Kyrgyzstan 2024 (Part 1)

This summer I visited a country with curiously few vowels in its name. I've lost count of how much I've repeated the name after receiving a blank stare when asked to share my travel plans. Behold Kyrgyzstan! Land of mountains and valleys, yurts and horses, and... fermented mare milk. 

This location is covered in Part 2. But this was the perfect shot to showcase multiple elements of this beautiful country.

Definitely my most adventurous trip so far, no competition. And there I was back in end-2023 wondering how I'd ever beat the Hawaii trip. The answer came rather swiftly around Christmas, when the adventure buddy M sent a link with a message "Sounds interesting?". By Jan 2024, we'd each collected one more ex-colleague (J and Y), applied for leave, and paid the deposit for this 10D9N trekking tour (organised by the aptly named Adventures Unlimited) to my first ever -stan destination! Then there was 7 months of training and excited waiting before we were finally headed for Kyrgyzstan in the best season to visit.

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16-17 Aug: Days 0

But first, Dubai. Just a short one coz it was my first time there. Since there's no direct flight to Bishkek (capital of Kyrgyzstan), we had to do a layover somewhere. That typical somewhere was Dubai, and although geographically it would've been shorter to go through somewhere in China, we decided not to be creative. In any case, the flight availabilities towards Bishkek were rather specific. 

Took great interest in the window view especially since it was my first time flying over (1) desert landscape that was (2) urbanised so neatly.

So Dubai it was, where it was 37 degC when we landed on 16 Aug night and 40+degC which felt like 50+degC in the following morning >.< The camel-riding dream had been earlier abandoned in view of the forecast, and so we headed to the Burj Khalifa Observatory. But first we got lost in Dubai Mall. The kindly Uber driver (fun fact, all the Ubers we took were Teslas, and on the first ride I couldn't figure out how to open the door in the darkness) informed us that there was no direct entrance at the Burj Khalifa itself and that we'd have to go through the mall. His instructions were to go in and "turn left". Left it was, but very very far left and with some confused meandering up and down escalators following signs that were like disappearing breadcrumbs. Well, eventually we made it and from the 124-125th floors of the highest building in the world, we looked upon Excess.

Chose this shot because it included the view of the river... which at first I mistook for a very wide road since it was fresh-tar-coloured... 

 After that, we headed to Zou Zou (this Turkish/Lebanese restaurant we'd been eyeing since our search for the Burj) and ordered my most elaborate breakfast to-date! It was an Arabic Breakfast for 2 (just M and myself at that time in Dubai), which was available until 1pm and seemed to be on many other peoples' tables. I had my fill of olives, hummus and yoghurt and both of us small-eaters were very proud of almost finishing the 2 huge naans.

Best breakfast ever!

The Burj Khalifa ticket was part of a Klook twin package. Its other half was unfortunately not as impressive - the Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo. Less SEA Aquarium and more Underwater World. The only perk was that it was in the mall itself which led to the suspicion that its main purpose was to break the boredom of shopping. 

We also braved about 50m of outdoors to get across to the Souk al Bahar. I'd never felt more intense heat before that.

By late afternoon it was clear that we lacked the energy for further mall exploration. So much so that we ended up going to the airport and checking in 5h early for our night flight to Bishkek and chilling around the transit area.

18 Aug: Day 1

Bishkek, finally! We arrived at the small and old-school but functional Manas Airport at pre-dawn. First order of the day was to meet up with Y who'd flown in from Beijing the following night and hung around waiting since then. And then we found out that there were luggage missing... including J's. Spoiler: said luggage would not be seen again until the second last day of the trip.

Real first order of the day was the breakfast stop at Sofia International Hotel. The continental breakfast was the absolute least interesting thing, because we (1) were greeted by a traditional band and (2) got to try kumis. The band was a surprise and our first taste of Kyrgyz culture. I formed a positive impression of the trip planning at that point, and this impression held all the way through. 

Took notice of the hats - cutely-shaped and smart-looking. But for guys only.

The kumis was also culture... but of a different kind... The beloved national drink of fermented mare milk was creamy, sour and salty. Try and imagine it. It was kinda funky and I only managed one sip.

Let's just say it was no yakult.

The kumis came as part of a sampler spread of ethnic Kyrgyz bites before we went up for the normal breakfast. Those small white balls in bowls were kurut - a solid snack-sized version of kumis which were equally hard to swallow for us weak foreigners.

After breakfast, we drove to lunch lol. To be fair, it was quite a long drive. Our first real meal was a very impressive home-cooked spread at someone's property. All meals were included on this trip and so we technically didn't need to prep any local currency except for souvenir shopping. Quite a few meals came in this format (e.g. stopping by at a guesthouse), as opposed to F&B establishments. I appreciated the homeliness! Eating together with everyone (total 23 trip participants, 1 SG tour organiser, 2 Kyrgyz guides, 2 drivers) at a long table added to the familial feel, even though we were all new to each other then.

Every drive had VIEWS.

As homely as it gets, watching the resident aunty prepare a dish.

The result of the above preparation: chive dumplings! These were sooo good I actually had 2 even though they were not small.

This was a shot I retook at least 3 times to be comprehensive because more unique dishes kept appearing at the table and all of them were really good! To note, we were served rice for quite a number of meals but its not commonly eaten in Kyrgyzstan - they love their bread.

Then it was straight to Kochkor to check into the guesthouse before heading out to the shops. This was a jalan jalan session for most of us but extremely necessary for those lacking luggage. J managed to pick out enough trail fashion to last the entire trip and keep sufficiently warm in the mountains. 

The town centre - sandy roads and low-rise shops under the blazing sun. We'd also long left English behind and the dominance of the Cyrillic alphabet began.

The covered market area was quite reminiscent of those we have in SEA.

Both supermarkets we visited were more of large provision shops. The Kyrgyz staple of bread was well-stocked and I saw one lady leaving with 3 huge round loaves.

Something else was also well-stocked haha, a nod to their ex-Soviet status.

The day was not done yet. That night, dinner was provided at the guesthouse alongside another surprise performance! Similar to the morning, a traditional Kyrgyz band performed for us. But this time there was an educational aspect, as the musicians explained each of the traditional instruments.

Before we rode horses, we saw the instruments made from their body parts.

Here's a good juncture to put on record that this was a very well-planned and executed trip. It's not wrong to call it a hiking trip since that was what we were doing for about half the time. But the hiking was interspersed with a good sequence of cultural immersion, under which I'd classify all these musical performances, staying in yurt camps, horse riding, and nightly lessons by our passionate guide and ex-history teacher, A. I think more hiking routes could've been packed into the 10 days if the organisers wanted. But I also think I'd have fallen out of the target audience for that kinda itinerary haha. The trip was physically not easy as is, and all these other elements helped to balance out and elevate the experience.

19 Aug: Day 2 (Hike 1)

The day of the first hike! We went over the Kyzyl-Kiya Pass, covering a total of 16.5km to our next accoms. Things started off plainly but the long distance quickly became apparent. The thing about plains is that most things are in plain sight. (Not-so-fun fact: this makes nature toilet stops rather inconvenient for ladies.) 

We started underneath some power lines which remained in sight for some time.

Imagine the distance needed for a herd of uh... grazing animals (can't rmb if they were goats or cows and zooming in doesn't help) to look like ants.

Our long-legged guide K in his assassin getup. He covered distance with ease at the front while the group spread into a long trail behind him.

Etched on the surface of one of the distant mountains was the zigzag path leading up to the pass. Just a couple of km to go over the grass before we reached it haha. But then out of nowhere, things started to feel a tad laborious. Turns out a slight incline had snuck up over the wide flat terrain. This kind of gentle slope may not even have been noticeable at sea level, but since we were at ~2800m at this point, we were advised to take it slow for acclimatisation. I definitely needed to.

Spotting the zigzag (on the face of the uncannily spotlighted slope) after coming over a few small hills. Now all that was left was to walk towards it...

The zigzag was definitely coming closer but my HR had gone up to 160 all of a sudden. Y was part of the fast group in front, prob unaware that there was even a slope haha.

Once in a while I'd turn back to look at the human caravan. We were told to wear our bright yellow AU t-shirts on this day and became a trail of highly visible highlighter dots on the landscape hahaha.

The highlighter shirts before the wind picked up and we had to wear our jackets. J's uniform was in her lost luggage.

When we finally started ascending the zigzag, there was even more reason to take it slow - the view of the mountain range behind us. Kyrgyzstan is 80% made up of the Tian Shan mountain range, so no shortage of mountain views, but this type of view could only be seen from high up. There would be a whole range of views to come on this trip as we split our time amongst plains, mountaintops and valleys.

Excuses to take a break along the zigzag. It's v difficult to do these views justice through photos, and I really like being in a space open enough to watch clouds cast shadows, so I took more breaks to feast my eyes haha.

The walk had been peaceful and breezy until we got to the pass where the wind really ripped. I hurried to put on my windproof layer as my nose immediately began running. At that point, our ascent was pretty much done and we'd be treated to a gentle downhill trail all the way to the yurt camp. 

The first milestone for M and her Ex-Colleagues!

A whole new world after the pass.

"Looks like we're walking on stretch marks!" And they blamed me for making them unable to unsee it thereafter xD

But first, lunch! We settled near a creek slightly down the way where the wind wasn't so enthusiastic (but overall still got 风水) and waited for the packed food to arrive by horse. It's in these situations where I can eat well!

White rice and a chicken leg = prob catered to foreigners. Not pictured but there was also a piece of bread (ripped from a large round loaf), a banana and a cookie. I ate them all, except for the banana which I only remembered a few days later >.<

There was even juice, which our guides went around to give out.

After lunch, we continued into the lush green folds of the Kilemche Valley. I loved the landscape across this second half - it was a good starter pack for Kyrgyz hiking views and had quite a few cute elements.

Ricola moment!

We continued along more of the stretch marks and the landscape gradually became more riddled with them. Looking back at the photos, it's like we were tiny ant people walking along the surface of a giant rock melon xD 

The giant rock melon! Sounds more palatable than stretch marks.

A shot from rounding the bends - the slope was actually pretty steep. I had to stow my phone and concentrate on not veering off the path and rolling down the hillside.

Even though there wasn't much elevation change on our designated stretch mark, the valley deepened at points such that we became quite high up on the mountainside. There were tiny ant sheep way far below on the valley floor but their bleating was clearly audible from where we were.

Again, showcasing vast distance through black ants grazing herds.

I was highly amused by these green dots on the landscape. As we got closer, they turned out to be quite large groups of vegetation but the distance made them look like cute round shrubs.

Eventually we descended too and got to a river. There, we waited for K to scout a shortcut ahead before continuing the hike. Cue many riverside photoshoots to pass the time haha. 

The river wasn't actually super wide, but it was fast-moving and I was thankful there was a proper bridge for crossing.

Me for scale.

We are M's Ex-Colleagues! Anyway, this large rock was particularly comfortable to chill on and watch the river since it had indents in just the right places.

It was a riverside hike from there, which meant that the views took on an additional dimension of beauty. The other important thing about this hike was that it was easy enough for us to admire the views along the way, with no real difficulty or technicality even on the ascents. 

If I lived here I'd go hiking every weekend.

Except for one short section. This was the shortcut that K had gone to scout, allowing us to skip another ascent, but it cut over a steep-ish scree slope. It seemed that one wrong move would send us skidding straight into the river. But we had our resident assassin K, who ran back and forth helping us get across the scree as though it was flat concrete. The Kyrgyz people, so at home in the mountains, were amazingly surefooted. I would go on to be amazed at one more crucial point in the trip but that's for Part 2. 

Catching more river views while waiting for the rest of the highlighter people to be herded safely over the scree.

The rest of the way was easy, like a walk in a very very nice park. All in all, this first hike was an extremely pleasant and doable one, complemented by perfect weather. 

Going past a solo yurt in the last stretch of pastures, likely the home of a nomad family. Such yurts normally came with small apple-cheeked Kyrgyz kids who'd wave and yell hellos at all the hikers going past.

When a donkey in its natural environment looked so good. There was actually a group of them who all gathered around obediently when our tour organiser H called for a photo xD

There it was! Our destination as seen from afar but still at least another 1-2km to go haha.

We stayed in a yurt that night, something I was very excited to experience! These yurts were traditional ones i.e. beddings on the ground instead of beds. Ngl it was cold even with the heavy blankets. We had also been prepared in advance that to be that immersed in nature meant having no network (I didn't mind) and no showers (not a problem given the cold). I was however very surprised to find a toilet bowl with functional flush upon opening the outhouse. Never judge a book by its cover indeed. Though it must be noted that most of the other outhouses we came across really were outhouses haha.

The outside of the outhouse equipped with a sink and epic mountain view.

Our 4-man yurt. Yurts are actually a form of collapsible and portable housing. For us, the collapsible lattice framework provided a very convenient hanger system for our various layers for various temperatures.

The yurt ceiling, as portrayed on the the Kyrgyz national flag.

There were many free roaming horses around the yurt camp, and some of them had loose bindings across their forelegs - prob to prevent them from galloping away. 

And there was a giant swing, big enough to fit 4 of us side by side.

For dinner, we were served a sort of giant lamb xiaolongbao. While munching, the cultural lecture of the night was on nomadism. The Kyrgyz are vertical nomads who move their herds up to cooler temps in the mountains during summer, such that the village pastures can be used for agriculture, and back down in winter. This differs from horizontal nomads like the Bedouin who move in search of water. In the modern day, nomadism has become sort of a service, with one nomad family in a village taking charge of other families' livestock for a fee. 

I'd describe many of our meals as non-exotic ingredients in interesting formats lol. Aside from the kumis on the first day, everything tasted good. I'm not sure how much of this was due to (1) adjustment for foreign tastebuds and (2) our tiredness from the hikes. But all in all, its definitely a good thing when food tastes good!

Sitting on the yurt floor and paying attention to our passionate guide and ex-history teacher, A.

That night, we had a moon so bright that it was like a dim sun. We'd brought along our headlamps for these nights in nature, but the moon was so bright that night that it was hardly necessary. This meant no stargazing but we found other subjects to experiment on with long exposure.

These mountains already looked weirdly smooth in the daytime, and in the night, they looked like extraterrestrial.

Sans M who hates the cold.

20 Aug: Day 3 (Horse Ride 1)

Another day, another form of excitement! Tbh, I was slightly apprehensive about this day's activity, especially when hearing that it would be 4h long. Yes, 4h of horse riding. Having experienced a 2h horse ride in Hawaii last year, I'd had an idea of the types of pain to expect and even contemplated if it would be easier to hike (nope). But at the end of it, I say that horse riding was a highlight and a USP of this tour. This is not just because its a more niche activity (there are many beautiful places to hike in this world), but because the horse is so deeply embedded in Kyrgyz culture. It's like the national animal.

Our horses had already arrived by the time we got up. And in fact we prob heard some of them munching just on the other side of our yurt walls in the early morning.

Paint me like one of your French girls.

My horse for the day (I didn't get his name) (I assume it was a he) was a mild-mannered follower-type. I say this because of how closely he chose to follow behind M's horse for the first half of the ride. Where we were walking on flat grass I'm not sure there really was any need to mimic the micro directional adjustments made by M's horse (a creative-type). But I wasn't the one walking haha.

The horses for this day's ride were the stout kind. Mine seemed particularly small.

Setting off and jostling around in the traffic.

We slowly spread into a caravan, with my horse loyally sticking right behind M's over grass so green that it looked unreal.

Still following~

After over an hour on flat ground, we started ascending. From this point, I was very thankful to be on a horse, especially as we passed a few brave hikers walking in the same direction. The Jalgyz-Karagai pass of this route was not easy, even on horseback. The top section was completely rocky and I'd prob have been scrambling on all fours for hours if I were hiking. 

But thankfully I was mounted, so my horse brought us lurching over the rocks, alternating between short breaks and bursts of energy. And prob coz he was on the small side, he started to pant as we climbed. I'd never heard a horse pant before that - it sounded like a heavy wheezing. At points I was actively assuring him that there was no need to rush coz the poor thing seemed like he was putting in so much effort and yet getting left in the dust (M and her horse were steadily climbing away in front). Also gotta say that the more he exerted over that rocky terrain, the more uncomfortable the ride became. It's the same as when we get worn out during workouts and start to anyhow. I chose to engage in a core and thigh exercise instead of passively sitting to (1) be a less burdensome passenger and (2) avoid getting violently chafed by the jerky motions. 

The easy part of the upslope.

This was the only photo I managed to get of the rocky section. It was all hands on deck to reach the top after that, even if my horse was doing most of the work.

When we got up to the pass it was finally time for a break. I got down and hobbled around for a bit while waiting for my muscles to return to their regular positions. Imagine doing a frog stretch continuously for about 2h, on an uneven, jerking surface >.<

More amazing views of the artistically creased landscape.

It's not just the landscape that was majestic. Imagine being in the vicinity as a herd of free-ranging horses go thundering by over the slopes, kicking up dust clouds in their wake. These are scenes that make the heart soar.

The way after the pass was a gradual downhill and we could soon spy the Song Kul lake in the distance. Being on a horse meant that I didn't need to dedicate so much awareness to my feet (to avoid rocks and poop), so there was plenty of opportunity to look around. On this side of the range, there were more grazing herds on the pastures. It felt like I was in another world watching more herds of horses go running by on the sloping greenery. This was a true horse ride - getting from one point to another and seeing everything that belonged on the landscape in between. Not one of those lame zoo/carnival/park circuits.

My horse found M's once again and we proceeded towards the faraway cerulean patch.

Such a chillax family portrait.

The Ghibli surroundings.

The horses were just walking for most of the way. We were actually briefed before the ride that if anyone was consumed by the hot-blooded desire to go galloping, the guides would not take any responsibility for untoward events. I remembered this and internally thought that I was way too sore to go any faster anyway. But that was not for the rider to decide. As the lake view expanded, the horses all decided to start trotting. It sounds mild, but this was a speed faster than the walking we'd been doing for almost 4h. I pretty sore down below and behind as is but it was like the horses knew it was time to knock off soon and were hurrying to finish their work xD

These GIFs are not sped up. My horse... clearly wanted to get off work.

The horse equivalent of a convenient shoulder rest haha.

And that was how we got our second yurt camp along Song Kul lake by lunchtime. The vibes were completely different to the first one. It was bigger and set in the open plains, further away from the mountain ridges. It was definitely also more tourist-oriented, with beds and random bottle-carrying ang mohs who accidentally wandered into the wrong dining yurt xD Whether planned or not, I thought it fortunate that we stayed in a more traditional yurt camp the night before so that we'd get an upgrade in comfort haha.

Our neat neighbourhood for the night.

Must mention this horseman - count the number of pecs, they're obvious enough! Most of the group had taken notice of him along the ride while he was in a tight grey t-shirt and he was uh, convinced to take this shot with all the ladies at the end (Y really chose the wrong time to be elsewhere haha). When asked about his training secrets, all A and K had to say was that "his lifestyle is gym" i.e. be a horseman.

There was no other activity planned for the rest of the afternoon, though we could choose to continue riding the horses since they'd been booked for the day. My lower body told me NO. So we took a walk right up to the lake after lunch.

This lake was the first of three that we'd see in the trip. Compared to the others, this one had a rather simplistic kind of charm. From afar there didn't seem to be much to see along the bank and in the water. But up close, what caught my attention was the calm rippling and the barely-disturbed water edges. There was barely a break in the waves. The calm ripples kinda just politely disappeared as they neared the shore so the effect was like the wobbling of a giant jelly. 

Therapeutic.

Spotted a lone duck(?) in the middle of the lake. Pointing this out coz compared to the hundreds of horses/cows/goats/sheep, birds were a rare sight.

But it was getting very hot. The calmness of the water might have been due to the absence of wind - something I keenly felt. As the sun blazed high in the sky, we retreated to the darkness of the yurt to rest until dinnertime. Later on, K told us that Song Kul lake was described as having four seasons in a day - spring in the morning, summer in the afternoon, autumn at dusk and winter in the night. No wonder we felt the heat. 

None of us remembered to take a photo of the beds in the yurt haha, but here's a nice frame of the view outside including another giant swing.

Just for fun I shall record what I did before dinner. Once I'd had enough of a nap I thought it'd be nice to go outside and read on one of the benches facing the lake. My lower body protested and forced me to take it back to the soft bed barely 30 mins later. 

Such a nice setup, except for the hard surface.

I also attempted to bathe. This yurt camp had a pretty nicely built bathing room with a ladle, a pail and two taps: one for default icy cold water and one for heated water at specific timings. I was a tad too early for the heated water >.< After braving enough icy cold water for a body wash and squealing about it to M next door, my nerves failed me for the hair. So another night of dry shampoo it was. 

The sun threw a nice golden light onto the yurts as it calmed down in the sky.

Since I had a tripod on hand might as well use it much as possible. My dismal sunset luck held up this time!

That night's lesson was on Kyrgyz families, with focus on the topic of bride kidnapping. I lost my appetite a little in exchange for that knowledge. It made me think that those of us with freedom are lucky to have it, especially girls. It was also amusing, but not totally surprising, to know that I'd be considered a tragedy there (unmarried after 30). But I'm ok with it xD

Another nighttime sun that night. This time, it was a real super moon.

21 Aug: Day 4 (Hike 2)

We bid farewell to the yurt camp after breakfast and hiked towards the Tuz-Ashuu Pass with Song Kul lake accompanying us for most of the beginning. 

A and his brother's family. His brother was the owner of the yurt camp.

One of the shepherd dogs came along as well. Looking at it, I thought to myself that, if reincarnation were a thing and as much as I'm a cat person, I'd like to be a shepherd dog in the mountains in my next life. Firstly, dogs are generally well-liked - I think most of the group were happy with this escort. Secondly, the dog was actually working, corralling away herds of cows and horses that would otherwise have been munching in our path, and seemed to take great satisfaction in its job. Thirdly, whatever it did looked effortless. Whatever distance we walked that day, this dog must've gone at least 2x more with all its cattle/horse runs and constantly going up and down the line to check on all of us. Looked like a simple, happy, meaningful life!

See!

Meanwhile I, who'd travelled all that way to stock up on happiness, felt my heart putting in some work right from the beginning. This day's hike started off with a very long and flat walk which should've been nothing, except that we were at around 3000m. My watch told me that I was already in aerobic zone and I started hoping that the upcoming ascent would be gentle. 

In these grasslands with zero tall structures, it was impossible not to see the various gatherings of dark clouds, some of them offloading a distance away. But of course some of them wandered into our path. Once the rain got heavy enough, the human caravan paused and there was a flurry of motion as shells were pulled on and the complimentary neon-coloured AU rain covers got put to use. We might've looked like a bunch of bright jellybeans if someone had looked over from a distance away. We also asked Y to do her job haha - her name almost literally means to stop rain. It worked after a while.

The nice blue path would close for a bit.

After almost 12km of steady marching on the unchanging terrain, we finally started the 300m ascent over the pass. It was like climbing a very straightforward and tall hill i.e. a children's hike to the locals. But despite the training, my sea-level system struggled. This was the final seal on an almost-no-brainer decision for a subsequent trail, but more on that in Part 2. 

The pace we held over the flat ground to make up for time that would be lost on the ascent, however short and gentle.

This is what the 300m ascent looked like - a gentle path into the sky. Definitely gentler than the zigzag of the first hike, but a little higher above sea level.

At the pass we flopped onto the grass. Dog came around to check on us tired humans... and seemed to like me in particular. I'd never before been stared at by a dog at such a close proximity (since we were at similar eye level). Maybe I smelt like something tasty. It then proceeded to sit on me. I'd no idea this was such a comfortable position for it xD

The rest of the hike was downhill, yay! Just unfortunate that I'd already picked up large blisters on the balls of my feet which would stay with me for the rest of the trip D: The catalyst was wrong socks, but what this really demonstrated was that the cheap-but-good decathlon boots were grossly under-speced for multiple >10km hikes - No padding :'( It was clear that I needed to upgrade my gear. And I'd forgotten to pack my own antiseptic cream but thankfully M and Y (and I'm sure J too had she had her luggage with her) were all better prepared and supplied me daily iodine from then on. 

The green hills looked soft and inviting...

The blisters made the downhill slightly unpleasant, also coz we were kept at pace to make it in time for lunch before another long drive. There was one more reason for the human-herding. Once we'd covered a gentle green stretch hugging the ridge, we reached a zigzag dirt road on the mountainside. Every turn of that road came with a view that was out of this world. 

These crazy views of the crinkled red ridges were very difficult to do justice through photos.

Us city people were intrigued to come across hundreds of multi-coloured sheep on the grassy slope haha.

We passed quite a few angmoh hikers going the opposite way, up to the pass. Their way was not gentle at all and all of them were carrying huge backpacks O.o Gotta hand it to these real backpackers, but I was still just happy for a more comfortable experience. Also, our dog escort finally abandoned us on this stretch and caught his ride back home :')

Prob one of the last turns before hitting the valley.

Once the zigzag descent was done, we still had a few km worth of riverside hike on the valley floor. This bit was similar to the second half of the first hike but with less wind and a smaller river. Despite being easy and flat, it felt never-ending as I was really feeling my feet by then. The monotony was broken slightly when we came across a scattering of horse bones in the middle of the trail.

When we looked into the distance like that (and didn't see anything resembling an end point), we knew we still had much ways to go.

This was just sitting there, right in the middle of the path. So clean and pristine it must've been there for a while.

And uhh this was about 10m away on the grass. Something(s) must've been hungry.

Lunch ended up being close to 4pm. It was a more silent affair than usual, because we were back in network. There was wifi provided, which I failed to tap on since bandwidth was in popular demand. As Y said, we would've had no clue if something major happened in our 2+ days of disconnection. But except to 报平安, I wasn't really in any hurry.

That night we stayed in a guesthouse. And got to shower! With hot water!! And could charge our devices! How easy it was to amend our classification of luxury after a few nights in nature hahaha. There was even a TV in the dining room. So as we chewed our stew, youtube assisted in the lesson of the night which centred on the traditional sport of Kok-boru. The rather intense videos portrayed two opposing horse-mounted teams trying to get a headless goat carcass weighing 30-40kg into a goal. It suddenly became clearer how the horseman developed his 10 pecs hahaha.

The stew. We encountered lots of potatoes, carrots, capsicums, tomatoes, cucumbers and lamb over our many meals. And interestingly a lot of dill as well.

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I contemplated including 22 Aug (Day 5) in this post since that day was a very interesting standalone that could go either way. But with 6k words as is, I think I can leave the rest of the good bits for Part 2. So this concludes roughly the first half of the trip which was like a taster for things to come, as we got more comfortable being in this not-so-usual travel destination and with being around each other in the group. This was important because the following few days would be... intense xD

~Roll credits~