Kyrgyzstan has a very different feel to Uzbekistan, the first country on our tour, even though both are ex-Soviet authoritarian states. Uzbekistan is historically settled - with what we'd recognise as agricultural/mercantile kingdoms - and straightforwardly Muslim. In contrast, Kyrgyzstan has a proud history of being tribal and nomadic, built few cities before the Tsarist era, and its version of Islam is mixed up with a fair amount of shamanic paganism.
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| Pretty much all the ancient art concerns goats. |
They still hunt with golden eagles:
They love their yurts and their horses:
And their mountains - most of the country is "alpine":
They don't weave fancy silk carpets; they make felt hangings out of sheep's wool instead:
The most famous Kyrgyz historical site is the remains of the minaret at Burana:
Though they also do a cool line in balbals, which are mysterious ancestral stone figures:
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We liked Kyrgyzstan a lot ... though it was worth being careful with the food choices ;-)
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| Balls of dried, salty yoghurt |
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| A big bowl of NO THANK YOU |
No, but it wasn't bad, actually. Do you know the worst place I've ever travelled to, regarding vegetarian food? Lisbon in Portugal - I had to live on plain pizza for 4 days! I've not had any problem anywhere else, amazingly.
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