Five Days Too Many in Naryn Kyrgyzstan
five days we spent in a tiny town of Kyrgyzstan and our adventure to Kel-Suu lake with a new friend
I’ve avoided reflecting on our time in Kyrgyzstan as words have been failing me when I think about this time. I think it’s partly because some days felt like not much happened, like the five days we spent in a tiny town of Naryn. Other times, I think the feeling comes from the exact opposite - days packed with so many beautiful moments that there doesn’t seem to be much to say beyond feelings of pure wonder and awe.
After our horse trek at Song-Kul Lake, we got on a marshrutka to head to the town of Naryn, which would be our base for a well regarded hike named Kel-Suu. Finding transport can be an ordeal. Even getting the marshrutka halfway to Naryn was a confusing jumble of two drivers yelling at each other for a few minutes and us being unsure which van to hop into. We became all too familiar with the ruse that there was no more shared transport for the day, and our only option would be private transport at a more expensive cost. We became used to walking the transport parking lots under the baking sun to try and figure out our options.
This time we found a goofy German guy, Thomas, who was also going to Naryn, so we shared transport with him. Our driver made a stop to say hello to a friend he saw, and Thomas proceeded to ask the driver’s son, who was on Facetime, “excuse me, can you please ask your dad why he just left us in the car and when are we going to leave.” The son just laughed a lot. By this point, Jovan and I had learned to go with the flow - when the driver makes a random stop to visit a friend, go into a store, or drop off a package, don’t worry - just wait, and eventually you’ll be on your way.
Naryn is a small town with one main road that stretches for about 2 miles, nestled in the valley of desert mountains and green alpine trees. There isn’t much to do, which became apparent pretty quickly.
So how did we find ourselves spending five days here? We heard about the hike to Kel-Suu, a beautiful lake in Southern Kyrgystan. The problem? Since it sits on the border of China, we needed permits to hike here. While we waited on these permits, we exhausted what seemed like every possible option of things to do in Naryn. We tried nearly every restaurant, went to every park, every small museum (1), got a massage, and spent a lot of time chilling in our guesthouse. Jovan started working on a passion project, and I used the time to read and think more about future career options. We could’ve gone on day trips outside of Naryn, but maybe swayed by a bit of travel fatigue, we were both feeling more called in the direction of following these personal projects.
Our favorite thing we did in Naryn, and something that made this time spent waiting to go to Kel-Suu not feel completely silly, was the evening we spent cooking at our guesthome’s family house. We, along with two other Swedish sisters, were invited to prepare a traditional dinner and share it with the family. Jovan was given the special role of being a man whos role is to eat. In this family, women prepare the meal while the men are in charge of keeping the fire going outside. He did, however, get to show off his master chef skills by having a go at making borsook, a very popular fried dough.
Borsook seemed to be in every Kyrgyz home we visited (paired with clotted cream), and we learned it is especially popular during holidays and celebrations.
We made 1) Manty: a traditional dumpling filled with meat (ours was sheep), onion, and spices; 2) Potato and dough layered pancakes; and 3) traditional cucumber and tomato salad.
It was served with the traditional beverages of 1) Maksym: A thick, carbonated, and slightly sour-earthy soft drink made from fermented roasted grains and 2) Kymyz: Fermented mare's milk with a fizzy, tart taste. They also brought us some fermented camel milk from their neighbor, which had a very strong, acquired taste.
At the end of the evening, the son sang a traditional song that was incredibly beautiful. The song is taught in school and passed down from generation to generation, about the hardships they faced during war. The throat singing is so raw and filled with emotion that you need not understand the words to feel the weight.
Our night was wrapped up with the family sweetly preparing to-go bags for us, insisting that everyone take lots of food home. It was only a small gesture of genorisity, as we walked out of their front door, we felt like their family members.
On our last day waiting in Naryn, we met Neal, a guy around our age from London. It was a very serendipitous meeting because he was looking to visit Kel-Suu for the exact dates we were there, and he was also bringing his tent to camp there. We had been looking for someone else to split transport costs with, and were thrilled when everything aligned perfectly. The next morning, the three of us were driven the four-hour journey by our guesthouse owner on a treacherous, bumpy road. Somehow, throughout the bumps, we were still able to talk, and we spent the entire ride getting to know one another.
That day, we hiked a bit and crossed the frigid water to our first campsite: a flat grassy area beside a flowing river, surrounded by mountains.
We spent the day peacefully, talking and bonding over our Kyrgyzstan experiences and reading/writing by the water. We left our campsite once for dinner, bracing ourselves again through this freezing water to visit the yurt camp of the family from Naryn.
We were greeted warmly for the 2nd time that day with the Kymyz drink, which the three of us tried so hard to stomach, but eventually all quickly poured in the grass when the family stepped away. When the dad came back, we all smiled and gave thumbs up. He went to pour us all a second round, which we too eagerly said no thank you to. For dinner, the father cooked us rice with meat, and insisted that we didn’t pay for it. His wife who was gone this evening normally does the cooking, and he tried his best but clearly felt his effort was unworthy of payment. The act of him still attempting to make dinner for us was sweet and touching.
Making the 40-minute walk back to our campsite, now guided by some stars beginning to show, we were all feeling like this scenery was exactly what we expected from Kyrgyzstan, and definitely worth the wait in Naryn. The walk back felt comfortable, the three of us realizing that between our driving and walking time, we quickly got to know eachother. Neal even remarked on the walk that Jovan and I should become therapsists, the way we were asking him questions that he hadn’t considered. With the sound of running water next to us and big mountains surrounding us, we felt at peace in our tent that night. That is, until we woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of a horse charging right next to us.
The next day, we hiked further up to the lake and set up our campsites for the second night. During the daytime, the lake was busier than we expected, with speedboats taking visitors on the water. It wasn’t exactly peaceful, but the view was worth the noise pollution. By sunset time, everyone had cleared out, and Jovan, Neal, and I were almost the only ones there camping for the night. Once the sun went down, I could understand why - it was freezing. But having the turquoise blue lake and mountains to ourselves that night and the next serene morning made every numb toe worth it.
On our hike out of Kel-Suu, I felt the elevation really kicking me down, and I needed to stop for a lot more breaks than I otherwise would. Jovan and I looked at each other while out of breath and pondered how concerned we should be. Next up after Kel-Suu we would head to the most popular (notably challenging) hike in Kyrgyzstan. Don’t mention Nepal either, we defintiely might be in over our heads.
On the third day, we returned back to Naryn where we would stay for the evening and then be off on our 7 hour bus ride to the most famous destination in Kyrgyzstan: Issyk-Kul lake. We arrived at 6:30am to get our tickets for the 7am bus (you can only get tickets in person, day of), only to be told it was already sold out for the day.
We’ve already overstayed our welcome in Naryn, what’s one more day.
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