A Bowl of Vegetable Soup

I’ve been covering a LOT of distance the last few days, and in a sense, that’s very gratifying after my Bishkek vacay. I’m not entirely sure how to break it all up, wince I have stories form each day, so I’ll put it into smaller chunks, highlighting things worth mentioning, and maybe in a few days say something about the Pamir Highway in general.

From Bishkek to Osh with Meret.

Ever have one of those moments of complete silence with somebody you don’t know that well? Like your mutual friend leaves to go to the bathroom and the two of you are left just kinda..sitting there. You speak up…exchange an obligatory chuckle, then go silent till said mutual friend comes back. This was that…for 12 hours. But more on that in a quick sec… back to Bishkek…

So Tuesday I received my Uzbek visa from the consulate around 11am, which meant I was ready to head to Osh ASAP! This was the famed decision between flying (on hour) or mashrukta/shared taxi. It turns out the flight was actually kinda difficult to book, and they didn’t have a ticket for that day (or next morning) in my luggage weight class anyway (Pegasus air is kinda like Ryan air, so ya know, shoes cost extra, etc). Since it was the afternoon anyway, I figured I would go for the wheels route. The price difference between a shared taxi and marshrukta was small, so I went with the shared taxi for the comfort of a regular car seat (marshrukta seats are technically padded regular van seats, but they mostly remind me of those metal fold up chairs at school concerts). As my luck would have it again, not a lot of people were heading that way, so I ended up the only passenger in a VW station wagon FULL of stuff to be dropped off at various points a long the way. Passenger seat=winning.

As expected, my driver, Meret, didn’t speak any english, and my Russian/Kyrgyz only got us past pleasantries. We then communicated our ages, the fact that I’m single (big problem at my age in Kyrgyzstan), and he is married with 3 children. That was about 10 minutes into the drive. That’s when the “where’s our mutual friend” silence began. We made stops every 2 hours or so for food, tea, toilet, or to drop some random package off to somebody. Needless to say, I didn’t get a terrible amount of sleep. The good part, however, was that we arrived in Osh about 9 in the morning, which is a lot better than like…3am or something. Meret dropped me off at the hostel I booked for no extra charge, and we said our goodbyes. So glad to be at a hostel where I can refresh, right?

Not quite. This particular hostel (booked on hostel world, too!) was a bit rough around the edges…also on the insides. Unfortunately due to the rain the previous night, they had no running water. I was bummed out since it had actually been a while since I showered (we’re talking before Altyn Arashan and the van-tank…). Looks like I would have to hold off a bit more. So I rested for a couple hours, then hit up the city of Osh.

I’m not sure what I was expecting from Osh, but this was slightly below whatever that was. Perhaps the hype of the city’s history and it’s relatively large size works it up to be about what Bishkek is. But it’s certainly a less developed city, and much more drab. Regardless, there were some neat things to see. I walked down to the Osh Bazaar, considered one of the oldest bazaars in the entire region, which, is fair to say one of the oldest in the world. Osh was an important stop over on the ancient silk road route, trading goods from what was to become China and the western world. So to think of the fact that I was bartering (ok not really cause their prices were really good actually) and buying goods in the same city as they were thousands of years ago. That’s a neat thought. After the bazaar, I walked up Sulaiman Too, essentially the rock of gibraltar of Osh. I spent a while relaxing up there and just enjoying the city view and the fresh air.

A Bowl Of Soup

Back to the hostel, where uneasy going Australian (is there any other kind?) named Callum was making some vegetable soup. Since I wasn’t able to talk to Meret very much, Callum got hit with all the conversation I stored up. He was kind enough to let me help myself too, and over the soup we sat for a long time and had a long talk.

You see, he’s been traveling for 18 months from Sidney and targeting Istanbul. I’ve met a lot of long-term travelers, people kinda floating through different nations, etc. But this guys is doing it all on his bicycle, and factually started in Sidney…crossed Australia through the outback to Darwin, up Indonesia, SE Asia, China…across China and Tibet…and is now here. Hats off to you mate, you win. But back to the soup- we talked about a great many things, but two things stick out as particularly relevant.

Firstly, was the idea of taking your time to look around. You can imagine you don’t have many other options when crossing half the globe on your bike. He mentioned how he’s had the chance to really stop and ponder the world around him. In a physical sense, there’s a chance to observe nature and things you’d otherwise miss, say a birds nest, or a tree (don’t laugh, Peter and I ended up doing a fair bit of bird watching in South Africa). And in another sense, perhaps this is just an important mindset he’s developed. Sure, every traveler has places they just need to move through quickly, but what an opportunity to see the world like he is seeing it. It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway), let’s not move too quickly through everything. Take time to appreciate where you live, the people in your life, and when traveling, the people around you in those places.

We then talked about some of the famous Anatrctica expeditions. Namely, the Robert Falcon Scott expedition- the one that failed miserably and everybody died ( I brought that up…), and that of Ernest Shackleton, where all his men lived..surviving imperceptibly small odds, existing on blubber and whatever else (he brought that one up…). Concerning men like Shackleton, we discussed the exceptional leadership quality he had. Namely, because he refused to show himself as disheartened. Anytime a problem arose, he immediately went to finding a solution instead of harping on the issue. His positivity, without a doubt, saved lives.

Without being too dramatic, this was one of the best vegetable soups I have had. Perhaps it was the fact I hadn’t eaten in a while, maybe it was something nostalgic, or maybe it was the company, as we sat slurping, dipping bread, and having a laugh over a whole range of subjects. Sometimes we meet people we just click with, and it’s a lot of fun, and honestly, meeting other travelers is one of the best part of traveling.

You see, when on the road, it is so easy to get down. It gets lonely, it gets difficult. I mean, I can barely order food since I can’t read the menu or speak enough of the language to differentiate between subtle words with drastic differences. It is simply difficult. But I find those who enjoy problem solving tend to have an easier time of traveling. I LOVE solving problems and figuring things out, and maybe that’s why travel is enjoyable to me. But I very often can feel down or frustrated, and I’ll have to remind myself that positivity goes a long, long way.

Thanks again mate for the bowl of soup, it fed more than just my stomach.

-BK

A Week in Bishkek

Ahh Bishkek. This post-soviet town, nestled in front of part of the extraordinary Tian Shan mountain range, is a acntral hub of Central Asia at large, and especially in the traveler’s scene. Often regarded as a nice place to pick up some visas, those who decide to stick around for a bit (or…are forced to wait around) will find a pleasant, calm city, with incredibly friendly people, and a national pride that Bishkek is a leader among Asian cities. This is where the intelligencia thrive, the expats settle down, and you can still get that wild bazaar vibe you’re still hoping for when traveling to this part of the world.

I’ve already gone over some of the details as to my spending all last week in this town on my post about the “Bishkek visa trail”. That’s essentially what kept me around, and though I got to spend the weekend in Karakol (with Bob…), I came back to Bishkek last night, and today was off to the Uzbekistan embassy to see about my visa. It went fairly smoothly. She grabbed my application, said it’d be ready today, and I just had to go pay the bank (it’s all about the $$$). Once I did that (ten minutes), I came back…and she handed me my passport with visa inside. One little issue- my much-needed 2 entries was only single entry. I decided to take that moment and straight up say…I need two entries. “You need two entries?”. "Yes, on my application it says two entries". She stared me down like a lioness in front of a gazelle. This gazelle did not move. It worked. She took my passport…went back to the lion’s den, and came back with hand written “2 (two)” and the consulars signature. We’ll see if that flies at the border (won’t be the first time I’ve dealt with hand written stuff at borders). We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

So I obviously didn’t sit around my hostel while this whole visa thing unfolded. I had a chance to go around town and see some pretty cool things.

When I talk about Bishkek being “post-soviet”, two things come to mind. First and foremost, I simply mean architecture. Lots of big, grey, block buildings take the center fold of bishkek residential communities, as well as the city square itself. Although the square is still very much beautiful! Plenty of statues and fountains. There is also a sizable statue of Lenin near the history museum. The second thing, is the mindset. When talking with people, there is a noticeable split between pro-russia or pro-byrgyz independence. It’s not my place to state which is better on Facebook, but it’s a topic of discussion nowadays. The Kyrgyz people fought hard for independence, but the infancy has had it’s growing pains. Many people look back at what having a big brother was like, and miss it. There’s money, a military to protect you, and stronger programs. Independence however, is just that…a chance to have your own identity as a nation, and be respected and regarded as such. The topic came up fairly often, and I thought it was pretty interesting!

Bishkek is full of parks, coffee shops, some shopping centers, and a few Begemont’s (fast food burger place). It has yet to reach the modernity of it’s sister across the border, Almaty, but the culture and vibe here is very relaxing. The best part, of course, is the view of the massive mountains, and the fresh, clean air.

I had the chance to settle in with the expat crowd a little bit, as there was one living in the hostel I was staying at. A very interesting guy, he came to Bishkek for a short term period, and ended up staying. Two years later, he is teaching at the American University of Central Asia, the premier university of the entire region. Anyway, Wednesday nights are trivia night amongst the expat crowd, and I tagged along. It was fun to chat with people from all over the world who have found a place here in Bishkek. It reminds me a bit of some of the international goals I had set when I charted a course into medicine. It’s a good reminder that it’s regular work, and not particularly easy to be settled in a new place. But they were a fun crowd, and of course, my team, “The Hobbits”, crushed the competition. It was a fun night.

Another highlight was my day spent at English Zone, and Enlighs-only hang out spot for learners of English. Rewind to the day before. I was relaxing in Ala-Too square when a young guy came up and started speaking English to me. We exchanged pleasantries, then he admitted that he wanted to sit and talk to practice his english. No problem! We sat for about an hour and (upon his request) corrected any mistakes he was making. He invited me to the English Zone the next day. It was a blast. From the moment you walk in, there is nothing but english allowed (foreign words are fine-able!). The head lady, Santana, invited me in, and asked if it’d be ok if I stayed a while, since having a native speaker didn’t happen too often. I ended up staying almost all day. We sat in groups talking about culture, american university, each others hobbies, etc. They wanted to know all of their mistakes, about how many idioms I knew (hundreds??), etc. I had a really great time, and even scored some free food.

Other than that, I spent my days walking around town, checking out the bazaar, taking care of SIM card business, familiarizing myself with marshrukta routes, and just trying to relax. It’s easy to want to rush from place to place, but when fate makes you take a breather, you should do it. It’s good to treat this as a bit of an actual vacation.

Tonight I head to Osh, the “southern capital” of Kyrgyzstan, where there is some substantial history to be explored there. It will be rather fast pace for the next little while, but I’m ready for that. It’s neat to see a people so excited about freedom, democracy, education, and making a name for themselves across the world. I’ve had a nice time getting to know a little piece of this great city, and in many ways will miss it! Of course, I fly out of this town, so it’s not all she wrote quite yet. For now, it’s time for that 18 hour drive to Osh… see ya on the flip side!

-BK

Bishkek and the Visa Trail

I’ve spent about 1 week in the capital city of Bishkek. A sleepy city with soviet-esque architecture, but an entirely independent attitude and vibe, this is generally a haven for travelers to pick up visas that are more difficult to obtain elsewhere. That being said, there is no shortage of visa-difficulty in this down. The following note will focus on my visa-obtaining adventures, and I’ll make another post talking about my impressions of Bishkek itself. But we left off in Almaty, so let’s wind it back a bit, and catch everybody up to what I’ve been doing.

Leaving Almaty was pretty easy; I took public bus to the regional bus station, where I was expecting to find transport to the border, with the need to do the same once in Kyrgyzstan. However, was able to find a mini-bus with service straight through to Bishkek. It was only 1300 tengi (about 4 dollars). The road was in pristine condition, and it was a beautiful day! We scooted along to the border, hopped off of our mini-bus and went through the appropriate Kazakh border procedures. No issues (make sure to have your departure card you received coming in- obviously-although one traveler got stuck in the queue next to me). Then we walked on foot into Kyrgyzstan (87 for me), whereI very anticlimactically received a stamp and I was in! The bus was waiting not he other side, and off we went to downtown Bishkek. Took about 4.5 hours all in all.

Once in Bishkek I took a taxi to my hostel (Interpose Hostel on Toktugal St.). It was pretty empty, but run by a fleet of college age girls, who are pretty helpful making any phone calls you need around town (cough embassies cough). I hit the hay (alone in a 6 bed dorm...), and began my visa adventure the next morning.

Understand: What is a visa you ask? Essentially a very-official permission slip to enter another country. Depending on your country’s relations with target country, you amy or may not need one, and if you do, the difficulty of obtaining one will vary. The standard procedure is send an application, passport, and supporting documents to that nation’s embassy in XX country, and get your visa. Bishkek has al of the embassies of the neighboring countries, with the additional advantage of visa issuance being fast and cheap. Hence, me being in Bishkek to get some visas.

Day 1: So I call the Uzbekistan Embassy in the morning. She gives me an appointment..for tomorrow. Alrighty then, I guess that’s that. So I decided to be all super-efficient and said, hey, lemme get my visa for Tajikistan today while I wait. So I headed over to the Tajik embassy (it’s in a very odd part of town, but a good taxi driver- like anybody from Jogul taxi company) will use their smartphone to find it). It was the easiest visa I’ve ever received. I paid $75 USD for a double entry visa, plus 100 som (about $1.46) for the GBAO permit (restricted area permit to visit the Pamir mountains). I waited two hours (they had a lunch break), and I had it. NICE! While I waited, I decided to get even mor efficient and called the embassy of Afghanistan in Bishkek. I discussed with he consular’s secretary the process for obtaining a visa for US citizen. He explained that it was relatively easy, given my meeting with them go well. I scheduled this meeting for the next day at 2pm. I went back to my hostel and spent the rest of the day talking with a long-term inhabitant “”Tony””, an expat teaching at the American University of Central Asia.

Day 2: I head to the Uzbek embassy for my 10am appt. Now, the lady at the embassy is infamous amongst travel blogs, books, and word of mouth as being, lets say, difficult. I was the first to be called upon my the wicked witch from the west, and I figured my actions were gonna affect everybody behind me. I played it smooth. Approaching the iron bars of her jail cell (or was I in the cell?), I first asked how her day was going. This proved to be what we call “a good move”. She shifted in her seat, smiled, and said she’s doing OK. Alright, going well. I handed in my paperwork, and had to request to keep my passport while they prices (fingers crossed), which surprisingly, wasn’t an issue at all. WHEW. I spent some time walking around the central part of the city and “hanging out”, then headed over to the Afghan embassy.

IT went like this: Knock, wait a long time. Then the Consular’s secretary comes down to interview you. There were general questions such as “why are you in Bishkek”, “what do you do”, etc. Depending on this interview (and apparently if he likes you?), they will decided to issue you the visa or not. After a quick compliment on his rings, I had a grand old time chatting with the secretary. He left to talk with the Consular, and returned saying “we will issue you the visa. Here is the application, fill it out and bring it back tomorrow at 9:30”. And that was that. I had to go to the Bank of Pakistan to pay the visa fee (?), and after that, meandered around town and back to the hostel.

Day 3 in Bishkek. I flutter my eyes awake, happy about my Tajik visa, and proud of the progress with Afghanistan. I headed over to the embassy, and handed the application to the secretary. The visa fee for US citizens is a whopping $160 for 9 day processing, or $200 for 24 hour processing. I chose the latter (and introduced myself to financial serfdom). I was instructed to pick it up tomorrow at noon.

Day 4: Since my visa is being processed sans passport with the Uzbek embassy, I was planning on heading to the hills after I picked it up from the Afghan embassy. SO I packed my things and headed to the embassy. Lo and behold, the visa was issued, no issues at all. Single entry, 30 days. Of note, the particular town I plan to head to is the town the secretary is from, and the hotel I chose is about 100m from his house. He was very excited about this, and it was encouraging to hear how excited he was that I was visiting such a nice place. He also gave me his personal cell phone and email, and the contact info of his brother, who lives there currently, should any issues arise.

I will call the Uzbek embassy Monday (as instructed), when I assume I will be told to “come tomorrow”. A lot of “tomorrow’s”...but that’s a lot better than “no”, or several weeks of processing elsewhere. No problem!

It should be stated that I never travel without doing an incredible amount of research. My travel strategy is to be flexible, without planning too far ahead, but knowing all of the options. When I arrive to a place, I know what is available, how longs it takes to get to different towns, etc, and I make my choices as I go along. Afghanistan is a well-researched destination, with careful phone calls made to the appropriate people.

And so I was able to head to the hills and beauty of Lake Issyk-Köl. I will post about my adventures/relaxation here soon, after my Bishkek piece. I hope some of the information above regarding visas comes as a great help to any travelers planning similar routes. Stay posted!

-BK