Бишкек: горнолыжка в горах Тянь-Шаня, лошади и много еды!

So, we're in Kyrgyzstan! Lots of useful information for travelers below. How to book a mountain hotel that's not listed on any aggregator: https://t.me/anna_seliu/2734 Flights: Aeroflot 23,926₽ per person one-way as of January 1st. Flight time: 4 hours 25 minutes. Documents: A foreign passport is not required; you can enter with a Russian passport for up to 30 days. Communications: We bought a 10GB eSIM from Yesim (https://yesim.onelink.me/F4hw/q12lqv29) for $22.80. Money: The local currency is called the som. The Kyrgyz som to ruble exchange rate is almost 1:1. Very convenient for counting! Taxi: Our Yandex Taxi service operates here, but MIR cards are not available for payment. A Comfort taxi from the airport to the city center costs around 800 soms, and the journey takes 40 minutes. Hotel: I booked the City Stay Bishkek (https://maps.app.goo.gl/NGFBe6Z5kqJFn...) on Booking.com for 5322 rubles per night (breakfast included), with the option to pay on site. The first surprise: cars in the country run on gas, not gasoline, because 1 liter of gasoline here costs almost $1 (87 soms), while gas costs 30.8 soms. Chunkurchak Ski Resort It's small, but very conveniently accessible: it's located just 30 km from Bishkek. Total length of slopes: 10 km Number of lifts: 5 chairlifts (no T-bars!) Elevation difference: 370 m Ski passes are only sold for short periods: 1 hour, 2 hours, half a day, and 1 full day. Adult 1-day ski pass: 1,500 som (~1,400₽) on weekdays and 1,800 som (~1,650₽) on weekends and holidays. The ski pass itself costs 300 som (~275₽). I would recommend this resort especially for beginners: there are wide green and blue runs for practicing. Since the slopes are gentle, we rented skis to practice our technique. The daily rental price for a set of ski equipment (skis + poles + boots or a snowboard + boots) depends on the age of the equipment: 🎿 Skis manufactured before 2012 - 600 som (~550₽) 🎿🏂🏻 Skis and snowboards manufactured in 2013-2014 - 1000 som (~920₽) 🎿🏂🏻 Skis and snowboards manufactured in 2015-2016 - 1200 som (~1100₽) The resort's website with all the information: https://www.chunkurchak.kg/ Horseback Riding Through the Snowy Tien Shan Mountains Having skied to our heart's content, we decided to swap out the sliding equipment for the clicking ones. We asked the hotel administration for contact information, and they gave us the phone number of Altynbek, who organizes horseback riding and also rents out ungulates:   / altyxa_horse   +9960709792812 A two-hour guided tour through the Tien Shan Mountains for two cost us 5,500 som (~4,700₽): 2,000 som - horse rental for 2 hours 1,500 som - guide fees The route isn't extreme, but it's very scenic. Sometimes it seemed as if the horse was deliberately stopping for me to take another look around and shoot some footage for a new YouTube post. Needless to say, horseback riding should be a must-see when visiting Kyrgyzstan? It's a true delight for the eyes and soul: white slopes, sprawling, dense fir trees, pristine air, and birdsong. Horseback riding is a great stress reliever and a great leg workout as a bonus. Supara Ethno Complex near Bishkek To immerse ourselves in the local culture, the Kyrgyz recommended we visit the Supara Ethno Complex (https://supara.kg/ru/), which features a large grounds with yurts, gazebos, playgrounds, a museum, a bar, and a restaurant serving authentic cuisine. Arriving at the restaurant, we immediately pounced on the meat dishes: 🍲 Shorpo (broth) with lamb, potatoes, and carrots 🐎 Horse meat beshbarmak 🦬 Smoked yak meat 🥯 Soft, hot boorsok dough balls 🫖 Kuurma tea (black tea with flour fried in lamb fat) 🍷 Chilean wine, to make room for all of the above Wherever we ate shorpo, it was delicious, and Supara was no exception. But our favorite was the horse meat beshbarmak. It consists of thick, sliced ​​noodles with boiled fillet. It tastes like navy-style macaroni, only with horse meat instead of beef. The smoked yak meat turned out to be an acquired taste—too tough and salty, as it was made with horse meat. It's meant for long journeys through the mountains or steppes, so it doesn't spoil. I liked the boorsok—a little pillow-shaped version of our donuts. They served it with heavy cream, into which we dipped the boorsok and enjoyed ourselves. The thick and rich kuurma tea was similar in consistency and taste to cream of mushroom soup. It was served with homemade halva made from cream, oatmeal, and honey. But this halva also went perfectly with a dry red wine. The bill came to 4,450 som (~4,100₽), half of which was wine. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:26 City Stay Bishkek Hotel 01:04 Walking Tour of Bishkek 05:45 Heading to the Mountains 06:21 Chie-Too Grand Hotel 07:17 Kyrgyz Invited to the Table 13:02 Dinner, Local Wine, and Dancing Under the Moon 15:41 Getting Ready for Skiing 16:15 Chunkurchak Ski Resort 22:56 Horseback Riding in the Tien Shan 27:02 Supara Ethno-Complex 31:26 Heading ...