Blogs from Kyrgyzstan, Asia

"Humankind is the only creature that refuses to be what it is" -Camus Winter never seems to last very long. No matter how many days we get out in the cold, there never seems to be enough hours spent on frozen water of some sort. The more one becomes informed about and examines the finite crystals that fall from the sky, the more it becomes clear that snow is basically a miracle. This year saw less of these miracles falling on the Sierra but it did not prevent the making of some epic days. Sunrise to the beat of a pounding heart, long skin tracks scribe a human line in a wilderness of white. Tools sink into supple ice, soft as plastic, rare as gold in the state of eternal sun. Blue hardwax grips but barely, ... read more

The adventures of Zoe and Susan are still well on track. Leaving you last time in Uzbekistan we have since managed to tick off the remaining two Stans on our journey, and boy what a way to say goodbye to them. Kazakhstan was more of a stop off than a proper visit as technically we didn't visit any cities or landmarks. Instead we travelled along a soviet built road which acts as the go between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Along the way we had two bushcamps which gave us a little taster of things to come in, i.e green, mountains and snow. For the past month we have been boiling up along the deserts of central Asia, so a little bit of rain was a welcome relief. We had heard bad things about Kazakhstan but to be ... read more

I am no stranger to poverty, coming from a place where it is breathed in the air and served daily. Slums and cramped spaces; poor wages; dirty and chaotic city streets; local farmers, fishermen, and laborers toiling to feed their families at least once a day; diaspora of people to other countries; and poor, if not lack of access to health care and education. These are but some of the palpable realities faced by many back home. As such, I often need to reconcile what I see here in Kyrgyzstan countryside with their own realities. The greeneries, spacious white-washed houses, orderly villages, well-dressed residents, and sprawling jailoos are somehow tricking my mind into believing that people here live very easily. However, behind the beautiful façade are communities and people who are also very much struggling to ... read more

"Life here is difficult," said the young, good-looking driver. "Not many jobs here. Many go to other places." "Well, the situation is similar in the Philippines. People also go to other countries for better opportunities," I replied, as we cruised down the picturesque tree-lined road from the airport to my couchsurfing host's house. Made it at last to Kyrgyzstan. If there is one word that can describe the country, it is GREEN. Trees, steppes, rolling hills, and pasturelands are in all directions -- laced by very tall snow-capped mountain ranges at par with the Himalayas. The verdant landscape is just occasionally broken by white to beige houses. All worries brought by not planning disappeared as soon as I stepped into the country. "Are you Russian or Kyrgyz?" "Do I look Russian? They look so yellow to ... read more

So we meet again. I didn't really expect to deploy so soon again, but as things turned out, here I am. I have to try not to sound too salty because I know plenty of people who have deployed way more, and for longer times. The first one was fun, but I can see how this would get really old really fast. Not sure how people with families can cope! Enough lamenting, and on with the story telling! Our date of deployment was fudged a little at the end. First they give us a window of about 4 days that we might deploy so we can somewhat plan. Then they pick a day (ours happened to be one day BEFORE our window started) -- this usually doesn't happen until a week or two before we leave. ... read more