In the Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan, tradition is king. Polo's still played with a freshly killed goat and the men still marry their women the old-fashioned way: by abducting them off the street and forcing them to be their wife. Bride kidnapping is a supposedly ancient custom that's made a major comeback since the fall of Communism and now accounts for nearly half of all marriages in some parts. We traveled to the Kyrgyz countryside to follow/aid and abet a young groom named Kubanti as he surprised his teenage girlfriend Nazgul with the gift of marriage/kidnapping.
More From This Show
-
Crime and Punishment in the Gaza Strip
In 2007 we tried and failed to get into Gaza through the Israeli-controlled Erez Crossing.
-
North Korean Labor Camps
Kim Jong Il has come up with a new way to bring cold hard cash into his isolated country: export North Korean workers to slave away in the Siberian forest. VICE founder Shane Smith travels to Russia t…
-
Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan
Thomas Morton travels to the Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan to investigate the Central-Asian tradition of bride kidnapping. In episode 1 we meet Kubanti, a young man who is determined to be married b…
-
Teenage Riot: Athens
Upon arriving in Athens we find a city whose streets are disappearing under uncollected waste.
-
Siberia: Krokodil Tears
Russia is the biggest consumer of heroin in the world. Nowhere are the country's drug problems more evident than in the Siberian town of Novokuznetsk, which lies on the Kazakhstan border.
-
Cables from Kabul
VICE touches down in Kabul and is treated to Taliban hospitality on the first night: a suicide bomb at a neighboring hotel interrupts a pleasant night's sleep.
-
The VICE Guide to Belfast
Gerry and Alistair, two ex-paramilitaries from opposite sides of the sectarian divide, guide us through post-peace process Belfast.
-
The Rebels of Libya
VICE founder Shane Smith crosses into rebel-controlled eastern Libya.
-
Trailer: The VICE Guide to Belfast
What better time to explore Belfast and marinate in the divisive hate?
-
The VICE Guide to Congo
The Vice Guide to Congo begins in the capital city of Kinshasa, where VICE founder Suroosh Alvi starts to wrap his head around the chaos and complexity of conflict minerals and the rebels who love the…






Thought and Memory
New Fiction by Ed Park
Malaysian Neo-Nazis
Fighting for a Pure Malay Race
The Strongest Dwarf in New Jersey
Remembering My Tormentor
Gay Men and Their Misogyny Problem
It's Not Cute Anymore
Snooping Around Nicolas Cage's House
So Many Bummers
Saudi Arabia's Feminist Revolution
It's Not Happening
Comments