On the way out of the canyon we stopped and collected firewood for use later on. Our guide said that we were not allowed to collect any branches with leaves on or pull and wood off trees. The only wood that could be collected was that lying on the ground. Apparently local wardens go round checking if anyone has broken the rules and they are heavily fined. Obviously they do not look too far as shown in the photos of the last blog and from the amount of wood I saw that had been freshly cut down.
Again there were many empty and dilapidated Soviet buildings to be seen on the way to Kochkor and in-particular miles of old watercourses and earth dams in disuse. The photos below will show areas of lush green grass then just about barren ground. On arrival at Kochkor (altitude 1800 metres) we were allowed to do some shopping before going to the Kochkor Homestay for the night. The meal in the evening was supplied by the homestay and consisted of a salad, soup, bread, rice and beef(?), biscuits, sweets and tea. To go with it all were jams of strawberry, apricot and raspberry, the latter being put into the tea and which was very good. All the jams tasted as if they were home-made as they were tasty and fresh.
The following morning we went to a demonstration of felting at a Woman's’ Co-operative. In about an hour a small bit of felt was made by the others in a traditional way. If overseas people are prepared to come to the town for a week or so the local women will show them how to make felt their way.
Simply put, the felt is made from sheep's wool which has been washed, dyed and dried. Dying used to be with natural dyes such as pear and raspberry leaves, dahlia and birch roots, which are now making a resurgence but synthetic dyes are still being used. First the fleece (usually more than one) is pounded with a wire whip to soften the fibres. The rug is made by thinning (teasing) the wool into small pieces and laying longitudinally and then similarly vertically (more than two layers may be used). Small, always small, pieces of teased coloured wool is laid onto the rug to make a design then hot water is poured onto the wool. The whole is then rolled into a reed mat, tied tight, more water added then the whole compressed. The lady demonstrating this said that the method of compressing the wool was for the women, and men to dance on the mat, continually moving the mat around so it was flattened evenly, always adding water and that this process could take weeks for a large mat with the flattening being done for only a few hours each day.
After the felting demonstration it was a slow ride to Lake Song Kul (Son-Kul) at an altitude of 3016 metres through the Kalmak-Ashuu Pass.The lake is surrounded by mountains on both sides with snow showing on them and the area is a Zoological Reserve protecting wolves and waterfowl including Indian mountain geese. The weather is said to be unpredictable here and which is what we found with a windy storm on the second afternoon pelting us with hailstones and when the storm had finished there was more snow to be seen on the mountains round the lake.
The storm happened when we were watching a local game of goat polo. Some of the local people used a goat’s body to play polo for us, a very vigorous sport. Perhaps some of you might want to skip the next part and some of the photos as I will describe what the goat polo entailed.
A goat was brought to the playing fields and we all covered our eyes for a prayer to be said, as covering the eyes for prayer is the custom here. The goat was then killed, it’s head and legs removed. The remains were then used to play goat polo. There were two teams of three people and they had to put the carcase of the goat on a marked place to ‘score’ a point. The goat was carried by a man on a horse, the other side had to force the rider to drop the goat or pull it off him. At times the game was fast with the riders chasing each other round the meadow (there were no boundaries and no rules so it seemed) and a little violence was used just for show. The real games can result in serious injuries and even death.
Some of the others went horse riding in the morning for about two hours and some were rather stiff at the end of the ride.
Again there were many empty and dilapidated Soviet buildings to be seen on the way to Kochkor and in-particular miles of old watercourses and earth dams in disuse. The photos below will show areas of lush green grass then just about barren ground. On arrival at Kochkor (altitude 1800 metres) we were allowed to do some shopping before going to the Kochkor Homestay for the night. The meal in the evening was supplied by the homestay and consisted of a salad, soup, bread, rice and beef(?), biscuits, sweets and tea. To go with it all were jams of strawberry, apricot and raspberry, the latter being put into the tea and which was very good. All the jams tasted as if they were home-made as they were tasty and fresh.
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| Views on the way to Kochkor |
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| Don't tell BMW |
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| Fermented mares milk in the barrels |
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| A container house |
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| My bedroom |
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| was in the library |
Simply put, the felt is made from sheep's wool which has been washed, dyed and dried. Dying used to be with natural dyes such as pear and raspberry leaves, dahlia and birch roots, which are now making a resurgence but synthetic dyes are still being used. First the fleece (usually more than one) is pounded with a wire whip to soften the fibres. The rug is made by thinning (teasing) the wool into small pieces and laying longitudinally and then similarly vertically (more than two layers may be used). Small, always small, pieces of teased coloured wool is laid onto the rug to make a design then hot water is poured onto the wool. The whole is then rolled into a reed mat, tied tight, more water added then the whole compressed. The lady demonstrating this said that the method of compressing the wool was for the women, and men to dance on the mat, continually moving the mat around so it was flattened evenly, always adding water and that this process could take weeks for a large mat with the flattening being done for only a few hours each day.
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| Making felt- hitting the wool with wire rods |
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| Laying down the wool |
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| The pattern |
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| Rolling the wool in the reed mat |
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| Dancing to felt the wool |
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| The finished felt |
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| Items for sale |
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| Items for sale |
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| Items for sale |
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| Items for sale |
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| Views on the way to Lake Song Kul |
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| A heard of yaks |
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| A yak |
The storm happened when we were watching a local game of goat polo. Some of the local people used a goat’s body to play polo for us, a very vigorous sport. Perhaps some of you might want to skip the next part and some of the photos as I will describe what the goat polo entailed.
A goat was brought to the playing fields and we all covered our eyes for a prayer to be said, as covering the eyes for prayer is the custom here. The goat was then killed, it’s head and legs removed. The remains were then used to play goat polo. There were two teams of three people and they had to put the carcase of the goat on a marked place to ‘score’ a point. The goat was carried by a man on a horse, the other side had to force the rider to drop the goat or pull it off him. At times the game was fast with the riders chasing each other round the meadow (there were no boundaries and no rules so it seemed) and a little violence was used just for show. The real games can result in serious injuries and even death.
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| Getting ready |
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| Dave showing how it should be done |
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| Jackie gave me permission to put this photo in the blog as it is Dave being helped on the horse |
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| Off they go |
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| The storm arriving |
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| The first time the cooking tent was put up |
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| A local man gong to the lake for water |
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