Adventure Yurt Camp

Our first yurt camp in Tong at Issyk-Kul is, as mentioned before, very touristic. There are outhouses with toilet seats and lights with motion sensors, warm summer showers, and people who speak fluent German, Russian, and English. But there is also delicious food, to the delight of the children a quite European breakfast. After that, we book our first horseback riding tour at European prices with a local guide - but no matter, it's worth it!

We drive with Bigsat to the mountains to a quite wealthy nomad family. Here we drink our first Kymis - fermented mare's milk - you can also taste the alcohol content.

Then it's time to get on the horses - as an experienced rider, I get the spirited horse, the rest of the family gets very calm animals. With our guide, who also gently introduces the children to riding, we go up a mountain to great pastureland. Once we reach the top, we are greeted by a breathtaking panoramic view of the lake with rock formations and the valley!

We are now at an altitude of 2000 m and take the opportunity to take great pictures. We also impress Bigsat with a little acrobatics - he has never seen live acrobats before, he says.

Then we go back downhill and the children are very happy to be able to ride on their own. Once we reach the bottom, we drink more Kymis and eat Kurt, and then we head back to our camp. After lunch, we take advantage of the wonderful weather for a beach trip - a beach just for us in front of a great rock backdrop! And then the second highlight of the day: we have ordered the mobile Banja to the beach! An old Russian military vehicle, whose loading area has been converted into a sauna with a changing room, drives to our beach, of course already heated up! So we sauna on the beach and then jump into Issyk-Kul - life couldn't be more beautiful!

Back at the yurt camp, dinner is already waiting for us - soup and a dish with meat and potatoes. The children play with the other children in the big yurt and outside, and we enjoy the incredible starry sky!

After this night, we gather the last impressions and say goodbye to Issyk-Kul, because now we are heading to Naryn, an old garrison town on the Silk Road. Our plan is adventurous - we want to cross the mountains - more on that in the next blog!