A Hiker's Teapot
Nope, that's not mine, mine looks way different. And yes, I have a soft spot for making tea and coffee anytime, anywhere, so I do have everything I need to be fully autonomous when it comes to making drinks or food.
Anyway, this beauty I encountered on my way up an valley in Kyrgyzstan to a place called Altyn-Arashan.
We - I and two French guys I've met in Karakol below - were making our way up to these famous hot springs, which eventually ended up a strenuous 10 hours hike further, on the next day. After a night of drinking vodka in a homestay among mountains that was really hard to pull off. I barely made it at all, on the hardest final part I almost faded a dozen times. But the mountain lake Ala Kul in the end was worth it.
I don't drink much, but my French companions and some Swiss girls wanted to try drinking vodka the Russian way. So I taught them, getting wasted myself but I wasn't as wasted as the rest. On the way down I experienced a moment of pure happiness, caused by the victory over my own weakness. Those moment are so, so hard to come by these days...
| Location | Kyrgyzstan, Altyn-Arashan |
| Settings | ISO 100 f/3.5 1/250 |
| Camera | Sony Alpha 5000 |
| Lens | Sony 3.5-5.6/16-50 |
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I'm not a hiker; but, I have no doubt that one of the first utensils that the hiker takes is a teapot or a coffee maker; so I think the historical value of that teapot that you found is immense: who can tell how many people have talked and shared around it and in how many trips has it participated?
The teapot is an artifact whose origin dates back to China and dates from the fourteenth century. At the beginning they were made of bronze and other metals and derived from some bowls, which were used for other beverages. But then, they evolved until, currently, they reach an immense variety, with very sophisticated types and classes for all tastes... Although it is likely that older teapots exist, the first dates back to 1513 and is attributed to Gongchun. It is currently in the Flagstaff House Museum of Teaware.
Legend has it that the Gong Chun teapot, today at the National Museum of China, was made by a monk's servant at the Jinsha temple in Yixing. Its flattened spherical shape with its irregular surface imitates a tree canker. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu_Jingzhou)
I don't know if you did a post about Ala Kul lake; but, for what little I could see on the web, it's a simply spectacular landscape:
The lake of glacier origin Ala Kul, is a pearl hidden up in the mountains Tien Shan .
"It is located at an altitude of 3532 meters, it is small: with an area of less than 1.5 km. But the depth can reach more than 70 m. When you look at it, it is as if the Ala Kul lake was in a colorful bowl of rocky ridges with white layers."
Greetings...
Those were among my first posts on steemit, when I had no following whatsoever. I might revive some more photos in time.
I think it's a good idea.
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Hello nameless-berk. That teapot that you found will serve as a trophy and a beautiful memory of your journey through those mountains and valleys of Kyrgyzstan. Greetings.