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Published: March 19th 2016
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National Museum, Flag and ManasAirport day so you know the drill – breakfast, packing and then taxi. Today is The Martyrdom of
Fatimaa National holiday in Iran so although the streets were quiet this morning by the time we were driving to the airport the people were everywhere sitting on chairs in the middle of the road outside Mosques and large noisy processions. All this made a slow trip to the airport, when we arrived we exchanged the last of our Rials to US dollars for the next leg of our journey and then checked our bags in.
The lines to get through security were quite long and were not even moving at a snail’s pace, we were standing there being totally bored when the woman behind us said “Your Australian”. This is how we meet Natthinee a fellow Aussie who is studying Farsi in Iran, it was great speaking to her and learning more about the festivals and living in Iran. Before we knew it we were on our way to Dubai for a connection to Bishkek, we said goodbye to Nat at Dubai airport as
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Lenin points us to the next bar she was off to renew her Iranian student visa and we started our 4 hour wait for our next plane. We are flying Fly Dubai which is a cheaper carrier but has modern airplanes so expected that the 4 hour flight would be pretty good. Soon as I got on the plane I ripped the scarf and coat off along with a lot of other women, both foreigners and Iranians, I have to say it was a relief not to worry about if I was appropriately covered anymore I think 26 days was getting close to my limit. Took off at 10.40pm and although it was squishy it was OK, but typically when they turned down the lights the humidifiers are turned down although in this case it seemed to be off. As the time creeped to midnight it was so uncomfortable.
Day 56 Monday 14th March 2016 – Tehran to Bishkek By the early hours of the morning there were more people standing in the aisle than sleeping it had become so stuffy, this flight seemed more like a 12 hour one than just 4, and we both rated
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"My beard is better than yours" it as one of the worst due to the heat and lack of air. The person next to Scott on the flight was an older lady returning to Kyrgyzstan for a visit who was concerned why we were visiting at this time of year as it was still too cold. The look of confusion on her face when she discovered we were tourists travelling to her country at this time of year was a bit of a worry. We exchanged email addresses with Liudmila as she was interested to know what we thought of her Kyrgyzstan, she also wrote down some places to go and good local dishes to try. Hoping the people here are all as nice as her as it will make it a great trip. Touched down in Bishkek the capital of Kyrgyzstan at 4.40am to the usual onslaught of taxi drivers so made them wait while we did the money exchange thing, and then started the usual banter about price before settling for a reasonable amount. The airport is 30km out of town so initially we appeared to be going through countryside and slowly more lights appeared but as it was dark and raining it was
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Snowing as seen from our hotel hard to see the area. It was so strange I saw the Hyatt Regency and thought “what is this doing in the middle of nowhere” when I realised this is the town. The population of Bishkek is about 900,000 so it is not a huge city. We located our hotel again with the help of our GPS, we are staying at the Club Hotel Bishkek which is actually the upmarket (fresh coat of paint) 5
th floor of the Dostuk Hotel an old Soviet establishment. We arrived about 6am and were hopeful we could drop our bags off and sit in the foyer till 2.00pm when we could check in, but the man at reception gave us the key so we got in straight away. I must admit I was grateful as by now we had been awake for about 24hours and we both were ready to put our heads down.
Before we knew it we had slept through till 12.30pm so we got ready and hit the streets of Bishkek, it is like a large country town. The big plus is we saw no scooters or motorbikes on the footpath or on the road and the traffic
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first beer in 4 weeks, can't stop smiling stopped when the traffic lights turned red and at pedestrian crossings. The downside is the language and the alphabet is a version of Cyrillic so we could not identify anything on the menu at the restaurant, so it was the old point at something that someone was eating at another table hoping it was OK. So far the people here have been very forgiving of our lack of the local language and willing to play charades. We quickly realised that this is the wrong time of year to be here as it is still too cold, and the locals all look surprise when we tell them we are tourists and not here on business.
Went for a long walk about the city and it is strangely pleasant although it is a grey cold day, there are large squares with austere soviet buildings and you can call me odd but I really like it. Finally walked back to the hotel and went to the second floor restaurant/bar where we finally could break our 4 weeks of sobriety. I had a martini for AUD$3.00 and Scott’s beer was $2 so he was very happy and got a reasonable meal
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Martini number one for $12 for two what more could we ask for. Then it was a night of blogging and catching up on emails before we knew it the clock was saying midnight.
Day 57 Tuesday 15th March 2016 - Bishkek Slow start with pancakes for breakfast, then time to negotiate the laundry problem. Checked the price list and it was going to cost about $50 here so it is no cheaper than Tehran, so I spoke to the lady on reception and explained how much we had and she straight away said she understood and would see what she could do and before we knew the price had come down to $20 this is already better than the service in Tehran where we got a tough luck shrug.
With that sorted we went out, our next task is for Scott to get a haircut and again the lady at reception pointed us in the right direction. Scott is starting to look like a demented Koala instead of the silver fox so it is way overdue. Found a row of hairdressers and flipped a coin and entered one where
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Our hotel Scott lost the grey mop on his head for only $6 and also got a fragmented conversation. Walked into a shopping mall yes Scott was rolling his eyes but we kept going up each level not knowing what the directory was saying and even I usually would say this is enough but we ended up on the top floor to find a whole section of souvenir stalls all eager to discount the goods. Back on the streets and there is not much too see so stopped at a trendy café for a coffee which was pretty good, of course we have not had a coffee for a while so maybe we have forgotten what a good one tastes like. It is cold here so we were reluctant to leave the warmth of the café but I wanted to check out the Osh markets not to be confused with the town of Osh which also has markets. This is a small local market with a bit of local items for sale like traditional hats, coats and musical instruments which was good for a short diversion.
Started heading back and the sky were clearing as we went to cross
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National museum and Flag Guards a road and looked up and there was a huge mountain range right on top of us. The weather had been so grey that it had been hidden till now and we realise that the city is built at the foot of the mountains, really beautiful but no wonder it is cold as there is snow all over them. Stopped at the Metro bar for a quick drink, Bishkek is nothing like what I expected, with some trendy cafes and bars so far with friendly staff. So I had a Cosmopolitan and of course the other drink was a beer while we listened to great music. Walked back looking for places closer to our hotel and did not find anything so ended up back at the place in the hotel for dinner.
Day 58 Wednesday 16th March 2016 - Bishkek The mission today is to see if we can get an Uzbekistan visa so off to the embassy we marched, we were a little apprehensive as we have read they are not friendly. When we arrived the man was friendly but as we are Australian we need a Letter of
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Government House Invitation before he can issue the visa, so we need to contact a tour agent in Uzbekistan to arrange this for us. Had read that maybe we might not need one but unfortunately we lucked out today. Oh well lucky this city is nice and we are enjoying it as we may be staying here longer than we expected. Stopped at Vinotek café for a coffee and a quick discussion of our plans.
Did the long walk back to the hotel and on the way visited the Lenin Statue who went from pride of place in Ala-Too Square to the back of the History Museum and looking very lonely. He now stands at the back of one of Bishkeks many parks with his arm out almost pleading for his lost attention. Continued walking through Dubovy Park which is slowly bursting into life after winter with new green leaves on the trees. This is the other fabulous thing about Bishkek, in the centre of town there are heaps of parks, huge wide footpaths and lots of trees.
Back at our hotel we jumped on the computer and started the process of getting a Letter of
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Kyrgyzstan Flag and Manas Invitation to Uzbekistan. Took a couple of hours and had to use the woman at reception to print and scan forms from an Uzbekistan travel agent but we eventually had it all done and paid for. We were told it will take 3 to 10 business days to receive it so we now have to sit and wait. Once we have got the LOI we have to make an appointment with Uzbekistan embassy for an interview, and if that goes well, we get a visa; simple!
Tonight we walked to Edgars Bar for some live music, which was a trio playing good music although they could have been singing “put another log on the fire” as we do not speak any Russian/Kyrgyz. It was funny at one point when a woman in the audience wanted them to play a particular song so she could get up and sing. She badgered the guys for an hour before they did it and they didn’t look too happy about it, she stood there using her mobile to get the lyrics thank goodness it was only one song. Most of the songs were more bluesy type numbers and the guitarist really
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The appealing entrance to Edgars Bar knew his stuff. This is a basement bar and we had forgotten what it is like to be in a smoke filled place, by the end of the night it was very hazy in there. After a few drink, a so-so meal and lots of laughs we asked the barman to ring for a taxi, the walk back although not far was through parks, so it probably would not be safe plus it was raining. Why would you take the risk when the taxi only cost $1.00 door to door. It had been difficult finding this place as it is hidden behind another large bar and as stated before it is in the basement and there is very little signage and looks dodgy from the outside, but it is a Bishkek gem.
Day 59 Thursday 17th March 2016 - Bishkek Probably hit it a bit too hard last night, but we were really enjoying the music at Edgars and got a bit carried away. Knew we didn’t need to spring out of bed early today so it wasn’t a problem with sleeping in till 8.30. Thankfully no major hangovers today
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Flag guards, tough job but it was still a slow start. Spent the morning reviewing our altered plans and trying to put together some options if our Uzbek visa fails. Went out to a café on the main drag in town for lunch and Shelley picked up a spinach pastry thing and I got a doner kebab. The kebab only had a bit of meat in it but was mainly coleslaw and chips and wasn’t too bad. There is a lot of different types of pastries for sale around town and we have vowed to try each type before we leave, which might be in a week or two.
After Lunch we decided to walk to the other side of town to the Tajikistan embassy to have a shot at getting a visa from them. It took about 90 minutes to walk there and it was interesting to see another side to Bishkek. The Embassy was located in a residential area and inside we had to fill out a couple of forms and leave our passports with them and pay the $55 each, and were told to come back tomorrow to collect them.
By the time we left
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The ruined Bishkek Casino and skater the weather was starting to turn and we had lost our lovely sunshine and it was clouding over so we opted for a taxi, which only cost $2.20 to drive us home. As mentioned before our hotel is an old soviet relic, but across from our hotel is a more recent relic. In 2012 the Government banned gambling and gave all the casinos in Kyrgyzstan 3 months to close, and across from our hotel is the empty gutted ruin of the Bishkek Casino. It is now controlled by the local skaters who use the many stairs and hand railing to perfect tricks. Apparently the Government is now toying with the idea of allowing gambling in an effort to raise more money as they claim they are missing out on $100 million a year in taxes and that a lot of gambling continues but has gone underground.
Just before dark the rain rolled in and the temperature plummeted so we opted to drink and eat at the hotel. The place (Prego) is cheap and the food although mainly Italian is fairly good and there is plenty of vegetarian options, but we have slowly been drinking the bar dry
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Osh Markets - Bunnings alley and it seems every night we go we have less and less options- should we be proud of this? Really they only seem to have one or two of a certain drink and do not restock when they runout.
Day 60 Friday 18th March 2016 - Bishkek Yet another day in Bishkek and it is bloody freezing. Looked out the window in the morning watching the rain and expected to see snow. Had a few things to do today but looking at the weather we were in no hurry to get out there. First thing was a walk up to the Uzbekistan Embassy to check out the opening hour details on the door, just to make sure they correspond with what we already had. Then moved onto CAT Tours to ask about some day tours around Bishkek. The woman we spoke to was great and gave us heaps of good information about Kyrgyzstan and on tours we could do. Was going to book a day tour to the mountains but the forecast for tomorrow is not good and don’t see the point in heading to cloud covered mountains and marching
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Over looking the Osh Markets on trails in the snow, so opted to do it later. With that decision done we headed across the road to the National Museum, to check out about some local history. The museum only has two levels and one of them is completely devoted to Lenin and the Russian revolution and in this modern era it is fairly comical to see these patriotic murals and statues. The top floor is devoted to local history and is filled with lots of prehistoric arrow heads and broken pottery (Oh joy my favourite). It was while running through this section that we bumped into a local girl who was studying English at University and to help with a final exam she was having tomorrow she wanted to practise her English on us by giving us a guided tour through the museum. Her knowledge of the contents of the museum was as limited as her English and it was an agonising one hour walk through the museum, but we felt we needed to help her as best we could, as she jotted down new words like “shearing sheep”. She wanted to become an interpreter and perhaps the best thing we could have done for
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Mountains behind Soviet Apartments her was to steer her towards a career in taxidermy.
Ran away from her and the museum to pick up a quick bite of pastries at our favourite cheap café and then got a taxi down to the Tajikistan Embassy. Negotiated a fee of 350 Som for him to drive us there, wait for us and then drive us back to our hotel. At the embassy our passports were waiting except the woman hit us for another $20 each for a GBAO permit that was supposed to be free. Since she had already stamped us with the permit in our passports we couldn’t refuse to pay. Got the taxi back to our hotel and after a short rest headed out into the cold to look for the “Putin Pub”. Bishkek has the unique distinction of having a bar devoted to Obama and Putin, with the Putin bar being a bit of a cynical take on the Russian leader that has upset them to the point that they have demanded it be closed. The location of the bar is a bit of a mystery to us as we never found it and unsure if we got bad directions
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World War 2 Memorial and Eternal flame or maybe the Russians bombed it, but we did stop at a couple of other bars for a drink along the way. Discovered that the bars in Bishkek are never fully stocked and we can never get the beers or spirits we want. A local beer (Russian) I quite like is Baltika and it comes in different numbers from 0 to 10 which signifies the alcohol content. Baltika 7 has an alcohol content of 5.4%!a(MISSING)nd is a nice beer, but tonight I had a number 9 and it has an alcohol content of 8%!,(MISSING) nice beer but not something I would chose to drink all night.
Because we couldn’t find Putin we chose to go to Edgars once again. Tonight the basement bar was packed, but the band was the same. Didn’t really want a “big” night tonight so stayed for a feed and a set from the band before heading home by taxi.
Day 61 Saturday 19th March 2016 - Bishkek Woke this morning and peered out the window to see that it was snowing and so promptly went back to bed. So glad we
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Display inside the National Museum hadn’t booked that tour up to the mountains today as we wouldn’t have seen a thing over than snow. Heading out of town tomorrow and probably should have gone today, but the thought of travelling in a crowded mini bus over icy roads wasn’t inviting, so it is good we are having one more day here. Arranged to have the hotel to store our main packs whilst out of town and booked a room for our return although the place is virtually empty. Wandered the streets again getting a coffee at a café and later on a Kyrgyzstan doner kebab.
At this point in the blog we should help those who are unsure how to pronounce Kyrgyzstan, and we really would like to help but we are still uncertain ourselves. Before coming here we heard it being pronounced like “Kurg-e-stan” or Kry-ger-stan, but we think it is closer to Kreeg-e-stan, although every second person seems to put a slightly different slant on the name. It doesn’t help when we are both tone deaf either.
There is a bit of begging on the streets of Bishkek and it is mainly old woman, so we guess
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Scott hanging with Lenin there isn’t much of a social security system here for the elderly. Really couldn’t think of anything worse than being homeless in cold weather like this. Late in the afternoon the temperature once again started plummeting so we returned to the warmth of our room to complete our packing. At night it was bloody freezing outside so we once again opted to eat at the hotel restaurant, but it felt rather homely as there was a large family function happening and it was nice to have the commotion of such events circulating around us. After what we had seen on the streets over the last few days our thoughts kept returning to the less fortunate that lived their existence outside the comforts of a warm room.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Travel day
We generally don't sleep well the night before a travel day and yet we are up eager and excited to see what the next country holds. Always an interesting process- sometimes subtle and sometimes drastic. Hurry up and wait. Farewell to the scarf! 4 weeks without a beer and a martini...ah, the things we do for travel. Enjoy the moment. Cracked up at your taxidermy joke only because it was not a joke. Love your humor. Putin pubs and Obama pubs....what will be next? Hope it warms up a bit. We'll keep our fingers crossed for you.