20. Farewell to Kyrgyzstan

After lunch we headed back to our home stay and prepared for our departure to Bishkek. Myrza would drive us to Biskek in the morning. We arrived at our hotel just outside the city limits. It was a very pleasant hotel with nice gardens and a swimming pool! We went to an empty German pub to have a beer and walked around Bishkek hopping from children’s park to children’s park. .We went to the town square and viewed some of the local’s art work. Bishkek is a busy city but has a pleasant feeling about it. We were surprised to see that 60% of the city folk looked like us and were of Russian origin. We treated ourselves to pizza and had an early night.

Our journey to the airport started at 4am in the morning with many police stop checks in between. Because of the recent problems in Bishkek, police were searching for weapons. It was a little unnerving, simply because we had to make it to the airport in time. No one was allowed to park at the airport, so we had to carry our luggage a fair distance. Arriving at the airport was both happy and sad. Happy that we got there in time, but sad that our journey was coming to an end. Our journey took us to Moscow for four hours and then to England.

Our training with traditional yurt makers and felt artists over-exceeded our expectations. The project impacted us in many ways: we gained technical skills within yurt building and felted art, and we broadened our cultural understanding of yurts. We feel humbled to have worked with such accomplished artists who have inspired us to incorporate their techniques and culture into our yurt building.

Our trip to Kyrgyzstan is slowly starting to feel less like a dream and more a part of our lives. Writing our story and sharing it with others helps us to reflect and consider what we learned in the context of our Canadian lives and within our yurt business. Thank you for reading our story!