Kyrgyzstan
An amazing day with just 1 HP (horse power)
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Johan Kruseman
Updated on 21 August 2024
Updated on 21 August 2024
After climbing a small mountain with the German guy on horseback, his horse, and a lost Frenchman, I arranged for a car ride to return to civilization the next morning. Then, that evening, I suddenly heard a familiar voice—it was Azamat, one of the two sons from the homestay in Kochkor, looking for me. He had just brought two Australians on horseback to the lake and asked if I wanted to ride back with him.
I didn’t have to think twice, especially since I didn’t yet know that we would be doing the two-day tour in one day, that one of the other horses kept farting every time I walked closely behind it, that I had forgotten to feed my own horse during the night, so it kept grazing every 20 meters to make up for the delay with a trot, which was the only gear of a horse that my butt had learned to avoid at all costs since my time in Bolivia, and that I would get only fermented horse milk for lunch.
I couldn’t walk anymore afterwards, and the fact that my feet were almost frozen because I didn’t know that I had to lift them when crossing a river (I didn’t realize that the water was so deep that it reached the horse’s belly) didn’t help either. Nevertheless, it was an incredibly amazing day; I never knew that you could have so much fun with just 1 horsepower.
That evening, Azamat explained that his baby would turn one next month, and that’s a big celebration. His father would slaughter five sheep and distribute the meat to the street. Proudly, he showed and fed the sheep, who sheepishly accepted their fate.
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Traveled route: Bishkek, Ala Archa National Park, Kockkor, Song-Kul lake, Beltam Yurt Camp, Fairytale Canyon Skazka, Karakol, Altyn-Arashan, Cholpon-Ata, Jalal-Abad, Kazarman
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I had already spent a week and a half in Kyrgyzstan, and after Bishkek-Kochkor-Bishkek-Kochkor-Song Köl-Kochkor, it was finally time to explore the rest of the country. That evening, I slept in a ger camp by a lake after taking buses, hitchhiking, a
Kyrgyzstan
Did this story inspire you to go to Kyrgyzstan? Read more on what Kyrgyzstan has to offer, what the best months are for visiting and check the handy links for backpacking there.
