After a lucky coincidence and a few plane ticket changes (first time in our life we bought exchangeable plane tickets), we were lucky enough to be in Kyrgyzstan during the World Nomad Games. An event that happens every two years — something like the Olympics for nomadic peoples.
But everything from the beginning. After Sary-Chelek we spent a few nights in Bishkek, then took a ride to reach Cholpon-Ata to attend the World Nomad Games. We were really lucky to find an amazing guesthouse owned by a super nice woman. With this big event, we were not surprised at all to see those taxi drivers stealing money at every opportunity (200 Som instead of 20 within the city). Don't expect any hello or a smile when you cross one of them, like those hundreds of policemen whose greatest passion is to take bribes from tourists or locals.
The People of Cholpon-Ata
But to be honest, people are much nicer in this side of the country (like in Bishkek). After a week in this city, we started to have some relationships with the local business people. We missed so much the simple pleasure of a discussion with someone! Maybe also because they are better in English. What is sure — from all our experiences here and those of travellers we met — once you speak Russian, everything is smoother. Price goes down, people smile and so on. Well, what we learnt from other countries we visited: it's not a good reason to behave badly with people just because you're not speaking the same language. Anyway, we had a good time here!
The Opening Ceremony
The World Nomad Games is a big thing here. We saw 6 presidents attend the opening, and the most amazing thing was the different and numerous countries attending the games (despite political conflicts and reasons). Here are the countries we saw: Dominican Republic, Argentina, Chile, Ghana, India, France, Germany, Estonia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Indonesia, Hungary, Israel, Bulgaria, Italy, Brazil, Japan, Jordan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Kuwait, Latvia, Madagascar, Mongolia, Niger, Pakistan, Nepal, Panama, Philippines, South Korea, Poland, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Syria, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Serbia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Republic of the Congo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, UK, Tanzania, United States, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Incredible, no?
If you saw our live video for the opening, it was really something fun! So much staging about nomadic life and traditions with light effects — a full hour of spectacle. Then the parade of each country. We even saw three Lithuanians in the long queue.
The Games
The following days were spent walking around the hippodrome and in the yurt village (50km from Cholpon-Ata) to see the different games. We saw really interesting sports — different types of wrestling, archery, hunting with eagles or dogs, and the famous Kok Boru (a traditional horse game with a corpse of a goat). Some of what we saw was really impressive! Another thing which was really interesting was the local tradition — clothes, yurts, dances and songs.
The Yurt Village
At the yurt village, we explored the different traditions from each country's nomadic heritage. The clothes, the decorations, the music — all fascinating.
Our Verdict
From what we heard, the next World Nomad Games will be in Turkey in two years. I hope that the organization will be better than in Kyrgyzstan. All the talk during the opening was in Kyrgyz or Russian… In 2018 they are not able to use simple technology to bring subtitles. All the flyers that should help understand the schedule were also in Russian or Kyrgyz. It was a real mess to understand what games, where and when to attend. We know we're complaining a lot… But really, it was not easy, despite all the good things we saw. They could put a little more effort, especially when there are more and more foreigners attending the event.
Now, we have 2 days left in Kyrgyzstan. We are enjoying the huge Issyk-Kul lake and just chilling out. Enjoy our pictures!
September 2–6, 2018