Once the sun had gone down we headed into the yurt where the log burner was filled with dry cow pat and it made the room so toasty. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing inside and trying to translate questions to our hosts about life up on these lush green Jailoo’s (summer pastures). Apparently everyone will be moving back down the valley in the next couple of weeks as the animals won’t survive the cold winter.

We still weren’t quite sure where we’d be sleeping but eventually Isa suggested in broken English that we would sleep in the family yurt with him (and the dining table placed between us) and the 3 elders would sleep in the kitchen tent which I felt quite bad about but I guess it’s normal for them to move around and make space for people. It wasn’t quite what we were expecting though as the price was £45 for two people including breakfast which is crazy expensive so sharing a yurt with the family was a surprise but hey, I guess we wanted a traditional experience and boy did we get it!

Every yurt has a big pile of blankets and futon beds folded up and placed out the way at the back of the yurt, when evening approaches they move the table to the side, place a netted bowl over the jams, cream and biscuits and then they lay the futons down and make a bed for you. So Aunty Gulmera and Isa made a double bed for us on one side and then a single bed for Isa beside the table.

Before going to bed we popped outside to brush our teeth, go for a pee and gaze up at the shooting stars and Milky Way. When we returned to the yurt they’d added more cow pat to the fire and it was unbearably hot, it felt like a sauna so we removed the top fleece, laid down and eventually went to bed once they turned the bright lightbulb off. As we closed our eyes we could hear the elders in the kitchen tent next door singing songs to each other which was very cute. I love how simple life is up here with no phone signal.

I barely slept a wink all night and at 6am I began stirring with a gurgling belly. I was hoping the feeling would fade so I stayed in the warm bed when suddenly someone began pulling back the sheet from the circular hole in the roof to let the daylight pour in – who needs a lie-in anyway? Then Aunty Gulmera popped into the yurt and started clanking the log burner stove while she lit it. Seeing as there was no chance of me getting any sleep I decided to get up and go to the toilet but as soon as I sat up whatever was disturbing my belly became a lot more intense and I was almost having to run through the field to the dreaded pit-loo. It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise as a pit-loo is actually a great facility to have diarrhoea in as it just goes straight down the hole and there’s no fear of splash back like with a porcelain squatter toilet. It’s a good job I didn’t mind the toilet too much as I had to revisit it just 30 minutes later. I’m not sure if it was the minuscule sip I had of Kumis or the milk I had in my tea.

We helped pack our beds away and headed out for a little stroll to see the morning light hitting the rolling hills. Breakfast was ready when we came back so we sat down and the Samovar was brought inside with freshly boiled water for tea. Aunty actually lifted the top and added some branches or plants into it before popping a teapot on top. The plant began smoking which filled the air with the most delightful fragrance. It was such a lovely idea, a natural way to freshen up the yurt after people have slept in it.

We were then served breakfast which was the same bread, jam and cream as yesterday – including the bowl of jam that Isa had spilt and casually scooped back into the bowl using some stale bread. We were also served a big bowl of semolina porridge, made with fresh milk of course and we topped it with berry jam and sugar. We were given watermelon too and filled ourselves up and then Craig also realised his belly wasn’t quite right so be zipped off to the toilet. We assumed breakfast was over but apparently they’d forgotten to cook the eggs so Aunty got onto her little stepping-stall so she could reach the stove and then proceed to crack 6 eggs directly into a curved pan. Due to the shape of the pan half of them didn’t get near the heat so she literally served up a plate of raw eggs which is the worst case scenario for me as I can’t even stand a runny yolk. So we had to do charades and ask if she could cook them a lot more. They were added back to the pan and to our horror we watched as she added 4 more eggs before serving them up to us. To be fair they were cooked a lot better now but now we had 5 eggs each which was overwhelming, especially when we both had dodgy belly’s.

We ate what we could and then asked if Isa wanted some so he gobbled up the rest. When I got back from washing my hands I heard the Aunty calling “Lauraaaaa” and I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was Lauren. She had put some freshly made cream in a plastic bottle for us to take home which was very sweet. Then she wanted some group photos with us and we also took lots of pictures with the family. We bid them all farewell and hopped into Isa’s car for him to drive us back to town.

On the way he wanted to learn some English words and he proceeded to drive at full speed down a gravel road while trying to write. Once we hit the main road he was absolutely flooring it when suddenly the car felt weird and we pulled over to find a completely flat tyre which was in such bad condition you couldn’t even count how many rips there were in it. It’s pretty common to get flat tyres in Kyrgyzstan as they drive them until there’s no thread left so Isa changed it at record speed. Just a few minutes after we started driving again there was a loud bang and we looked around trying to see what it was – a rock had just hit the windscreen and created a 1 inch bullet hole. Isa was not happy at all and I don’t know if he was expecting us to pay towards the damage but at the end of the day we paid him to drive us instead of renting a car ourselves and he drove like a maniac. Kyrgyz people just don’t seem to care for their cars. Anyway, we arrived in town where an animal market was just finishing up, there was a group of geese walking down the road in front of us who attacked a lady and then we saw a Lada drive past with the passenger seat of the car reclined so a literally baby calf could stand there!!

When we went to pay for the yurt with breakfast (5000 som for 2 people) and return transport (4000 som) Isa had a price written on a piece of paper which was insane with add-ons that we didn’t even have. He scribbled off most of them but then kept a charge of 1000 som (£10) to drive us to the start of the lake hike which we refused to pay because his family had lied to our host about where the location of the yurt camp. We told him that wasn’t what we agreed so he called our host and eventually passed the phone to us so we could speak to her. She was so kind and explained that we were right and it was a misunderstanding because the father hadn’t transferred the agreement to the son. It was a relief but a shame as it left a bad taste in our mouth. We still had a very enjoyable experience though, not only was the lake and the general landscape mesmerising but the yurt camp was very traditional which is exactly what we hoped for, even if we were sharing the yurt with the family and got diarrhoea.