Summer is officially here; it hit 30 degrees Celsius in Osh on Sunday, which was also International Workers Day (Debout, les damnés de la terre…). What better day, then, to take a mini-vacation day trip for some much-needed relaxation on the beach at a nearby dacha?
Song Kul reminds me of a Microsoft wallpaper. Its grasslands rise from the water’s edge across rolling hills and up to mountains, with the fields broken only by the occasional yurt, cow, or horse. Tucked away in a high mountain basin, there is no electricity or cell coverage within two hours by car. It’s about as peaceful a place as I’ve ever managed to find outside of Alaska.
Song Kul is a summer retreat for many of the semi-nomadic people of Kyrgyzstan. While it has a thriving tourism industry, most of the yurts around the lake belong to ordinary Kyrgyz people who, every summer, bring their herds and flocks from towns and villages to the lake to graze and to relax in the clean crisp cool mountain air. When it is over 100 degrees in Osh during the day, it can be as cool as 40 degrees at night at Song Kul. Even though less than 100km away, people are sweating bullets in Bishkek, in Song Kul, it is necessary to wear sweaters, vests, and fur-lined boots. It’s a contrast in so many ways to many places in Kyrgyzstan, and yet it manages to remain so distinctively Kyrgyz in a most beautiful way. Continue reading “Road Trip Part 2: The Road To Song Kul”
