Monday, May 20, 2013
The sun was shinning this morning after a night of wind and rain. Before leaving the Four Seasons, we walked down to the beach again passing the fragrant lilacs, tulips and daffodils. It occurred to me that they were late blooming because we are at 5000 feet ASL. The walk was pleasant and the lake was calm.
Not long afterward we were at the lake’s only yacht club and boat launch and stepping onto a 25 passenger tourist boat with us as the only customers. The Russian name of the boat was “K P Y backwards N 3”. The K is pronounced K; the P is pronounced R; the Y is pronounced oo; the backwards N is ee and the 3 is pronounced z. Sounds like “Kroo eez“. So we took a cruise on the Kroo eez. Sorry to be so corny, but now you know some Russian. Out on the lake, the water looked the color of Lake Tahoe, deep blue, but not quite as clear. There were no other boats on the lake, because most people cannot afford to own a boat, there are no fish to catch and it is not yet the season for summer tourists.
The fish story is a sad one. According to Olga, the lake had been mostly fished out by the Russians before 1920, which led the Soviets to introduce a fish, Ctenopharyngodon Idella, which Mark learned is a fresh water herbivorous grass carp, in 1948 thinking it would be good eating. However, it ate all the other fish and then died out by 1986. (Mark and I wonder if there is a mistake about the fish that was introduced being the one Olga named. How could a herbivorous fish eat all the other fish?) Since then rainbow trout are hatched in fish ponds and planted in the lake every year in an effort to resupply the lake. The fish tend to stay near the mouths of the 78 streams that flow from the mountains into the lake as that is where the water is the least salty. Unfortunately, that is where people use nets to catch the small fish illegally. Olga says there is no manpower to police the lake so the trout population is not growing very rapidly.
Our boat trip was only an hour but the ride was peaceful and scenic with the lake surrounded by the Tian Shan Range, called by locals the Sunny mountains on the north and the Shadow mountains on the south. Once upon a time there were huge glaciers in the area and the lake was much shallower. The ruins of three submerged cities have been found 300 feet below the current lake level. There are no surface exits from the lake and it is believed that there may be a subterranean river that is providing an exit. We visited a small museum in Cholpon Ata, the local village, and saw a three dimensional map of the mountains, countryside, streams, lake and undersea bed. It was helpful to get an overview of the lake basin. We also saw several Kyrgyz wool carpets called Shyrdak that look very attractive. I might buy one, if I can think of a place to put it. The background wool is pressed, then a patchwork upper layer in different patterns and colors is sewn onto the base and the edges are bound. The carpet looks a lot better than I can explain it. You will see if I buy one.
We continued east along the lake with the landscape getting more beautiful by the mile…or should I say kilometer. Where the slopes from the lake shore to the mountains were gravel and desert plant moraines left behind by receding glaciers along the NW half of the lake, the NE half was totally fertile and green from lake to mountain. We passed several cemeteries dedicated to nomadic tribes, who used yurt frames, small mud brick structures and deer antlers as part of their grave decoration. I asked Olga why they looked abandoned, when many of the graves were only a few years old. She told us the tradition is to give the deceased a proper burial and then walk away and leave the past behind. No one ever goes back to a grave for any reason. We also passed Kyrgyz horses, donkey carts and old farm equipment still in use. At the end of the lake, the road turned south and headed for the Shadow mountains.
Shortly before entering Karakol, the largest town on the lake at 35,000 people, we stopped at a grave and small, but impressive museum, for the 19th century Russian explorer and ethnographer, Nicholas Przhevalsky (1839-1888). He is famous to all Russians as a great explorer, having made 6 campaigns to do biological research and survey routes through the mountains and deserts during the era know as the Great Game. He also discovered and described the diminutive horse that later became known as the Przhevalsky Horse. Having just finished the book, The Great Game, Mark and I were both interested in this man’s activities. The museum is wonderfully laid out to inform the visitor thoroughly, yet interestingly. Przhevalsky would have been an asset to whatever country he belonged. The fir lined pathway to his monument, and his grave were simple and elegant at the same time.
Lunch was at a cafe in Karakol where we ordered different dishes to try them out. The first was Samsa, a pasty-like pastry filled with chopped meat, onions and spices and cooked on the sides of a clay oven. It was crunchy and tasty and my favorite dish so far. The second was Besh Barmak, spaghetti noodles cooked with small pieces of mutton in a white sauce. Even though it was juicy, this dish did not appeal to me. Last was Vareniki, a plate of half-moon shaped dumplings filled with mashed potato and served with sour cream. OK if you like mashed potatoes.
Karakol is a Russian settlement founded in 1869 as a military garrison. In addition to Russian soldiers and their families, the area was populated by an unusual group of Arab-Chinese Muslims, called Dungans, who immigrated from China to escape religious persecution in 1788. They were later joined by the Uighurs, also Muslims, who came from Siberia during the Soviet era until the border was closed in the 50’s. I mention all this because our first stop in Karakol was at the Dungan Mosque, that looks more like a Chinese pagoda than a mosque. Built between 1904-7, it has a wooden pagoda shaped minaret. The mosque exterior is decorated with carved dragons, fruits, flowers and other Chinese ornamentation in greens, yellows and blues. We peeked through the windows at the very yellow, Chinese ceiling contrasted against the bland muslim rugs on the floor. Too bad we were not allowed inside.
Nearby we visited the lovely wooden Russian Orthodox Church built between 1907-10. This building, like the mosque, was made exclusively of wood, with no metal nails allowed. I could imagine the same construction crew finishing the mosque and then moving down the street to build the church. It was unpainted and just as ornately designed and constructed as the mosque, except that the details were Victorian. I found the church very attractive. It had the usual icons inside and a lady caretaker who did not allow photos.
We drove through a few streets including Lenin Street enroute to our Guesthouse. We passed many Russian style one-story houses with blue painted shutters and window frames. The guesthouse is at the end of a side street and is pretty simple and plain inside and out. We were assigned a small room on the second floor that opens onto a communal living room. This will be home for the next two nights.
Dinner was at a Dungan family’s home. The meal was largely Chinese with delightfully different flavors from what we have been eating. Our hostess, Fatima, is studying English and sat down with us after we finished eating to chat. We had a delightful conversation with her about her cooking business, family life, wanting to travel and what is is to be Dungan. She told us there about 60,000 Dungans living in Kyrgyzstan and 10 million in China. She is 5th generation Kyrgyz and has no interest in returning to China. Dungans’ got started with the marriage of an Arab man to a Chinese woman. The result was a Muslim family. We were having such fun with her that we invited her to join us on our hike tomorrow. he surprised us by saying yes. So I will learn more about her and Dungans tomorrow.
Adventures with Julia 