The highlight of the summer festival in Jyrgalan is the horse and rider competition, Kok-Boru. Kok-Boru is the Kyrgyz national sport. The riders and the audience are looking forward to the event and a victory is associated with great honor. The games start with horseback wrestling. The riders try to pull the opponent with their […]
Kyrgyzstan
Summer Festival in Jyrgalan Valley
The Kyrgyz people love to celebrate and they would like to share this joy with the tourists. Thus, they held a summer festival in August in Jyrgalan. It is a mixture of culture, art, skilled crafts and sports. But right from the beginning! The persons responsible for the village and Kyle Gunther, on behalf of […]
Bird’s Eye View of Jyrgalan
We came to Jyrgalan at the right time to attend the summer festival. The Jyrgalan summer festival is an event with cultural, artistic and sporting elements. Singers, musicians, and dancers perform. One shows craft products and makes a fashion show. There is a Manaschi and games, involving the spectators. Highlights are horse games, such as […]
From Karakol to Jyrgalan and Alakol-Jyrgalan Eco Center
We drive from Karakol to Jyrgalan, to the easternmost point of our journey to Central Asia. Jyrgalan Jyrgalan is a former miner village, approx. 60 km east of Karakol that was set up for a coal mine. But for environmental protection reasons the mine was closed. Since 2013, Jyrgalan has been being developed for tourism […]
Sunset cruise on the Issyk-Kul
The Issyk-Kul is the largest lake in Kyrgyzstan. The lake is 182 km long, 60 km wide and 668 m deep. The lake has several tributaries but no outflow. Thus, the water level varies depending on local weather conditions. The salinity of the lake is approx. 0.6%, which makes it difficult to freeze even in […]