The Supara Ethno-Complex

Last night I went for dinner with some co-workers to the Supara Ethno-Complex in the hills south of Bishkek. Supara is a collection of yurts and other old-style buildings where traditional Kyrgyz culture is highlighted. A guide took us to the various buildings and showed us examples of folk handicrafts, clothing, tools, and furniture. We then had dinner in the kind of traditional stone house that Kyrgyz people built in the 19th Century when a small fraction of them abandoned their nomadic lifestyles and began the process of urbanization that continues to this day. Our dinner was delicious and consisted of a range of customary Kyrgyz dishes including various meats grilled over hot coals on slabs of slate.

In the background is the traditional wood and stone house in which we had dinner, yurts in the foreground.

Inside the largest yurt in Central Asia. It is used for large banquets and weddings.

Our guide sitting on the king's throne, dressed in a traditional warrior outfit.

Cooking meats and vegetables on slate slabs

Where we had dinner inside the traditional wood and stone house