#kyrgyzstan
Braids of Turkic people
Hair is a sacred thing in Turkic culture like many other shamanic cultures. Hence why women braid their hair in sacred numbers such as 40, 41, 7 etc. Men having long hair is also very normal and they also braid their hair. It’s known that when Turkmens first came to Anatolia their hairstyle was seen rather strange to Anatolia’s peoples. One of the primary sources for men’s hairstyles is that gravestones that can be found in many Turkic countries.
Baatyr Kozhomkul, a Kyrgyz folk hero, carrying his horse.
Kozhomkul was a huge man, who won all the wrestling and competitions of strength that he entered. According to legend, as Kozhomkul was returning home one stormy night, his horse became mired in the deep snow in the Too-Asuu mountain pass. Kozhomkul carried the horse home on his shoulders, as depicted in the statue.
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![amazinglybeautifulphotography: Incredible turquoise lake of Kol-Tor, Kyrgyzstan at sunset [OC] [3987](https://64.media.tumblr.com/082d6f5852640e2cc26f21a2a08de4ca/ffb8e952ae0ec41f-49/s1280x1920/98351b6f7d2220fd6c6506a4947459cecb79b450.jpg "amazinglybeautifulphotography: Incredible turquoise lake of Kol-Tor, Kyrgyzstan at sunset [OC] [3987")
amazinglybeautifulphotography:
Incredible turquoise lake of Kol-Tor, Kyrgyzstan at sunset [OC] [3987 x 5981] - Author: aydin_h on reddit
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Big A-Frame. by Stefan Friessner
Via Flickr:
Ala-Archa national park, KG.
Song Kol, Kyrgyzstan
This hike was short, two days, but so nice. It was kind of a whim that I followed up on as there was time before my 9 day hike began to Khan Tengri. Stayed two nights in a yurt, ate a lot of bread and jam, and drank black tea.
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On my way to the single pass of this hike to Khan Tengri, There was a lot of grass and of course, a lot of horses. I don’t mean to post horses so often but they were at every turn in Kyrgyzstan and they were beautiful. The days weren’t too long but plenty of sun and no real trail yet. Just open wilderness. A Czech couple passed us going the other way as we were packing up this camp..they camped at the pass and saw us below the night before. They were the only other people we’d see for a few more days as it was the very beginning of the season for Khan Tengri.
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after a ride unlike any other…we landed, camped. The next morning, we were picked up and taken away. But not before splitting an absolutely terrible bottle of brandy with my guide.
**Personal note..Sometimes I don’t like to finish posting a trip until I have another ready to go.
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…and I flew away to the sheep and horses. We saw the same glaciers we had hiked on for the past six days, only this time from a birds-eye view which is funny because there are no birds in this valley.
Everything looked so small from the chopper. There were times during the trek, though, that I wandered for hours at a time.
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Top picture: The peak of Khan Tengri so rarely shows. It was an amazing moment at the end of my hike. Having arrived at the base camp the night before, there were a few alpinists who had come by helicopter. They had been waiting for the weather to clear to make an attempt at the 7,100m peak and were tying knots and gathering supplies for their single day climb to the top. A climb, the camp master said, that takes most three days.
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Amazing glacier formations were everywhere at the end of the valley, blocked in by Pogbeda (7,400m). A triple border. To the northwest, Kazakstan. To the east, China. Such a place to be.
Inylcheck Glacier, Kyrgyzstan.
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Seeing is to know, but that is not a feeling..A feeling is to do. Like a recipe. You cannot eat a recipe.
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Inylchek Glacier. Our first day on this 60 KM beast. At first you only see rocks..then you realize that there are meters and meters of glacier below the valley floor.
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Inylchek Glacier, Kyrgyzstan
Such beauty and power channel through this valley.
First night in the valley and I honestly had no idea what to expect at this point. Three days’ hike passed and six to go.
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On my way to the single pass of this hike to Khan Tengri, There was a lot of grass and of course, a lot of horses. I don’t mean to post horses so often but they were at every turn in Kyrgyzstan and they were beautiful. The days weren’t too long but plenty of sun and no real trail yet. Just open wilderness. A Czech couple passed us going the other way as we were packing up this camp..they camped at the pass and saw us below the night before. They were the only other people we’d see for a few more days as it was the very beginning of the season for Khan Tengri.
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And so our hike began. We took a long drive through the mountains and over a pass at 4,100m and stopped for a few minutes. There was still more driving after that..after around 6 hours we came to a military post. There was a soldier who was trying to help start another car that had stalled. He shook my hand before we set off to cross a small bridge that supposedly had been built by a local farmer..who was unfortunately also trying to get his car started. The farmer asked for a bit of money for his efforts building the bridge so I gave him a couple hundred Som.
I took so many horse photos on this trip. They were such good subjects.
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Walking around Karakol…I came across this park with all kinds of cool rides. I thought it was an abandoned park. The trees and grass were sort of unkept and a bit wild and there was no entrance per se..I walked in a side entrance through another small park. I noticed few people hanging around and a couple of small children riding in one of those little electric toy cars and a few people at the ‘shooting range’ game aiming at metal targets with BB-guns. Anyhow, Karakol is a smidgen of a town so I guess it was never going to be Disneyland. There were some families having a pretty good time though.
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This year’s Silk Road Mountain Race kicks off today and to give you a taste of what’s to come, check out this documentary from last year’s race.
