Travel vlog by Kara and Nate Buchanan from the World Nomad Games in Kyrgyzstan (video titled "RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS | World Nomad Games", uploaded/created November 12, 2018). The hosts roam the cultural village witnessing local food (samsa), a competitive yurt-assembly race (new record observed), eagle hunting demonstrations (including a U.S. participant), archery, dog events, and warm interactions with locals (a woman bought their samsas). The footage is observational and largely unscripted, emphasizing cultural immersion and serendipitous encounters.
Questions this video answers
November 12, 2018
3,000 athletes
500 international media people
8 minutes and 40 seconds
10 minutes and 16 seconds
Chapters
I've been wanting to hold one of these babies ever since he got security dance. Look at these teachers.
It is day three of the World Nomad Games, which is basically the Olympics of nomadic sports. And we're in the middle of Kyrgyzstan in the mountains, and it is a beautiful sunny day.
We are here covering the Games as press, and up until this point, we've had, like, a press schedule that we've had to stick to. This is the first day that we've kind of gotten to choose where we want to go, and we got to choose between going to the stadium where a lot of the events are happening, are coming back out here to the cultural village. And we've chosen here because we've heard it's the only day where they're doing the eagle hunting. So that's what we're here hoping to see.
We've just been wandering around the earth to give you some context. There are 3,000 athletes competing in the Games. There are 500 international media people and then countless people just from all over the country here, and it's kind of chaos. We found that it's been really hard to get information on when and where things are happening. But the good news is you don't really have to be anywhere at any certain time. There's always something interesting happening, but we really have no idea when to go find an event.
The atmosphere here is just so incredible because there's just different tribes from all over the country just, like, showing off their traditions in song and dance. It's like getting to experience all of Kyrgyzstan just in one place.
Thank you.
Just came across these big mud ovens, and there's something cooking inside, like, stuck on the side. They're called samsa.
I think we're going to try some. The locals here are so sweet. They all just want to talk to.
You and show you.
So fun. These things must be good because they're still in the oven and there's a huge group of people waiting. Oh, they're looking good.
We're getting close.
I wonder how I get them out.
Oh, looks like it might be time. It's time.
No, no.
I think she's trying to pay per hour.
Give her your Y.
Oh, my gosh.
So I made friends with this lady named Bushkaya when we were waiting on the samsa to be cooked, and she was holding my hand and being so sweet. And then she bought my Samsas. It wouldn't take no for an answer. I tried to give her money. Just the sweetest people here. I cannot believe she did that. Oh, my gosh, look at this. I think it has beef and onions inside and it's all brown and crispy on the edges. I'm scared it's gonna burn my mouth, though. We got the first ones out of the oven. All those people were waiting.
And she got us to the front of the line. So sweet.
Mmm. That is so good. The crazy thing is those ovens are out of dirt. Like, we just walked by this big dirt mound that had smoke coming out of it, which is why we stopped and they just stick it to the edge of the dirt. This is what I was talking about. You just walk around, something interesting is going to happen. And even though nobody speaks English, it doesn't matter. Like, I feel like that lady's my grandma.
So this will give you an idea of what the yurts look like before they actually put the covering on top of them. We were talking to some locals yesterday and they said if you're just like an average yurt maker, maybe it takes you two hours to put your yard up. These guys are obviously racing. They said the record for putting one up is like 10 minutes and 16 seconds. If you're really good, like just like, if you're really good, you do it in under 30 minutes. We've watched this thing go from like sticks to covered in the last like two minutes.
The whole thing went up in 8 minutes and 40 seconds. I must have had my times. Way off. Boy. That was a new world record that we just witnessed. One or the other.
How do you stop it?
How do you get off?
How long have you been on this thing?
Bye. Bye. Thank you.
Johanna. I love him.
Look at this. You're a happy boy.
You're a heavy little guy. Yeah, you are.
So we found a field where all the eagles are hanging out. We still don't know when they're doing their hunting. So in the meantime, we've seen archery, a bunch of really cool looking dogs, and some game where they throw animal bones. All very interesting things.
It's happening. Birds are flying. They're talking another language on the intercom. So I'm not sure what they're doing, but birds are flying.
They just announced that the first participant is from the usa. And we're waiting for the horses to arrive. I see a dead animal tied to a rope.
As you can see, the skin of a fox is attached to horse. The horse saddle. The winner is the fastest eagle to reach the skin of the horse. First participant, United States of America.
Participants from Kazakhstan.
Second guy from Kazakhstan got it in 11.
The eagles were amazing. And now they're doing the same thing, but with dogs. So the horse is dragging.
The fox.
Never know what's going on here.
It has been another incredible day here at the World Nomad Games. Unfortunately, it's gone by way too fast. We're running around like crazy trying to find out where the last bus leaves from. Also, sorry if today's video has been, like, a little random. Normally, we kind of have an idea of what's going to happen that day and kind of, like, try to lead up to it, but we've just seen so many cool things today, and we just, like, happen up on it. It's happening, we film it, and then we move to the next stage.
