Adventure Travel in Kyrgyzstan | Horse Trekking and Hiking Trip

Join us in Kyrgyzstan for adventure travel as we do a three day horse-trekking adventure and hiking trip along the south shore of Issyk-Kul departing from the town of Bokonbayevo. With our guide and dog friend we journey over hills, mountains and lakes along the way stopping off to stay overnight with locals Kyrgyz families in yurts and simple camps eating home cooked meals and drinking chai. Overall, it is the kind of rugged adventure travel that makes visiting Kyrgyzstan so appealing.
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Adventure Travel in Kyrgyzstan | Horse Trekking and Hiking Trip video transcript:
Well it is our first full day in Kyrgyzstan. We're getting started right into the adventures. Yes. Our horses are here right in town. We're not even waiting until we get into the countryside. We're going to get on them right away and this is going to be awesome. This is what? A three day adventure. We're going to be staying in yurts.
Yeah, so we're going trekking along the south shore of Issyk-Kul lake (Ысык-Көл). Last time we were on the north shore so we'll be seeing a different side. I think the horses are waiting for us so let's hop on. Let's do it.
We have snow capped mountains up ahead.
So we're already making progress on the horses. Last night we slept in the town of Bokonbayevo (Бөкөнбаев) and my horse of course wants to eat.
So yeah, we just wandered around the town had a very relaxed afternoon and then this morning our guide came to pick us up and we are beginning the horse trek. We're on the south side of Issyk Kul Lake and last time we did Song Köl (Соңкөл) and we mostly hung around the north side of Issyk-Kol Lake (Иссык-Куль) as well so we'll be seeing a new part of the country.
So before lunch we're going to give you a quick tour of the camp. So basically we've arrived at someone's home. We're going to be staying in the yurt and we also have some outhouses over here.
It is lunchtime and we have a wonderful spread of food here. Yeah. Let's take a little tour. So we have the typical kind of an appetizer or even a dessert which is bread. And various kinds of jams. Jams, butter, creams. It looks like we have maybe a raspberry jam and apricot jam.
It looks wonderful and we have meat over here. Yes. Chai, yes.
Sam learned the word for thank you. The Kyrgyz word for thank you. rahmat saga (рахмат сага).
But what I love about Kyrgyz hospitality it is just that you always when you're invited into someone's home you get this wonderful spread of food. They are so generous. They always prepare more food than you could ever eat. And also your cup of tea is never empty. It is always being refilled.
Time for the grand tour. Time for a tour of our first yurt. So this is pretty cool. 1st yurt of this trip. We've slept in
yurts before. Yes. But seriously they pile so many mattresses and blankets there is no way this is by far the fanciest yurt we've ever been in because normally we've just slept on the ground.
now we're going hiking. Yeah, that is mountain life for you. Yeah. You have to be dressed for all kinds of weather and prepared for just about everything because one minute you're getting a hail storm and next minute it is beautiful for hiking. Yeah, and we've got a dog joining us.
we had a really nice dinner which we didn't film. Uh, that was pilaf or plov which is rice. Rice mixed with meat and other vegetables. And carrots. Carrots. Delicious.
And now there is a kökbörü match that is our favorite sport in Kyrgyzstan so we're going to go watch.
We are having a picnic. So we stopped by a little lake up on the mountainside. We have snow capped mountains right in front of us and we're going to have a nice little lunch with our dog friend.
Well good morning. It is the start of day three. We just finished having breakfast. We had some semolina with milk and some bread and tea. And now we're getting the horses all saddled up and I think we're riding into town. This is the final day so I believe we've got about four hours ahead of us and then the trek will be over.
This is part of our Travel in Kyrgyzstan video series showcasing Kyrgyz food, Kyrgyz culture and Kyrgyz cuisine.
"Nobody Knows" by Andrew Applepie