Kyrgyzstan Archives - Horse Riding Malaysia

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 4

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 4, we stayed in Ular Guesthouse and rode in Chong-Kemin.

Chong Kemin is famous for the pine trees and river. We rode along and watched the view, but we did not go in between the trees.

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 4 - Ular Guesthouse

Mounting on our horses after breakfast.

The trail guide was thoughtful enough to give us an introductory briefing on how to handle the horses.

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 4 - Daniel Kent mounting

The beautiful painted is Apache. A nice walking trail horse, but a little reluctant to canter.

Sherene and Foong Yee mounted on their horses.

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 4 - Sherene & Foong Yee

Beautiful view on our way climbing up the the hill overseeing the village.

It was around 10:00 AM in the morning, but the sun felt like we were riding at 12pm.

The sun is something I couldn’t get used to even after 4 days of riding.

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 4 - Daniel & Sun

The weather is a little extreme today.

I’m not used to such strong sunlight. Sufficient protection is definitely necessary.

The pine trees view from far.

Our guide brought us to the top of the hill and make a turn. We went up using the smaller hilly trail, while coming back we used the wider road.

Way to Return

While coming out from the hills.

The view on our way back to the village.

A video to recap our ride with a lot of beautiful views captured.

@danielfoo_
♬ Try Something New – Alex Arias & Alexander Julius Wright

Took us approximately 2.5 hour to cover slightly over 10km, which is enough of riding for the day.

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 4 - trail record

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 4 is a bit of a short ride but it’s fine.

The weather is a little too extreme to ride for long.

That wraps up our riding tour.

We spent a few more days in Bishkek and Almaty before coming back to Kuala Lumpur. Those are more touristic traveling in the towns so I will leave those stories for another day.

If you want a similar horse riding experience, you may contact Aigul (+996 553 280 881 or email applehostelkg@gmail.com) to refer to my itinerary or feel free to customize the riding tour base on your preferences.

Back Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Getting There

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 3

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 3 begins here.

@danielfoo_
♬ ALMOST HOME – Mad Adix, Marc Steinmeier

We went on wrong route because there were miscommunication in our itinerary.

It was a blessing in disguise as we get to see an even more magnificent side of Song Kul Lake during the detour.

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 3 - Song Kul Lake

Riding along Song Kul Lake.

@danielfoo_
♬ Late Spring – Official Sound Studio

There are several yurt camp sites along Song Kul Lake.

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 3 - yurt camp

We stayed in one of the more special one (glamping) yesterday as we already tried the traditional yurt camp on the first night. Both offered amazing experiences.

Since we went on the wrong trail, we had to trot and canter a little more to catch up with the distance.

@danielfoo_
♬ 热门歌曲 – Studio Pro Sound

Another cantering path along the lovely Song Kul Lake.

@danielfoo_
♬ 가장 예쁜 별을 너에게 – 마리탱

We crossed multiple mountains. The altitude was around 3400 meters.

The breathing was heavy due to the thinner oxygen.

@danielfoo_
♬ Pieces (Solo Piano Version) – Danilo Stankovic

You can probably tell from the video, I was almost out of breath while recording towards the end.

The temperature dropped so much that our trail guides put on a thick jacket too.

Well… it was a little clumsy for us to navigate in the narrow path for taking photos.

Behind the scene before the beautiful photos.

A few moments later…

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 3 - Sherene Yuen

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 3 - Daniel Foo

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 3 - Foong Yee

Coming Down

Coming down from the mountains through steep and narrow paths as you can see from the video.

@danielfoo_
♬ TIDE TO YOUR SOUL – C. Paul Chantrill

We have a quick 20 min break once we arrived at flat ground.

During our break, this is how the horses are tied to restrict the movement.

There are several other rope techniques the locals use to to tie the horses.

For example both the front legs or three legs. The horses could still move comfortably but within a restricted area.

Before arriving at our trail guides’ home for lunch, we did another stretch of cantering as the horses got excited nearing home.

@danielfoo_
♬ Stacked – TruFeelz

So many horses are just roaming freely although they are mostly privately owned.

We covered 20km in a little over 3 hours.

That’s how we ended the Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 3.

Next Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 4

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 2

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 2 begins with quick intro here.

@danielfoo_
♬ original sound – Daniel Foo – Daniel Foo

It was a bright day but we expected rain due to the thick clouds in the sky towards the direction we were heading.

The happy faces on the trail.

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 2 - Foong Yee

Chatting with Sherene how fun my ride went with Blackie yesterday.

Sherene was kind enough to exchanged her horse with me today.

The sky was cloudy. The rain started shortly after the 1st hour we went into the trail.

@danielfoo_
♬ original sound – Daniel Foo – Daniel Foo

While the rain was not heavy, together with the wind, riding under the cold and windy weather was challenging.

We also did not take out any electronic gadgets for obvious reasons.

After the rain stopped, we captured a rainbow that only appeared for a few minutes.

It was fun that we did a small stretch of cantering upon arriving at the glamping site.

@danielfoo_
♬ April (No Vocals) – The Young Ebenezers

Arriving at Glamping Site

The glamping site is set up with modern facilities and came with Starlink satellite internet.

The accommodation is facing right in front of the Song Kul Lake and snow mountains on the other site of the lake.

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 2 - Glamping

The snow mountains are not always visible due to the heavy clouds. We were lucky to capture the moments.

Another yurt camp as our dining area for dinner. Look at all the tired faces.

The local auntie freshly baked pastry and handmade noodle soup for dinner.

The 2nd day of our riding tour was the mooncake festival.

Sherene brought a mooncake to make sure we don’t miss the mooncake festival celebration. Thanks Sherene!

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 2 - mooncake

The moon was visible but not as big and bright as I’d imagine.

Before we sleep, we gathered and have fire side chat.

It was a cold night, we ended Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 2 by crawling into our beds early while the heather was still warm.

Next Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 3

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 1

This is where our Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 1 begins.

Kyrgyzstan (GMT +6) is 2 hours behind Malaysia time. Thanks to our natural body clock, we woke up early on most days.

Sipping hot tea before breakfast. Enjoying the warm sun rise.

The 1st riding day was on 16th September. We brought our flag to the nomadic land.

Happy 61st Malaysia Day!

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 1 - Malaysia Day

Nutritious breakfast before starting the ride.

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 1 - breakfast

After breakfast, we packed our bags to get ready for our 4-day riding journey.

Ninja selfie in the homestay before heading out.

Watch this short intro video on how the journey begins.

(Oh… Rosie is the pet dog from the homestay)

@danielfoo_
♬ Pumpkins – Chris Alan Lee

Foong Yee was getting to know our horsemen, Mehdu.

Mounting on my horse.

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 1 - Daniel mounting

Buckeh, another horseman helped me with adjusting the stirrups, which has a slightly different way of tacking compare to our English tack.

A quick recap how did we end up in Kyrgyzstan.

@danielfoo_
♬ original sound – Daniel Foo – Daniel Foo

Continue our Journey to the West…

Behind me are Kent, Foong Yee, Sherene and 2 horsemen Mehdu and Buckeh.

@danielfoo_
♬ Feel This (Two AM Music Global) – Adriane Palikat

After more than 4 hours of riding, covered slightly over 17 km, we arrived at our 1st yurt camp.

Arriving at Yurt Camp

Mehdu is untacking the horses to allow the horses to rest.

Tired faces hiding under the shades upon arriving at the camp site.

Not forgetting to take some photos of the amazing view.

The yurt camps are set up right next to a river.

Horses are just simply roaming freely.

A row of yurt camps for accommodation and dining area.

Lunch was served in one of the yurt camps.

Extra blanket and pillows are available to keep the night warm.

The yurt camp is equipped with solar powered light and a heater that burned for a few hours until mid night. Apart from that the setup is pretty minimal.

No charging for the phones, so yes, bring your power bank.

This is how Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Day 1 ended. We called it day early as we were pretty exhausted from riding under the extreme weather.

Next: 2nd Day of Riding in Kyrgyzstan

Previous: Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Getting There

Kyrgyzstan Horse Riding Getting There

Kyrgyzstan has one of the top horse riding trails in the world.

With a rich history for horses, the land has some of the toughest horses and extremely skillful horsemen.

Unfortunately, getting to Kyrgyzstan is a bit of a pain for Malaysians as there is no direct flight.

AirAsia started a new route to Almaty, Kazakhstan (not Kyrgyzstan) in 2024. The flight takes about 8 hours.

@danielfoo_
♬ Back In Your Life (Instrumental) – Track and Field

Once we landed, we head to Almaty Hotel for our first night stay.

We did some groceries shopping and have ice cream by the road side under the chilling weather.

We have to start traveling early the next day at 7:00 AM.

The hotel buffet breakfast will only start serving at 8:00 AM so we requested the hotel to pack breakfast boxes for each of us.

We stopped by coffee store at petrol station for our morning coffee.

It’s such a blessing to get good coffee during road trip.

During the drive from Almaty (Kazakhstan) to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan).

This is our Journey to the West bread because it has been through 7 x 7, 49 disasters.

Photo with our driver, Nuric. We stopped by for toilet break (yup, that one).

The crossing of border from Almaty to Bishkek is 5 hours of travel by private car.

Getting into Kyrgyzstan

The immigration checkpoint took us approximately 1 hour. However, walking outside under the afternoon heat is rather torturing.

After the immigration, it’s another 1 hour of driving to get to Bishkek.

We have lunch with Aigul (center), the owner of Apple Hostel in her cafe.

We engaged Aigul for arranging our riding trip. We really enjoyed her attentiveness and wonderful hospitality.

We selected Aigul to organize our trip because she offers the most value for money all-in package (transport, food, accommodation and horses) after our research and we were impressed.

If you want a similar experience, you may ask her to refer to my itinerary or feel free to customize the riding tour base on your preferences. Aigul’s WhatsApp +996 553 280 881 or email at applehostelkg@gmail.com

After a quick lunch, we hop on to another car to drive to Kyzart.

From Bishkek, it takes another 5 hours to drive to Kyzart, the small village where we get started with our riding tour to Song Kol Lake.