‘Golden Man’ Museum & Kazakh Village

This morning was dedicated to getting a closer look at Kazakh culture. We drove for one hour to reach the Golden Man museum where we saw some of the artifacts excavated in 1969 from a burial mound near the town of Issyk. The person buried in the tomb is believed to have been a young Scythian (4th century BC) prince dressed in a warrior’s costume fashioned from 400 pieces of gold. The tiny museum was well organized and also showcased artifacts from between the 7th and 2nd century BC. From here we travelled another hour to reach the Kazakh Ethno Aul Village where we were greeted with an offering of tea and Kazakh bread which resembled donut holes without the icing sugar. We were also offered a taste of Mare’s milk which is very medicinal but is very sour tasting. When is Kazakhstan one must try that and horse meat, which I neglected to share previously, that we were offered at the Navat Restsurant, the other night in Almaty. I did try both but didn’t line up for seconds of either. After enjoying the welcome drinks we were invited into a traditional yurt where we received a ton of information on their nomadic roots and traditions. We learned a great deal and then went back out into the village to learn about some of the tools used in the kitchen and we were able to try our hand at archery.Read more