There is so much to tell from the last month horse-riding here. It has been a refreshing change to travel at a(n even) slower speed. It means more time spent camping in the hills besides rivers and a chance to see all the little details that you simply fly by on a bike. It’s good to travel like the locals do. And while the standard mode of transport in towns is taxi, car or marshrutka, as soon as you get into the countryside, horses are pretty popular. They are a way of life still for the semi-nomadic pastoralist farmers who spend their summers up in the hills and come back to their villages for the winter…
It has also been good to have company – Sarala was the perfect companion. He never answered back and rarely complained (only when I didn’t find good enough grazing to last him the night).
So, after the first 10 days we were a pretty slick Kyrgyz touring machine and Sarala was like a new horse after the rest in Naryn and found the long days on the road little problem. There was just the very steep cattle track short-cut up to Song Kul lake which he resented me taking him up. If a horse could swear under its breath, he would have been. Still, a week after leaving Naryn, we arrived at the lake and had another deserved rest.
But for now, here are some more photos…
Must mention a thanks to Ecotour in Bishkek for helping me to find a good horse!
Hi Helen, Your pictures are great, keep them coming.
The weather here [how British] here is just on the change with the cold nights starting already. It’s October tomorrow so it’s not getting warmer. How are you getting on with the temperatures?
It’s got to start to get really cold for you soon? Horse riding at a different pace must have been a welcome change? I will feel at little guilty in Nov when I get to Asia and 30+ deg. Keep yourself warm. N.B. change of mail address. Dave Ish