Monday, June 8, 2009

At the Old Sanatorium

Beyond the city of Karakol, at the eastern end of Kyrgyzstan's huge, scenic, saline lake of Issyk-Kul, and beyond the small town of Ak-Suu, rests this old Russian sanatorium, at the start of a great alpine valley, and beside the roaring Ak-Suu River. Incredibly, the sanatorium is still in use. I saw a few chamber maids strolling outside the building, though inside all the doors were locked. For some reason, my thoughts turned to Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, and its central character Hans Castorp.


Instead of stairs, this section contains a series of ziz-zagging elevated slopes - perhaps for the benefit of wheelchair-ridden patients.


Beyond the sanatorium is the domain of herders and nomads. Also occational foreign trekkers.


Deep in the valley, these women are using a crank-contraption to separate cream from milk.

2 comments:

SAB said...

Hey, When are you posting something new? Some of us in this world have wives, kids, jobs and don't have the ability to this kind of thing. Do not forget your responsibility as my surrogate traveler.

SAB said...

You may question the use of my adjective.

Don't.

When are you showing up to sleep on my couch? Recently the couch was cleaned with a broom and a mop so it is ready for occupancy.