Towers and Horses

Today we left Bishkek and headed to Chon-Kemin. On the way we stopped and saw Burana Tower. It's a very tall tower (82 feet tall) that was built in the 11th century! The story is that is was built by a rich king to keep his daughter safe after a fortune teller told him she would die when she was 16 years old (sort of like Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel put together). But she ended up dying anyway after she got bit by a poisonous spider. The tower used to be 148 feet tall but an earthquake knocked some of it down. There is still a big part that is still standing. I climbed all the way to the very top of that tower. It was so high! My mom tried but couldn't go up because the staircase is really small and winding and completely dark because there are no Windows. You have to climb up like a bear. Thank goodness Aigul had a light on her phone so we could see a little bit. She has everything we need! It was so cool and you could see so far away. My mom said I looked like a little ant from her view on the ground. When we were leaving my mom stepped in a hole in the parking lot and twisted her ankle really really bad. It got really swollen and she can barely walk on it. Poor mom. After that, we went to a Kyrgyz family's house for lunch. They served us so much Kyrgyz...more fried bread and lots of different salads. I love the bread here! We also had some vegetable soup. While we were there we had to use the bathroom. It was in a little building behind the house. They didn't have toilets! Only a little hole in the ground. They are called squatty potties and they are totally gross. A lot of people here use them and I never want to use them again but I think we will have to a lot while we are here. This afternoon we did my favorite thing since I got here. We went horseback riding up in the mountains and the view was amazing. My horse was so pretty and I named him Ty. He was pretty cooperative and really gentle. The ride was a little bumpy and we went up steep hills and by streams. It took more than 2 hours. We finally made it to our guesthouse for the night. It was neat and it was in the middle of the mountains with nobody else around. The dining room was all glass and the view was awesome when the sun was setting. It looked like it was a scene in thr movies. Thank goodness our room had a regular toilet! I'm having so much fun on this trip!