Where are Ron and Ellen?
Central Asia, 17 September - 18 November 2009
Ron and Ellen and Amir Timur (Tamerlane), Tashkent, Uzbekistan, September 2009
Bishkek and Cholpan Ata, Kyrgyzstan, September 2009
To see photos of Bishkek, click on the thumbnail at the left.
To see photos of Cholpan Ata and Lake Issyk-kol, click on the thumbnail at the left.
Goat in the hole
To see photos of the kok-bory tournament in Cholpan Ata, click on the thumbnail at the left.
25 September 2009
Bishkek, KyrgyzstanOn Monday morning (21 September) we went to the bus station and, after some wandering around, found the mini-buses for Bishkek. They hold about 18 people and leave as soon as they fill up. It was an easy trip, mostly through rolling or flat dry grasslands, and the border crossing was easy.
Bishkek is a smaller and more relaxed city than Almaty, so we like it better. There are huge central parks and squares, one of which has multiple fountains that are lit with colored lights every evening, and move in time to the music played over loud speakers. Very nice, although Ron says it isn't as spectacular as the similar show he saw in China 10 years ago.
We had one rainy day, during which we holed up in our hotel room and read our books. The next day was bright and sunny, with fresh snow on all the nearby high mountain peaks (again, a great view from our hotel room). We stored our suitcases with the hotel and took just our day packs for a short trip to Cholpan-Ata, a small beach resort town (mainly for Kazakhs and Russians) on huge and very deep Lake Issy-Kol. The high season is July and August, so there were almost no tourists there. The lake is quite beautiful, surrounded by jagged snow-capped mountains, with dry rocky foothills sweeping down to the flat lake shore. There are lots of birch trees along the shore and the beach, with their leaves just starting to turn yellow. Pleasant temperatures during the day, quite cool at night.
We stayed in a bed and breakfast, and our landlady explained that there was a big festival this weekend to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the province, with horse games and races, and the President of Kyrgyzstan coming on Friday evening for the weekend. She said that yesterday (Thursday) there were some kind of elimination round for games, so we went to the stadium in the morning to see what was going on. We ended up staying a good part of the day, watching three rounds of a game called kok-bory, where 2 teams of 4 horsemen each try to pick up a goat carcass (without head or hooves) and carry it down the field to toss into the hole in the center of a sort of box arrangement to score a goal. Amazing horsemanship involved, with riders leaning off their horses almost to the ground to pick up the goat, pulling and tugging and pushing it to get it away from each other. Sort of a cross between rugby and polo! Very Central Asian!
Outside the stadium they were setting up yurts with the traditional beautiful hangings inside and felt cover outside yesterday, and this morning when we went back to watch a semi-final game, all the yurts were being prepared as beautiful banquet halls for invited festival guests. They invited us in and let us sample some of the pastries. We left before the President and all the dignitaries arrived, but there was certainly a big police presence in preparation.
This afternoon, we took the minibus back to Bishkek, and tomorrow have a flight to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where we will meet and stay with our friend Bob.
Love to all,
Ellen and Ron PS Some of you asked about our awful flight from Dulles to Frankfurt. It was Lufthansa 419 (which I'm sure also has a United number) leaving Dulles at 5:45. Bob says despite the Lufthansa number it is "pure United." Another friend said that at least in steerage a centruy ago, you could move around! Bus travel is far more comfortable!
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Last updated: 30 October 2009
