Horse’n Ski in Kyrgyzstan

By |March 1st, 2016|adventure, Asia, Central Asia, Featured, Horseback, Journeys, Kyrgyzstan, Outdoor|

The small wood stove has heated the yurt quickly. Finally, having reached the camp in the valley of Ak Suu, we can relax, take off our jackets and warm our hands on a hot cup of chai. Our butts are sore from riding on horse back for four hours straight but in Kyrgyzstan it’s a [...]

Drag Lift into Hell

By |May 13th, 2015|Central Asia, Journeys, Kyrgyzstan, Tough Luck!, Winter Sports|

If you are into pain and looking to be beaten up, I advise you to use an old soviet drag lift. For this to work, you need be prone to dumbness and having a snowboard helps, too, but is not mandatory. […]

Faces of Osh Bazaar

By |March 27th, 2015|Asia, Central Asia, Journeys, Kyrgyzstan|

I'm reluctant to bazaars, first because I find shopping in general stressful and secondly, because being in crowds drives me to the brink of insanity. In Kyrgyzstan, thirdly, police has found an additional source of income, by searching tourists, more precisely, their purses. But where, if not at a marketplace, you can experience a country's [...]

Dry-Tooling in Chunkurchak

By |April 13th, 2014|Asia, Central Asia, Journeys, Kyrgyzstan, Outdoor, Rock|

As I understand it, "dry tooling" is ice climbing without ice, using ice axes and crampons on the rock. They say, it was originally developed to bridge rocky passages in order to reach free hanging, frozen waterfalls. I had not heard about it, and when my Russian friend Katya suggested to visit the competition at [...]

No Sport for the Faint-Hearted

By |March 22nd, 2014|Asia, Central Asia, Horseback, Journeys, Kyrgyzstan, Outdoor|

Kok Boru is a real men's sport. This we notice as soon as we get to the grandstands of the Bishkek Hippodrome. Being a woman, you stick out like a sore thumb. If you continue to look around, you cannot help but wonder if the security forces are outnumbering the spectators. So we take our [...]

Sahid’s Farm

By |March 12th, 2014|Asia, Central Asia, Horseback, Journeys, Kyrgyzstan, Outdoor|

Actually Lisa was just looking for a horse sharing set-up, now she is a farmhand. How it happened? - She took the Mashrutka to the village and asked her way around. Speaking Russian clearly is an advantage. A woman from a shop introduces Lisa to Sahid. He owns a farm near Kashka Suu, about half [...]

Fox Hunting with an Eagle

By |March 9th, 2014|Central Asia, Features, Journeys, Kyrgyzstan|

The two horsemen came all the way from their small village to the canyons. There, at the foot of the mountains, the hunt starts. Anvarbek moves along the hills, his 14-year-old son Azamat rides with his horse along the valley. They patrol one canyon after another. This is a hunting trip: The young Azamat is [...]

Ski Touring in the Tian Shan Mountains

By |January 22nd, 2014|Asia, Featured, Kyrgyzstan, Outdoor, Winter Sports|

Karakol is one of the winter sports hot-spots in Kyrgyzstan. The town is located about six hours drive from Bishkek, east of lake Issyk Kul. There is a fairly large ski resort and several freeride options: besides snow mobile tours and horse lifts, ski touring is on the rise. All you need to do, is [...]

X-mas with Eagle

By |December 26th, 2013|Asia, Horseback, Journeys, Kyrgyzstan, Wildlife|

The Eaglemen of the Salburun Federation invited me on a hunting trip - the coolest Christmas I've ever had - literally and figuratively. I stayed with the family of one of the hunters in the mountains. His house is about 30 kilometers from the village Bakonbayeva, on the Southern shore of Lake Issyk -Kul . [...]

The Russian Word for Skiing

By |December 9th, 2013|Asia, Journeys, Kyrgyzstan, Outdoor, Winter Sports|

There is no leather padded eight-seater chairlift with heated seats and wind bubble. Here in Kashka Suu, there is a single two-seat wooden folding chair lift with a small chain for safety. Don't even start looking for foot-support. "Don't you want to buckle up?" Kathrin asks. She works for a German humanitarian aid organization in [...]