Mountain Camping

We woke up bright and early and headed towards Kok Jaiyk in the mountains. We stopped in a little town so everybody could go hiking. Since my mom's ankle is hurt my friend Emily, my mom and me went to an indoor mineral swimming pool. The building was in an old Soviet building. The pool was upstairs in an old room that was a little rundown but it was so warm and it was awesome. Then we finally made it to the yurt camp high up in the mountains. The road to get there was crazy. It was just a one lane dirt road with rocks and big holes and there were cars going both ways so one car would have to pull over and stop on the side to let another car go by. We went over rushing rivers on bridges made of tree trunks. It was really scary but our van driver Samat is the best driver ever. But once we got up to the top of the mountain, it was amazing. It was set right in the middle of the mountains and is 7500 feet up and we were surrounded by trees and rivers and beautifulness. The yurts were great. They even had cots for us even though Kyrygz people usually sleep on the floor of the yurts. There were so many animals there - dogs (that were part coyote), horses, sheep, goats, cows, donkeys and roosters. They all just roamed free and would go wherever they want. At this yurt camp there was no electricity and no running water but we didn't care because we just played outside all day and had adventures. There was a giant swing that a lot of kids could ride at the same time. We got to go horseback riding through the valley. My friends and I also explored the forest. We also played on the side of the mountain, running everywhere and looking at all of the animals. At dinner we saw all the shepherds come and gather their flocks to take them to a different field. Most of the shepherds were little boys and all they had to do was whistle and the herds knew exactly where to go. When it got dark we got to see all of the stars in the sky. It was pretty amazing. BlogThis!