Lake Song-Kol

OK, so it is hard to keep up with this blog, but I have been making traditional ol' diary notes along the way... haven't had a huge amount of internet time and when I do a certain person tends to hog it :). Now I am in Delhi, and this day seems like a good day to relax, not do much, and wait until Mum and Dad arrive this evening! I have crossed two country borders in last three days and there hasn't been much down time!

Anyways.... Kyrgyzstan, which I have finally learnt to spell, was really really cool!

I went to this Lake called Lake Song-Kol which is up in a big 'jailoo'- summer herding pasture... I know why they only stay for summer, it is at an altitude of 3000m and in August it was pretty chilly there!
It was very beautiful- big blue lake in a yellow valley...There were yurtas all around the lake which was huge- takes three days to ride a horse around apparently, and we stayed in a family yurt-stay organised by Community Based Tourism. I was with two Italians and one Spanish, all avid photographers! They took much nicer photos that me, which I consider slightly unfair as we went to the same place! :)
We saw edelweiss growing in abundance, horses being milked!, and loads of seagulls though we were as far as any sea as you could get probably!
The Yurt-stay family made us fish from the lake, which was a nice change! They also had fantastic ultra fresh bread- which they call nan and it is a it like naan, and the most delicious apricot jam!
I tried Kymys, fermented horse milk, which I thought would be like airag- the fermented horse milk in Mongolia, but it was totally different! Airag is clear and has been distilled, so it is more like vodka... well not really but Baga, our horseman at the 8 lakes Ger-crawl called it Mongol vodka! I could drink a few cups most of the times, it wasn't strong in alcohol, though the flavour varied...
Kymys on the other hand, is a full bodied milky drink... and has a VERY POWERFUL flavour! It is hard to convey how strong the taste is (not alcholically but... cheese-ily). I could only drink the tiniest sip and definitly not finish the cup! Horse milk is very sour, I guess there's a reason we drink cow-dairy products!
The people at Song-Kol are semi-nomadic, meaning they move basically from summer to winter... using the high pastures in summer and low in winter... I think that's what it means anyway!