Kyrgyzstan - Central Asia - page 298

Horsemeat sausages known as kazy , karta
or chuchuk are a popular vodka chaser.
Also try the steamed buns made with
jusai , a mountain grass of the onion family.
In homes, but not restaurants, tea is tra-
ditionally made very strong in a pot then
diluted when served.

When staying at cheaper local hotels, double
check whether a price quoted is per room or
per person. If the latter it may mean a random
stranger plonking his backpack on the bed be-
side you, dormitory style.
The main cities (Bishkek, Osh, Jalal-Abad and
Karakol) all now boast new midrange hotels.
Top-end accommodation is so far limited to
Bishkek and a few of the resorts scattered
around Issyk-Köl.
ACTIVITIES
Horse Riding
Kyrgyzstan is the best place in Central Asia
to saddle up and join the seasonal nomads on
the high pastures. CBT oices throughout the
country can organise horse hire for around
700som per day. Jumping on a horse without
pre-booking is easiest at the yurt camps of
Batai-Aral (beside Song-Köl) and in the grigo-
rievka Valley of northern Issyk-Köl. Several
agencies advertise organised horse treks
though most simply sub-contract. For a well-
organised tour with decent horses it's worth
approaching reputable providers directly, in-
cluding Shepherds Way (p270) and AsiaRando
(p246). There's also Pamirtrek ( % 077-343
8032, 031-230 4640; [e-mail]), an
association of independent Pamir equestrian
guides.
Some self-suicient travellers have occasion-
ally purchased their own horses/donkeys for
around US$1000/300 at animal markets in Osh
or özgön (where prices are relatively reason-
able) and, after a month or two riding or cajol-
ing them across the mountains, sell them again
in Bishkek, conceivably for a modest proit.
In reality such an idea requires considerable
experience and relies on inding a well-trained
animal, not the cheapest one around.
A good source of equestrian insight, notably
about the sturdy Kyrgyz breed, is Kyrgyz Ate
(www.atchabysh.org).

SURVIVALGUIDE

8 Directory¨A-Z
ACCOMMODATION
Homestays are the bedrock of accommodation
in rural Kyrgyzstan, with bed and breakfast
(B&B) rarely costing more than 700som. There's
an approximate rating system of one, two, or
three edelweiss, but even some of the best
options are likely to have an outside toilet. The
lowliest will have a long drop and bucket-water
bathing.
Yurtstays - easiest to arrange around Song-
Köl and Tash Rabat - work on a homestay basis,
with mats on the loor and shared longdrop
somewhere nearby. There are also private tour-
ist yurt camps where you might get a bed and
some privacy, and even a sit-down (but still
outside) toilet. The latter cater mostly to groups
on pre-arranged tours but are open to anyone if
there's space.
Bishkek and Osh are developing new back-
packer-style hostels that are a good notch above
the thrown-together apartment-hostels of the
last decade. Surviving Soviet-era hotels can
often prove horribly decrepit or only half-heart-
edly reconstructed. Such places are sometimes
useful as rock bottom crash-pad options but a
few, notably in Bishkek, think themselves 'real'
hotels and ask discriminatory foreigner prices,
thereby negating any possible logic for sufering
the burping old plumbing.

HOME¨SWEET¨YURT
Nothing gets the nomadic blood racing through your veins like lying awake in a yurt at
night under a heavy pile of blankets wondering if wolves will come and eat your horse.
Yurts ( bosuy in Kyrgyz, kiiz-uy in Kazakh) are the archetypal shepherd shelters -
circular homes made of multilayered felt (kiyiz or kiiz) tretched around a collapsable
wooden frame (kerege) . The outer felt layer is coated in waterproof sheep fat, the inner-
mot lined with woven grass matting to block the wind. Long woollen trips secure the
walls and poles.
The interior is richly decorated with textiles, wall coverings, quilts, cushions, camel
and horse bags, and ornately worked chets. Floors are lined with thick felt (koshma)
and covered with bright carpets (shyrdaks or ala-kiyiz), and sometimes yak skin.
Look up: the central wheel-like tunduk that supports the roof is none other than the
design depicted in the middle of Kyrgyztan's national lag.
Learn more with Celetial Mountains' online Yurt¨Site (www.yurts.kg).