After Karakol, our next destination was Lake Song-Kul. It was a bit of an expedition to get there - involving first a minibus around the southern shores of Lake Issyk-Kol and then a shared taxi ride to the town of Kochkor. Following an overnight stay in Kochkor, a town which boasts a spectacular mountain backdrop (but little else), we went by 4WD to Lake Song-Kul. It was an exciting and very scenic drive through low valleys and rolling pasture land and then up into an alpine range. At over 3,000 metres we found ourselves surrounded by snow cover, the remnants of a snowfall the previous day (yes, it snows here even at the end of June) and, in addition to cattle, sheep and horses, we were contending with herds of yaks on the road.
We arrived at the lake after a couple of hours and found on the adjacent high alpine pastures a small settlement of yurts where we were to spend the night. Yurts are a feature of some parts of Kyrgyzstan (so much so that they feature even on the national flag). They are made of wool stretched over large wooden frames - the same idea as a large tent but much more solid and with much thicker walls and a rooftop "window" which can be closed if the weather requires. The insides of the yurts (at least the tourist version) are quite lavishly furnished with rugs, quilts and pillows. Everything was very picturesque. The blue lake, the snow-capped mountains behind and then, in the foreground, our yurt village set on green pastures populated by herds of horses and cattle. Horse-borne shepherds wth their dogs (the Kyrgyz version of a cowboy) completed the picture. We spent the rest of the day hiking around the lakes and pastures and enjoying the atmosphere. The vivid colours as the sun set were fantastic.
Night time was a new experience. It was really cold. We haven't been in a cold climate for a long time and we weren't quite ready for this. We needed every one of those lavish rugs and quilts to keep warm. But we finally awoke to a beautiful morning and the rising sun soon generated enough warmth for us to thaw out. Eventually we made our way back to Kochkor in a 4WD which was also functioning as the local milk tanker. The hissing sounds of fermenting horses milk (kymys) from the cans in the rear of our 4WD were the musical accompaniment of our journey.
From Kochkor we took a shared taxi to Bishkek where we are preparing for our next travel - to Osh, Kyrgyzstan's second city, and on across the border to Tajikistan.
Simon
We arrived at the lake after a couple of hours and found on the adjacent high alpine pastures a small settlement of yurts where we were to spend the night. Yurts are a feature of some parts of Kyrgyzstan (so much so that they feature even on the national flag). They are made of wool stretched over large wooden frames - the same idea as a large tent but much more solid and with much thicker walls and a rooftop "window" which can be closed if the weather requires. The insides of the yurts (at least the tourist version) are quite lavishly furnished with rugs, quilts and pillows. Everything was very picturesque. The blue lake, the snow-capped mountains behind and then, in the foreground, our yurt village set on green pastures populated by herds of horses and cattle. Horse-borne shepherds wth their dogs (the Kyrgyz version of a cowboy) completed the picture. We spent the rest of the day hiking around the lakes and pastures and enjoying the atmosphere. The vivid colours as the sun set were fantastic.
Night time was a new experience. It was really cold. We haven't been in a cold climate for a long time and we weren't quite ready for this. We needed every one of those lavish rugs and quilts to keep warm. But we finally awoke to a beautiful morning and the rising sun soon generated enough warmth for us to thaw out. Eventually we made our way back to Kochkor in a 4WD which was also functioning as the local milk tanker. The hissing sounds of fermenting horses milk (kymys) from the cans in the rear of our 4WD were the musical accompaniment of our journey.
From Kochkor we took a shared taxi to Bishkek where we are preparing for our next travel - to Osh, Kyrgyzstan's second city, and on across the border to Tajikistan.
Simon
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