilst on horseback and jostle with each other to gain control of the sheep, and race to the goal where the sheep would be dropped to score a goal.

At half time, some of us tried to pick up the sheep and I was amazed at how heavy it was, and how easy the men made the game look.  Afterwards, the guys went off to their yurts, and sheep was on the menu that night for the men and their families.

A boy with the unlucky sheep

It's last moments..........

The polo match begins!

Josling for the sheep

Goal!

A young boy watches the game

We, on the other hand got ready for another themed party, this time the bad taste party!  We headed off to our tents, all emerging in the most hideous outfits we could find.  Mine was from a market and was a "house coat".  Andrea and Richard organised some team games and a quiz before ending the night huddled around the camp fire.

Bad, bad taste

Keith and Sandra

Jenn and Aoife

 Mel working the bad taste outfit

Mel and I with two bemused boys

The weather was ever changeable, and we experienced all types whilst in kyrgyzstan, some amazing weather fronts and great storms, to even a bit of snow in our last hour of leaving the country and heading to China.

Everyone has said that it's been one of their top countries to visit on this trip, and somewhere that you would definitely want to return to.

A truly stunning country.

Snowy peaks

A tad chilly

A scenic pee stop

Bushcamp with lake in the background

A young but extremely competant horse rider