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
