Toktogul, Kyrgyzstan - We’d just entered Kyrgyzstan from Tajikistan and were travelling down a steep, winding road when we spotted a herd of yaks being driven up the pass.
Their long coats of hair fluttered in the wind; they ranged in colour from black to white, to a range of mottled shades. What a photo opportunity. I scrabbled for my camera, but could not find it. There was nowhere to pull over, the moment passed, the yaks went on their way to some remote mountain pasture … then, too late, I found my camera on my lap!
This was my second visit to Kyrgyzstan. In 2005, I had entered from China, in the south-east of the country. This time, we approached from the north-west, so the landscape was totally different.
Our first night was spent in Osh, the country’s oldest city, dating back some 2 500 years. Legends abound over who founded it. King Solomon and Alexander the Great are among those named. On the edge of the fertile Ferghana Valley, it is home to both Uzbek and Kyrgyz people. Overlooking the city is the Sulaiman-Too sacred mountain (also known as Solomon’s Throne) the country’s only Unesco World Heritage Site, and an important place of pilgrimage for Muslims.
Scattered over the sides of this mountain are several fancy tombs. According to our guide, this is a sought-after spot to be interred, but only the very rich can afford it.
Osh, being on the border, has an extremely lively market, but business starts late, so early visitors with limited time do not get the real feel of the place.
The Ferghana Valley consists of endless small farmholdings. How the people make a living is a mystery. For kilometres you see hundreds of vehicles cheek by jowl along the road, all selling the same thing: sweet melons and watermelons. The competition is fierce – far more than that faced by our own street vendors.
The truckers and travellers all support the restaurants in Toktogul, where waiters and chefs are all frenetically busy. Guests pass through a fine spray of water at the entrance to the restaurant and inside ladies are constantly cleaning the floor. The reason for this, in addition to cooling the air in a very hot part of the country, is that the area is inundated with flies, as can be seen by the fly-strips hanging everywhere. Despite this, the food is clean and tasty – which apparently cannot be said for restaurants along the way – hence everyone avoids them and makes a culinary beeline for Toktogul.
We now entered the high pastures, inhabited by herders and their animals. Horses, coats gleaming, graze and gallop; sheep, goats, cows and yaks meander, and traditional yurts (portable tents) are everywhere. What has changed is that most yurts are close to the road, and every one of them has a battered old truck parked alongside. Not many people seemed to be on horseback, unlike on my previous visit, when horsemen abounded.
However, the traditional life is much more obvious at Song Kol lake, one of the highest alpine lakes in the world. At 3 916m above sea level, it is an extraordinary, almost dream-like place. You could easily imagine you were in Mongolia. Rolling hills, lush grasslands, yurts (with no trucks to mar the scene); all within easy range of the lake, which seems to float in a mirage.
Staying in yurts, we got to experience what life is like for these semi-nomads, who come to the high pastures in summer, then return home in winter.
This is where we saw the expertise of people born to the saddle. Young men arrived on prancing horses and showed off as young men do, shouting, galloping and flaunting themselves.
A goat carcass is passed from rider to rider, the teams compete man to man, horse to horse, trying to drop the carcass in a set spot. Boy, could they ride, but we felt sorry for the horses. Their riders positively saw the bits in their mouths to get a response out of them. Still, they seemed in good condition and clearly enjoyed the competition.
In this camp, the entrance flaps to the yurts were tied down from outside. A bit of drama follows trying to get them undone to pay a call to nature at night!
Via a series of dramatic passes, we made our way down to the 170km-long Issyk Kul lake, said to be the 10th largest lake in the world. This is a popular resort for locals and people from neighbouring Kazakstan, and hotels abound – a throwback from Soviet times (when the country formed part of the USSR). We all agreed that only in a landlocked country could such a lake ever be a sought-after holiday destination.
The capital city, Bishkek – with wide, treelined streets and squares – too, is set in a bowl in the mountains. Developed by the Russians, it was originally named Frunze, after a famous Bolshevik general. The History Museum is worth a visit. One floor is given over to the most amazing bronzes, mostly depicting battle scenes, soldiers, some minus a limb, being addressed by Lenin, and similar tributes to fighting men. It is a case of Kyrgyzstan giving space to that of big brother Russia.
For me, a particularly fascinating painting showed the country’s stone-age inhabitants driving wild horses to their death over the edge of a cliff, so they could eat them. Today, the horse is almost a venerated member of society.
l The author travelled with UK company Undiscovered Destinations: www.undiscovered-destinations.com and their local agent Pamir Central Asia: www.pamirhighwayadventure.com
The Silk Road Lodge in Bishkek, located near the Central Park in the city, is a place brimming with character. www.silkroadlodge.kg;e-mail: [email protected]
Myrtle Ryan, Saturday Star