We traveled outside the city of Bishkek to the countryside of Kyrgyzstan to see the 11th century Burana Tower, the only remaining artifact from the Silk Road city of Balasagun.

We were able to have lunch with a local family, where we we treated to a partial recital of the Epic of Manas, a 550000 plus line poem which takes several days to recite. There are less than 100 people in Kyrgyzstan who can actually recite it from end to end, we were fortunate enough hear one of them.

The family were also well skilled at yurt building and felt making, and we were able to see demonstrations of both.