The departure of the trek
After a hearty breakfast and a short trip by Jeep, we do the trek beginning in Kyrgyzstan. During our first hours of walking, we meet several riders. They are delighted to see us and be photographed. The impression of space is quickly felt. With only 6 million inhabitants for 198,500 km2, there is room for everyone. To find out: Greece has almost 1/3 area one less for 50% more inhabitants …
The break
We take a break after 2 hours of walking to wait for our pack horse. Indeed, we left our stuff in the Jeep and it must catch up with us. So we discuss things and others. Especially the way to sit. We noticed that Kyrgyz, like Japanese, often sit on their heels to wait. Unlike Westerners who usually sit in their behind… Okay, we do not always discuss philosophy or economy when we walk! :-).
Nomadic trails are sometimes misleading …
The rider with his pack horse caught up with us as planned. It is 11am, our guide proposes to eat now (there is a picnic table) or later if we are not hungry. After the gargantuan morning breakfast, we have no desire to eat. So here we go again. Our rider leads the march. With the drop and our photo stops, he ends up getting ahead of us from a good distance. We cross several rivers using makeshift bridges. The temperature is very nice. Then at a crossroads, the conclusion falls from the mouth of our guide: we “lost” the rider …
Reunion
A slight concern ensues as the pack horse carries the tents, the food and all our things… The guide therefore accelerates a little pace in case the rider would not have waited for us. We end up arriving at a shepherd’s shack with its penned sheep. Inside, two people are waiting. We will learn that it is a guard of Chong Kemin National Park and a visiting Russian friend. It’s almost 2pm, and our stomachs are starting to gurgle. Fortunately, we are offered tea and bread. After discussion with the guide, our rider did not go through here. But it is a necessary point of passage. Then he must be behind us. And indeed, after a little wait he finally joined us. Phew.
The installation of the bivouac
After leaving the shack, we stop after 45 minutes of walking. This will be our bivouac place. We eat our lunch at 15h. This will teach us to reject the guide’s suggestions ;-). Then we put up our tents. At 16h everything is ready, we take advantage of the time we have left before dinner to explore the surroundings. A summit of “hill” (we are more than 2000m anyway) will offer us a beautiful panorama. Going down, we will have the opportunity to see a spinning doe emerge from the surrounding woods.
The evening
Our guide and our rider prepares the fire and begins to simulate a “plof”. Seeing the rice, we understand that it must be the word “Pilaf”. The guard met earlier joins us, we eat together. We exchange a few words in English and learn that he has read many French authors. He also heard about the fire of Notre-Dame… In his lost mountains, we have a little trouble imagining that the information flows so well! We also feel a bit ashamed not to know some Kyrgyz celebrities (eg Chingiz Aitmatov)… We finally reach our tents to spend the night.
After this trek beginning in Kyrgyzstan, find the whole trek. And if you want to do this trek, you can order it there.
