Bicycle trip round Son-Köl Lake
First morning on Son-Köl Lake was very sunny. We woke earlier to stare how the sun was raising above small hill and illuminating the lake and our tents. It was very warm despite that the lake is 3000 meters above the sea level. That is why cooking and packing our stuff passed in comfort and quickly. We were just lucky though, as the weather here is quiet chilly even in June and July especially in night time +5 - 7 °С. Sure, the lake is surrounded by beautiful snowy mountains. This indeed makes you overjoyed, especially after drinking kymyz. In Russia we call it kumys.
Kymyz is fermented drink made from fermented mare's milk, traditional drink of nomadic herders, obtained through lactic and alcoholic fermentation.
Based on the fact that kymyz in Russia costs a bit more expensive than champagne, and in Kyrgyzstan it is cheaper than a bottle of water, I`d better name it Kymyz in my blog post.
In the begging of June it is opening of kymyz season and production pick of the drink. People say that in this period it has the best healing properties. To the word, Japanese scientists made a research of local national drinks and concluded that kymyz is very healthy. This fact makes people of Kyrgyzstan very proud. We could ascertain ourselves as we were drinking it during our whole trip. But when we arrived to Son-Köl locals explained us that kymyz is usually drank after a hearty dinner because make your arms and feet relaxed. Probably, that is true as the drink is a bit alcoholic, but that evening we were drinking pure medical spirit which is not less healthier and tasty.
Personally I think that kymyz increases endurance, reduces the time for regeneration (recovery) while in place where I am from it more effects men`s health.
After a heavy rain in lowlands the closest mountains were covered with snow. So far, we were lucky enough to escape from trajectory of showers. This is why we were only watching the natural phenomena.
We were planning to get round the lake by southern part where road is good and without any transfers, but have analyzed the situation we have come to a conclusion that it is better to go by northern beach. The view on north part was much more picturesque and the road passes close to the shore. In addition a cumulonimbus moving to the South finally persuaded us to go by northern part.
There were a lot of yurts on the cost as well as lots of kymyz and fish. For 75 rubles as we have calculated we could buy 8 liters of peled fish for lunch. We overate too much so we hardly could ride our bicycles.
The lake is simply amazing! So sad we couldn`t swim as the weather did allow us, but we for sure will come back to plunge into this crystal water.
By the evening we came round the lake, but all the same were caught not even in a rain but a hail. It made us to slow down and we decided to ask some people to stay over the night to have comfort rest. Hospitably of local people surpassed all our expectations. They immediately let us in to spend the night in yurt. Unfortunately, girls couldn’t estimate the exotics and stayed in tents next to the yurt. Meanwhile we drank some spirit, and after having our dinner and hot tea in appreciation organized a small but epic show of Bashkir throat singing.
This was the end of regular day in our bicycle trip. I’d like to note that not all of us couldn’t fully understand and appreciate overnight stay in yurt. Exotics places and traditions must be unusual for us. These memories I will remember for my lifetime.
Author: Alexey Klyanin
http://www.uralla.ru/
