After spending the night back in Karakol, I head to another one of Karakol’s beautiful valleys Jeti Oghuz. I take a combination of marshrutka, taxi and hitchhike to reach the bottom of the valley, marked by seven bulls.
The seven bulls of Jeti Oghuz (yes there are in fact nine).
I start walking/hitchhiking my way to the top of the valley where there’s supposed to be a beautiful field of flowers (in March to May according to the Lonely Planet guidebook).
The first lift I hitch is on the back of some guys horse. After one kilometre he decides he’s had enough of me and tells me to hop off. The next lift is in a truck on its way to do road repairs. After the second lift, I catch up to one of the guys (Misha) I saw walking up the valley, he managed to get a lift in another car.
Walking up Jeti Oghuz valley.
Misha bumps into a friend of his, we all drink кымыз (Kuh-Muz, fermented mare’s milk) and as we walk, they tell me about the valley. In soviet times, as some of the first soviet cosmonauts were looking down on the USSR from space, they took note of one particularly beautiful valley. On their return, they found it was Jeti-Oghuz, only several thousand kilometres from the Baikonur cosmodrome. As such the government setup a health resort for returning cosmonauts and forbid locals from venturing into certain parts of the valley.
Along the walk, Misha makes me an offer he claims I can’t refuse. Since I am an attractive single man with no girlfriend, he will take it upon himself to find me a dream woman. As he is a powerful man with many connections, he will introduce me to many very beautiful Kyrgyz women who all know how to cook, clean and take care of their man. He will pay the kalim (dowry) to the bride’s parents, take care of all the wedding expenses and invite some of his most powerful and influential friends in order for me to find a good career and establish myself as a big player in the Kyrgyz world. The only thing I need to do in return is give him an invitation into Australia so he can finally visit the Great Barrier Reef, a dream he’s had for a very long time.
I decline his offer and we attend his older sister’s birthday where I’m treated as the guest of honour and drink far more than one should while hiking out in the mountains. Throughout the lunch, Misha points out several beautiful single girls and tells me they’re all nieces of his and introduces each one in turn. As lovely and beautiful as they are, I have to decline Misha’s offer, telling him I haven’t yet finished my life’s travels. This answer satisfies him and he drops the topic of my wedding, though he does keep pointing out that every girl keeps looking over at me and finding an excuse to walk by.
I bid farewell to Misha and the guests at the birthday party as I still want to visit the field of flowers. I continue walking and am passed by a truck carrying a group of tourists on their way to a multi day trek from Jeti-Oghuz via Ala Kol (alpine lake) to Altyn Arashan. The five day trek takes in the beauty of Karakol valley along the way. I was unable to go in the opposite direction from Altyn Arashan as the weather was bad and I’d heard that there was a lot of snow on the pass to Ala Kol, and, with memories of the failed attempt at Arslanbob thought it’s better to give it a miss.
After the tourist truck passes, I’m picked up by a group of guys in their Muskvich and we make slow progress up the valley as the car keeps overheating, stalling and not having enough power to reach the inclines. The trip involves pushing the car a lot, but still beats walking up.
After a few minutes we reach the end of the road to see the trekkers still putting their bags on and continue walking towards the guys’ yurt.
Near the top of the valley.
Dedicated to jump shooters everywhere.
When we reach the yurt, I ask where the field of flowers is. I’m told we went past it, the flowers are only out in spring.
As I’m hiking back down the valley, I come across yet another group of Kyrgyz who want me to drink with them. We dedicated the 100g to international friendship (for the millionth time). and I continue on down. I stumble upon a Kazakh family who’ve managed to get their jeep stuck in the mud. They’re waiting for another jeep to come down from the top and pull them out. I tell them that I’d met the drivers of the only other jeep up the valley, and that they were planning on spending the night up there in the guesthouse.
I recruit all the guys picnicking nearby and we use brute strength to pull the car out of the mud. As gratitude, they give me a lift back to Karakol.
We stop along the way to pick up some honey. Take note of all the beehives next to the shack.
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Phone that dude up and invite him to the reef.