The Psychopath and His Gun

The Psychopath and His Gun

Back at camp a young worker was on a rampage of just pure psychopathic nature. Remember the sheep that was tied up when we left? Well this particular boy had a love for his bee bee gun and even more passion for shooting the animals. Wasn't it bad enough already that this poor sheep had to be tied up for 24 hours before making it onto the dinner table? Now he had a psychopath shooting and kicking it.

Tired from a long day hiking most of us retired to our dorm cells to take a bit of an afternoon nap. I hear a noise and the door opens. There stands the boy in our dorm doorway just staring at us for a few awkward moments then turns and leaves. Odd? Turns out he proceeded on to a couple other things and did the same type of thing. This boy is seriously giving me the creeps.

After a short nap came the best part of going to Altyn Arashan, the hot springs. Unlike your typical hot springs these are locked up in a cement shed for privacy. They have built small rectangular cement holding tanks with a water flow system going through. This keeps only the crystal clear and hot water from getting into your bath. With the added insulation of the shed walls, even the coldest of days is warm within the shed. Finally, there is a dip on one end where you get out of the pool. This allows one to sit on the edge and shampoo there hair and then use a pot to wash suds away into the ditch and keeping the water clean. I have heard this is similar to the style of a Japanese bath, just a way more rustic version.

Many Kyrgzs believe that these hot springs with the sulphur in them cure a whole wide range of health concerns. A short walk back up to camp feeling fresh and clean we discovered that there is a horse in the hallway of the dorm room. Lee got quite a nice shock see that when he woke up.

Would it even surprise you if I told you the boy shot the horse? No didn't think so.

Dinner that night was a tomato sauce and a cheese sauce served on top of the pasta. It was my turn to cook and let's just say it was a bit stressful for a few reasons. A lot of our cooking equipment was sadly left behind. I swear I tried to grab it and Steve said to leave it, but that part of the story still has not been confirmed. Either way we were working with half the utensils and a propane tank fire that would erratically light all of the pipes on fire and go up in a big flame! Luckily we had Julian watching over the cook group to jump in and put out the flames.

It was a comically scene as half of us ate spaghetti with spoons. Dinner with followed by a special treat of gluwein to warm the tummies in the cold weather. Most of the group stayed up and we're lucky enough to encounter `The Koreans.` 

I forgot to mention that the start of my day was a bit thrown of when I found out the Koreans had taken by 5 liter water and used it to wash their dishes. Come on guys that's the only water I brought up here with me. It was brightened even more when one came perilously close to spitting his tooth paste in our dish washing water despite screams from everyone around him saying no. 

Anyways, that night the Koreans got wild. A few of them came over to our group yelling about PROTEIN and SILK WORMS as they gobbled them down. Next bottle and bottle of vodka was poured heavily into their cups and quickly into their bellies. Each one proceeding with a chant and followed with their empty cups upside down on their heads. It made for a good laugh. I went to bed wondering how any of them were going to survive their strenuous 3 day hike ahead of them dangerously early the next morning. 

Another good nights sleep. As we woke up we noticed that the room through the windows that was previously empty now was home to a few men. Creepy, they could look directly in on us inches away from my head as I slept. Another point for the Russian Prison Camp.

All jokes aside, as eerie as the establishment was in Altyn Arashan, it was easily one of the coolest experiences I have every had. Before leaving that more, I jumped in for one more hot spring bath before we all piled back into the death machine for an even longer rocky ride back down.