A married couple from Scotland, Silke Maes and Kieran Shannon, chose an unusual way to celebrate their wedding. The newlyweds-travelers decided to spend their honeymoon at the World Nomad Games, which are taking place in Astana, reports a correspondent of the Kazinform agency. 

The couple arrived in Kazakhstan 10 days ago, this is their first trip to Central Asia. 

- We flew to Astana from Scotland. When we booked tickets to Kazakhstan, we learned about the Nomad Games and thought that we really need to go. It sounded amazing. We had never heard of the Nomad Games before we bought tickets to Kazakhstan, - said Silke Maes. 
The married couple has already visited Burabay. 

- To be honest, I didn’t know anything about Kazakhstan before the trip. I imagined that there would be a lot of steppes here, and not cities like Astana. We were amazed by the people, the architecture, the nature and everything that Kazakhstan has to offer, - the girl noted.
The press pass allows the couple to attend all the events of the Nomad Games, and they are trying not to miss any of them.

- We want to capture and see everything, because this is the first time for us. We have never seen anything like this before. I really like it here. The people are very kind and there is a lot to see. I am very grateful to be here, - Silke added.
Her husband, Kieran Shannon, also shared his impressions of the Games.

- The Nomad Games completely blew me away. I had no idea what to expect. It is wonderful to come and experience traditional games that have evolved over thousands of years.We don’t have anything like this in Europe, so to experience it here in Kazakhstan is really incredible,” said Kieran Shannon.
He said the most interesting thing was watching the kokpar. But the archery and zhamby atu competitions also amazed them. The couple is now interested in learning more about Kazakh traditions.

“It’s amazing to learn about the deep roots of traditions and also to see what people do to this day. I think it’s really beautiful that you stick to your traditions. In Europe, we’ve lost a lot of our traditions. We don’t celebrate our culture the way we do here in Kazakhstan. It seems like it’s not just because of the Games, but people really live like that, sticking to all the traditions, and it’s really beautiful,” he concluded.
The couple are vegetarians, so they weren’t able to try many of the traditional dishes. However, they were delighted with the kurt and zhent.
Silke and Kieran have been traveling for three years now and plan to continue their adventures for another seven years. They plan to spend the next few months in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and possibly Turkmenistan. Later, the couple will travel to China.

Author

Danira Isakova