Kyrgyzstan! Champion!

Kyrgyzstan is probably my favorite country so far, but is it ever getting cold!
So far our time here has been divided into two places, the capital city of Bishkek and the mountain get-away of Altan Aryshan.

Bishkek is a pleasant enough city. Lots of trees lining the streets, a fairly diverse mix of Russian and Kyrgyz inhabitans, and more Shwarma stands than you can shake a stick at. Shwarma helps to keep our budget down and averages at about $1.15. When not in the mood for Shwarma, I have a 'hamburger', which is basically Shwarma in a bun. Bishkek is not overly exciting but i've already experienced my first every Pro-Soccer game and Opera here. The soccer game was played between Kyrgyzstan and Jordan. We bought tickets ($2.80 for 2 people) from a police man running security outside the stadium. I'm still trying to figure out how official that was. Doesn't matter really as seats are not assigned and we sat on the stairs with a bunch of excited locals. Team Kyrgyzstan played horribly but somehow still managed to win 2-0. The Kyrgyz are great fans of soccer and also great fans of doing 'the wave', which was performed almost every 30 seconds. Cries of 'Ole! Ole! Ole! Kyrgyzstan! Champion!' also rang out constantly.

The Opera was also great fun. Cultural experiences such as these are always a little mind blowing. You can't help but be amused at the idea of Carmen, a French Opera about Spanish Gypsies being performed in Kyrgyzstan and sung in Russian. Then again I think this part of the world is just full of those cultural overlaps. You can buy traditional felt items made of wool, usually hats and carpets, but it's also easy to find felt Christmas ornaments. Matt called the little Angel and Christmas Tree cut outs 'Traditional Former Soviet, Muslim Christmas ornaments'. Quite fitting.
The whole region of Central Asia has such a mixed and complicated history of one invasion after another of different foreign intruders. The Chinese, the Turks, the Mongols, and the Russians all washed into these countries and now it's hard to tell who was really here first.

Altan-Aryshan was our first opportunity to get away from Kyrgyzstans 'big' city. It's tucked into the mountains just south of the countries largest lake (Lake Issy-Kol). We hiked 4 hours up into the gorgeous valley in the company of another tourist, Gail from France, and found a cozy little guest house with a warm hearth and other friendly backpackers. The next day nature dumped about a foot of snow onto us as we were hiking up to a distant mountain pass. I never thought i'd be trudging through calf-high piles of snow when I left for Asia, but took it all in stride and had an excellent day out in the storm with Gail, Hal (a new American friend) and Matthew. Altan Aryshan is also known for its natural hot springs, which we dipped into on more than one occasion. We took Hal's advice and made sure to run our naked selves into the freezing river and then back into the stinging hot water. Thrilling!
We spent 4 nights up in the snowy valley, hiking everyday between the looming giants that make up the country. Even though we didn't expect the snow, it was AMAZING!
Pictures will come soon. So far we have been unlucky with uploading them.

We are now back in Bishkek, taking care of anything we might not have a chance to take care of during our next escapade through the Kyrgyz countryside. About next week this time we will be in China. I think I will be sad to go as there is just so much more to see of this small but wonderous country. However the weather is not getting better and we are eager to cross into Pakistan before the pass closes, or worse yet, my visa expires.

M.