Hungarian horse riders reach Aktobe

    Three Hungarian horsemen who are travelling from Hungary to Kazakhstan have reached Aktobe city, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing Diapazon.kz.
    “We were travelling on horseback and sometimes we went by car. We rented horses and changed them at regional and oblast border crossing points. Animals would not endure such a long journey. Their owners were worried as well. We kicked off from Budapest in the beginning of March. We passed through Hungary, Romania, Carpathians, Ukraine and Russia. It was cold, and there were a lot of snow. The temperature went down to minus ten degrees centigrade,” Benze Istvan, the Eurasia expedition leader said.
    He added Kazakhs and Hungarians have ancient blood ties. “The Hungarians are descendents of the Huns. The Magyars, an old Kazakh clan, lives in Kostanai Oblast to this day. We’d like to teach our relatives about our history.” Istvan added there are many words that sound similar in Kazakh and Hungarian.
    For example, the word friend is kordas in Kazakh and kordash in Hungarian. The words mother and grandfather have almost the same sound: ana (Kazakh) - anya (Hungarian), ata (Kazakh) - atya (Hungarian).
    “Hungarians are nomads as well. We like milk and are hospitable like the Kazakhs. We have met great people here in Kazakhstan. Their souls are beautiful. They treat us decently, they ask us to take pictures of us and look at our clothes. We wear national costumes that are reconstructions of XII century Hungarian clothing," Istvan said.
    Benze Istvan and two other ethnographers Farkash Chemez and Shandor Beresh started their expedition from Hungary to Kazakhstan on March 1. They will visit Atyrau, Sarayshik, the city of Aktobe, the Baiganin Village and other areas.
    The expedition will reach Astana on July 6 and will take part in the City Day celebration, according to www.tengrinews.kz.