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Freedom Square Memorial
Kyrgyzstan’s people have great pride in their nomadic traditions, living in Yurts (round tents made from felt) and the centrepiece of the Yurt has become a key symbol of Kyrgyzstan\'s identity. KYRGYZSTAN
Herewith, blog from Kyrgyzstan and its just the three weeks late. We’re currently enjoying the Monsoon in India! Thanks to those who have sent messages … but please everyone we really enjoy your comments so don’t be shy!
Kyrgyzstan is an amazing country; 90%!o(MISSING)f it is above 1,500m and the Tien Shan mountains, which run into China, form a beautiful backdrop to Bishkek the capital city.
Arriving at Bishkek Airport
Tashkent Airport had been voted the 2nd worst airport in the world and it did not disappoint. Manas Airport in Bishkek has the accolade of being the voted the worst so it was with trepidation that we boarded the flight from Uzbekistan facing the prospect of yet another scrum at passport control.
So there we were with no visa, no guide book, nowhere to stay and no local currency. Pleased to report, however, that nothing could have been further from the truth, the visa office proved friendly and on payment of $60 we were promptly issued our 30 day visas and we passed seamlessly through.
We had tried unsuccessfully to book accommodation before leaving Tashkent but everything was
Manas Statue
The nation has suffered at the hands of many and various occupations; Alexander the Great (in 344 AD), then the Mongols (in 13 hundreds) and again Tamerlane in 1450.
In more recent times the Tsarist Russians and then the Bolshevists imposed their ways and when independence was gained in 1991 the Kyrgyz happily resumed their customary nomadic practices, however, unlike most of the ex soviet states they seem to have evolved a democracy but have no oil and like most of the ex-soviet union have a fragile economy.
A legendary, albeit fictional, figure Manas has been adopted as their national father figure.
too expensive (at almost twice the price as in Tashkent). So we thought we’d find something on arrival.
The airport booking office was surprised at our maximum budget, managed not to laugh and came up with the Issyk-Kul Hotel. It was the right price, albeit on the outskirts of town, so off we went.
The Issyk-Kul Hotel
As we approached it was obvious that the Hotel had fallen on hard times since its heyday in the communist era. It was an enormous block resembling a grey cliff face, so much so that hundreds of swifts had decided to nest on the balconies of its 200 or so rooms. Our room took some believing; the furniture belonged in a museum and there were no curtains but even worse the bathroom was truly remarkable. It reminded me of “Malcolm’s Bathroom” at Castlepoint and Rochford PCT. The bath was an avocado colour, toilet matching but with dark brown toilet seat, the wall tiles were red and to cap it all off the hand wash basin was bright orange.
Unimpressed we dumped our bags and immediately escaped into town to get a SIM card and see if
Marx and Engels in Discussion
Most of the Russian statues have been removed or re-sited this figure of Marx and Engels remains in one of the many central parks but its name has been removed. we could book into anywhere else.
Bishkek itself was a pleasant surprise after the Issyk-Kul. It was bright, bustling and surrounded by the huge snow capped Ala-Too Mountains. For the fist time since Turkey we felt an air of freedom; people were smiling and seemed to be happy with out needing to look over their shoulders. There were shops selling almost everything and somehow, despite the Cyrillic alphabet, we could easily work out what the shops were selling and even the variety of different restaurants.
We walked into one big department store and on the ground floor instead of being confronted by heavily made up ladies trying to spray us with perfume were faced with hundreds of people trying to sell us mobile phones, downloads and SIM cards.
The loss of our Guide book hampered our attempts at booking alternative accommodation and despite trying a few agencies we resigned ourselves to staying at the Issyk-Kul for at least one night.
A Fluffy Towel Moment
After a restless night (no curtains at the windows, overlooked by a rowdy roadside bar and nesting birds at crack of dawn) there followed the strangest breakfast: a bowl
Our "Home"
Asia Mountain Guest House was a welcome retreat form the hustle and bustle of town with lovely gardens and outdoor swimming pool and reasonably priced. Also, staying there were a great couple, Rose and David, who had been travelling for almost two years in a Landrover with wait for it
. a tent on the roof. Amazing. They’d just come through China and were heading home and proved to have a wealth of useful knowledge as well as being good fun. of sugary cottage cheese, a glass of sour yoghurt all followed by deep fried savoury pancakes stuffed with fatty meat. This made us completely determined to book anything else and we eventually managed to book into Asia Mountain a centrally located Guest House.
Sadly the room wasn’t free until the following day but the prospect of another night with the bathroom on acid or another breakfast led us to splash out for one night at a five star hotel and once we’d booked in we were so, so happy!
The following day we moved to Asia Mountain Guest House (and what proved to be our home for most of our stay in Kyrgyz). It was within walking distance of the centre of town, close to a mosque, German beer hall and what looked like a lap dancing / escort club. So all tastes catered for there!
Changing Plans
So, having had our fill of Mosques, Minarets and Mausoleums, we’d thought we’d enjoy an extended stay in lovely green Kyrgyzstan before setting off over the Torugart Pass, through China and into Pakistan.
However, because of the number of people travelling to China for
Chong-Kemin
We had four fabulous days walking here. As if this wasn’t enough our Visa expressly forbids us from working! the Olympics, the Chinese pixies were making it just about impossible for independent travellers to get a visa and reluctantly we realised we’d have to cut our losses and fly to India.
As there aren’t any direct flights from Bishkek we’d have to go from Almaty, in Kazakhstan, just four hours away by road. All we needed, therefore, was an Indian Visa and a Kazakh transit Visa; little could we guess how protracted an affair this would prove to be.
Visa Nightmares
Innocents that we are we headed off nice and early to the Indian Embassy to apply for our visa. We had collected a map from the 5 star fluffy towel Hotel that clearly showed the Indian and Kazakh embassies to be conveniently placed close to each other in the centre of town. After more than an hour spent trudging round and round the block where the Indian embassy was meant to be and getting no response from the phone number. We asked for directions at a book shop.
Thankfully, someone took pity on us and determined to find the absent embassy. She had a lively discussion in Kyrgyz, with an elderly caretaker lady
and it appeared that the Embassy had moved a year ago to a location in the south of town. We set off in a taxi and were pleased to be met by very helpful staff in a quiet (only us, two Indian nationals and an Italian applying for visas) air conditioned office. We were reassured that we could collect our visas the next week. One down, only one to go.
Having lost confidence in our map we returned to the guest house to find out where the Kazakhstan embassy really was. Rose and David had just returned and it seems it was only two hundred yards up the road from the Indian Embassy. But they also shared their experience from that morning with a vivid description of the every-man-for-himself -scrum and the “Niet” attitude from the staff. After several hours they’d only managed to leave copies of their passports and were told to return later that week. No one had any idea what this meant.
To cut a very long and tedious story short ….. We ended up having to go to the Kazakh Embassy four times over the next two weeks and were only given our transit
visa the night before our flights. It made it impossible to travel anywhere else in Kyrgyz, other than for a short stay in the beautiful mountains in Chong-Kemin. Each visit to the embassy was bizarre. It was clear that backhanders were being paid, but we couldn’t work out to whom, otherwise we’d probably have paid too! Kazakhstan apparently wants to be treated as a serious country - but obviously doesn’t care about how foreigners are treated when trying to visit them.
Surprise invite to a Wedding
One good thing that came from our repeated visits to the Kazakh embassy was a chance meeting with Jemini. She was in a taxi outside the embassy with the door open, waiting for her friend Joey (the Italian from the Indian embassy). We agreed to share the taxi into town and soon realised that Joey was booked onto the same flight to Delhi… so we could also share the transport to Almaty. We exchanged phone numbers and agreed to keep in contact.
When we called to check that all was ok with the taxi share, she seemed a little distracted and explained that she had not yet had
Ala Too Mountains
In Ala Archer Park; What a backdrop for a reception picnic time to arrange the taxi but would we like to come to their wedding that day. Well it would have been rude not to accept and were soon on our way….!
It was a really fun day, registry office ceremony (accompanied by Mira on a drum!) into cars and onto a lovely picnic reception in the Mountains. Everybody was so friendly and we’ll remember it always.
We were driven there by Khumba and her two daughters, Marie and Sabina. They were such good fun and open people who, amazingly, invited us to their home for a traditional meal on our last day in Bishkek.
We enjoyed good company, home cooked Plov, Vodka and Cognac; it was an excellent way to finish our stay in Kyrgyzstan and also to make new friends.
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Dominic
non-member comment
Hiya
Finally found your blog today and read through where you've been and what you've experienced so far. I have to say I was touched by the good experiences you've had with the natives of the various places you've been to - it just goes to show that people are the same the world over, no matter what their lords and masters may think ! Can't wait for the next installment, India will be amazing, all the best, love Dom and Steffi