Day 191, 10 Jul 2019, Bishkek
Today, I have been extremely blessed by the hospitality of the Kyrgyz.
I set out to visit the Ala Archa National Park which is some 30km outside of the city. Since I was travelling solo, it would have made more sense to get to the park by a public marshrutka, as opposed to a taxi. However, the marshrutka only brings one to the ticketing counter of the park, which is still 12km away from the start of the hiking trails. After paying for the entrance fee, I began what I thought would be a long and uneventful 12km walk along the side of the road.
After about 3 minutes in and noticing that there were a few family cars that have zipped past me and who were also headed in the same direction, I tried sticking out my hand to hitch a ride. After three failed attempts, but soon enough, a car pulled up and the driver waved for me to hop on. On hindsight, this was probably the one single action that would set in place a series of fond memories forged together, and a day which I will forever remember.
Upon entering the car, I found myself in the midst of 4 Kyrgyz guys in their early 20s, who planned to have a picnic in the valley. While their standards of English lie across a spectrum, it did not prove to be a deterrant to light introductions and casual conversations. Within a few minutes, I found out that they were friends who grew up together and lived with each other in another city, and are now working in Bishkek. After reaching the parking lot, they insisted that I join them for the day, which I had initially hesitated because I had planned to catch the 5pm marshrutka back to Bishkek. Thankfully, I accepted their invitation and we began to unload our supplies from the car to look for a suitable spot to set up our picnic. And they definitely did come prepared, as evident from the loot at the trunk of the car: a barbeque pit, a massive pot of marinated shashlik, fresh fruits, snacks, a birthday cake, picnic mats, and even a volleyball!
After 3 ladies came to join our company, the afternoon was spent playing a variant of football and volleyball, chitchatting, cooking, and hiking. I probably would not have seen such splendid views of the valley from such a unique vantage point if not for these lads.
As the darkness was starting to creep in, we quickly headed back to our spot to celebrate the birthday of one member. Each of us took turns to offer a toast and individually made a small speech containing well-wishes to the birthday boy. But alas, what is a day out without some twists and turns. It was quickly made known that another member had lost his phone up in the mountains, so we headed back to the same path and hiked up to the same spot in the darkness, with the landscape only illuminated by the pale rays of moonlight and the anxious pointing of our camera torchlights. Despite all the training to hunt for missing magazines inculcated by the SAF, having only 4 guys with 3 torchlights foraging in the dark proved to be a tough ordeal, and we headed back for the car to Bishkek.
As it was around 9.30pm and impossible for me to catch the last marshrutka headed for my next destination, the guys again extended their graces by inviting me to put up with them for the night, and this is how I found myself in my first home stay in Central Asia. After washing up and a light snack of watermelon and shashlik (not sure how this is in any way light), we all crashed onto our beds and had probably the best sleep ever. And seconds before I drifted into deep sleep, I thought to myself, 'Today, I have been extremely blessed by the hospitality of the Kyrgyz.'
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