Kochkor, Kyrgyzstan
Cemetery Walk
Entering a cemetery is considered disturbing souls contaminated by disease. Women never enter at all. Men will do the burying, but do not return. In Soviet times gravestones had photos of the deceased. These were scratched out/removed from the Muslim graves post-USSR. Formerly cemeteries were by the roadside. Now they are hidden in the mountains. You will notice metal yurts in the cemetery.
We took our walk to see the cemetery before local people would be awake, so as to avoid offense.
Performance Center
This stage area is meant to host events. The central figure is a Manas epic poem reciter. Took some snapshots of the decorative walls.
Eagle hunting
The man who demonstrated for us is an 8th Generation eagle hunter! While it is now a hobby, in the past this was done in the winter to get food.
You use rope to climb to the eagle nest. Only if there are two eaglets you can take one. The right time is during summer, at 2-3 months of age, when they are about to take their first flight. For the first month with the human, the master is continually “complimenting the bird” and hand-feeding it. If the man were to throw the food, the bird would take it and leave. Once the bird has adapted, it is fitted with a hood. The master expands the distance of his commands little by little.
Fox or hare are trapped to train the eagle to fight. The eagle is trained to attack the top of the animal skin. One claw on the neck, one claw on the mouth. Through the claw they feel the pulse and determine if the animal is dead or simply stunned. They are trained to wait to eat until the master approaches. An eagle can eat 4-5 kilos, then digest all week. They eat the feathers and bones, then regurgitate them. Around October the eagle faces her first test. She will be sent back for more training if she fails. Eagles use their eyesight to hunt.
At 16 years of age the eagle is ready to breed. They mate for life. An eagle lives for 50-60 years. Around 20 years of age the master stops hand-feeding. Watches for 5 days to see how it adapts to being set free in the wild.
Today you need a license to keep an eagle. The master was invited to hunt rabbits (a nuisance) in Australia, but he could not accept the invitation because eagles can’t leave the country. This eagle is one-year-old. She is being fed pigeon meat. She is crying because she is hungry. Female eagles catch bigger prey, like wolves and jackals. While either boys or girls can train in eagle hunting, typically girls look after eagles before marriage but not after.
You can see the site we used formerly held an aqueduct. That was a jackal pelt he used to demonstrate for us.
The Mountains and some history
Victory Peak is the tallest in the Tien Shan range. It is equally difficult to climb as K2. Kyrgyzstan is nicknamed “second Switzerland.” White-ish hills have kaolin (clay for making china). Pink-ish mountains have uranium and titanium. Uranium was mined here between 1947 and the late 1950s. Now gold and coal are mined. And oil. Snow leopards, lynx, deer, Marco Polo sheet, and falcons live in the mountains. There are 400-500 mudslides in Kyrgyzstan every year. A seismic belt runs through here. The Ural River divides Europe from Asia. Belarus pays Kyrgyzstan for (ordinary) rocks. Uzbekistan trades gas for Kyrgyzstan water.
The gold is located 3800-4200 meters up in the mountains. Foreign investors used cyanide to extract about 11 grams per ton. There was an accident and the local people blocked the road. They demanded 50-50 profit sharing. The Canadian company sold shares to another Canadian company. I think the guide said they get 370 tons of gold per year with 20 tons for the local people at $150 per gram, that comes out to billions.
A new tunnel is being built to get from China to the Karakol border where there are ski resorts. The engineers are Chinese put the workers are from Pakistan and India. The local people have more trust in China building roads than their own Minister of Transportation. They suspect their minister would pocket the money and not build the road. (according to our local guide) Railroad ties are swapping out concrete for wood. They have their first wind turbine.
The south of Kyrgyzstan has less water and is more hot. There is tension over who irrigates first. A dam transferred control from Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan to bring peace.
About 370,000 Kyrgyz live in Russia, 250,000 Kyrgyz live in China. There is a Kyrgyz embassy in Chicago, so some live there. There used to be a Kyrgyz restaurant in Chicago.
From what I understood, in 1916 Russia tried to mobilize reinforcements for the Western Front (World War I), but in the late 19th century the Tsar had signed an agreement that Central Asians would not be drafted. There was an uprising. The Cossacks were sent to break the blockade. 100,000 people fled to Xian Jian. 50,000 were killed. After the Russian Empire collapsed, the people wanted to return, but had to cross a high mountain pass, and some died. Populations who left Kyrgyzstan pre-Soviet still use Arabic script. Arabic script had been used for 1000 years.
After the Romanovs, there was a temporary government. Feudal lords in South Kyrgyzstan fled to Afghanistan. This created a problem during the USSR war with Afghanistan. The UN offered to send the ex-patriots to Alaska (but that’s cold). They went instead to Turkiye. There is an effort underway to repatriate these descendants.
Build a yurt!
Mongolian yurts have a pole in the middle. Yurts in Khazakstan have lower walls. The crown of a Kyrgyz yurt is called a tunduk. The flag of Kyrgyzstan represents a home for everyone. The sun means prosperity and the 40 rays of the sun are for the 40 tribes. Red is for the blood spilled during 2000 years of invaders but also against the Evil Eye.
Men make the “skeleton” and ladies make the covers. Yak wool is used for the rope. Willow for the wood. Reeds are used for the walls. There are 6 layers of felt with lanolin and sheep grease on top so the snow and rain will slide down. A mixture of clay and bull’s blood is used to color the wood. If you look at the detail photo you can see sinew is used rather than metal screws or nails. A typical yurt is 4 meters. The one we made was a summer yurt. Traditionally it takes about 45 minutes to assemble. Speed building is 7 minutes. Assembly takes a minimum of two people. Traditionally, men assemble and women disassemble. The festival in New Mexico will sell you a yurt for $4000 plus $5500 for the transportation to the US.
The entry is low so you must bow (show respect) when you enter. The door is always facing the rising sun in the East. On the ground will be carpet, then animal skins, then mattress.
Lunch at their home
More history
Kyrgyzstan is the land where G-d has his country house. 70% of the country is rural. Gypsies go anywhere. That is the difference. Nomads make the same circuit. They will be back. Hitchhiking is very safe for locals.
Poppies and cannabis grew wild in fields here. People knew they could put a few drops of cannabis in tea to help sleep or opium as a pain killer. Utensils are popular in cities now, but in the countryside your host may not offer you any.
Stalinisky crimes meant being sent to gulags. There were 10 in Almaty. If you were to ask about your father/son/husband’s disappearance you would go there too. LGBTQ had been illegal when Soviet. Now if you discuss you will be fined. Bars exist, but not on maps. “You can still hear the Soviet echo.”
After 1973 the shelves were empty. People had cash, but there was nothing to buy. This is why Americans remember being offered crazy amounts of cash for their Levis. Cash was meaningless. Muras cars will be built here, based on the Lada.
When there was a dispute at a border (such as Azerbaijan and Armenia) the Soviets just emptied the area. To use Cyrillic for non-Slavic/Turkic language group needed to add 9 sounds. This was done under Stalin. Before Arabic they had used Runic. Well, the sedentary populations, anyhow. Turkish President Erdogan wants all Turkic people to use the same alphabet now.
When the USSR collapsed the nuclear warheads were not all in Russian hands. The world did not want Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan to have nukes, so Russia took custody. Now Belarus got some back again.
They have Kyrgyz TV channels that carry very little news. A Russian TV station is available (with an agenda). Russian TV calls the Ukraine conflict The New Great Game.
Everyone has an app with QR code that contains their birth certificate, driver’s license, etc. You have to pay the doctor, so tend not to go. In the future another 5% of salary will go to health insurance. Average tax on income is 38% which includes 10% toward a pension. Your employer pays 18%. The average pension is $130 with $80/mo minimum.
Felt Handicraft
This was a Women’s NGO called Altyn kol naryn where we got to participate and see demos and learn lots about how things are done and what they mean.
Guest House
Awoke the next morning to a cock’s crow outside my window.
Cooking Baursak and a Vodka Party
Asman City
Chinese investor Yun Fei Tu is putting $20 billion into building a new city. It actually started with a Sudanese oligarch. In 15-20 years it will be complete. It will have only EV cars, no coal, promises the sewage will not damage the lake. There will be an airport 35 km away. It will have sky scrapers and sports venues. It is possible the capital of the country will move here.
