Did you know that 7% of Kyrgyzstan is aerable land (that is not how I wanted to spell that at all, but I let my phone win this round), which means the remaining 93% is mountains. That is a heck of a lot of mountains! But thetwinsontour decided they were tired of the non-drowsy Dramamine making them drowsy all day.  So in our infinite wisdom on a 6 hour travel day, we skipped the Dramamine.

The day started out ok. We left Bishkek at 9am and headed towards the yurt camp at Son Kul Lake way, way up in the mountains.  The roads are pretty good out of the Bishkek, and we even got to drive through Kazakhstan for about 77 seconds because that’s where the road goes. Apparently, the borders and road locations did not matter during the Soviet Union time, and then after the fall of the Soviet Union, they just left it.  You can tell you are in Kazakhstan because there is barbed wire along the road. And then there’s no barbed wire, so you are back in Kyrgyzstan.  So that was super exciting. I don’t think I am going to add Kazakhstan to my list of visited countries just yet, though. My phone did not even send me a welcome to Kazakhstan message, so that was a little disappointing. Once again, we are being teased with these nearby countries that are just out of our grasp.

Anyways, after about three hours we stopped for lunch.  That is where we transferred to the smaller mini busses necessary to traverse the unpaved roads through the mountains. The roads were actually fairly straight with only a couple of switchbacks.  It’s not necessarily the winding that is the issue, it’s the road quality for sure.  But, let me tell you this, the views were breathtakingly beautiful. It’s hard to get pictures out the bus window due to the shaking.  You know when you played London Bridge as a kid and you got shook up like salt and pepper.  That’s what the roads do–shake you up like salt and pepper.  My head was just bouncing all over the place. The last hour I just had to close my eyes, breathe deep, and pray for the drive to be over.  

Oh, did I mention that we stopped at a scenic overlook and there were YAKS! Yes! There were YAKS! I’ve never been so excited! I guess it was actually supposed to be potty stop at a smelly outhouse, but we were so distracted by the YAKS that we did not realize the actual purpose of the stop.

Now, to answer the question on everyone’s mind, yes, the trip was worth it! Our final destination was a YURT camp on the edge of Son Kul Lake. A real live actual YURT! We got to sleep in our very own YURT! We didn’t even have a toilet, just 4 beds, a chest, a stove, and a little sink similar to what you see at swanky porta-potties. That’s it! The toilets and showers were in another building.

It was after 6 by the time we arrived and dinner was at 7, so that left us with very little free time. We started walking towards the lake, but got distracted by taking photos of cows. So, we had to turn around before we made it to the edge of the lake (really anywhere near the shore.)

So, what is it like sleeping in a YURT? Well, there is limited electricity. There is one light bulb. That is powered from 7pm to 11 pm. Then again at 7:30 in the morning until I don’t know how long. And, you are at elevation, so brrrrrr is it cold! There is a little stove that they heat up for you, but once that burns up all the charcoal, the heat does not linger. They light it at 8pm and then again at 11pm.  However, our guide said that some people have said that it makes it feel like you are sleeping inside a sauna, so when they came around at 11pm my sister sent them away. I think it was mostly because she did not want to get out of bed to open the door. It was still nice and toasty inside.  

I was really trying hard not to have to wake up and pee in the middle of the night because as I said, the toilets are in a separate building.  I woke up at 1:45 and said, I can hold it.  However, at 3:45 that was not an option.  I was nice and toasty under the covers, but I  put on my sneakers, hoodie, and winter coat by the light of my trusty little flashlight and headed outside to the toilet.  I was wearing my Cuddle Duds under my capri pajama pants. I was going to be fast so I didn’t see the point to putting my jeans on too. 

I stepped outside, and the sky was packed with stars. It was amazing. Once I stepped out of the bathroom, I started trying to get star pictures, but I couldn’t hold still enough no matter how long I held my breath.  Luckily, I remembered to bring my selfie stick/tripod along with me.  I went back into the yurt to get it. By then, my sister was awake, so she got up to pee/stargaze too. We had tried to stargaze before we went to bed, but it had been too cloudy to see anything then. No way were we missing out on this celestial wonder just because it was 4 am.

There was no wind, so I was quite comfortable outside in my Cuddle Dud/pajama pant combo. Long story short (or is it short story long by this point?) an hour later I had gone to the bathroom twice, taken a bunch of star pictures and was ready to go back to bed.  

It didn’t feel too terribly cold back in the yurt, but maybe that is because I had just spent an hour outside amongst the stars. I did however keep my hoodie on when I got back into bed.  By 7am when we woke up, it felt like a refrigerator inside the yurt. I think it was colder inside the yurt than outside. 

So there you have it! Our yurt adventure!

Love,

thetwinsontour