Richard writes:
The calmness of Almaty behind us, ahead lies Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan and the start of a month long tour through Central Asia. In what had seemed a really good idea, we had arranged to get the train from Almaty to Bishkek, despite it taking 15 hours to travel only 200km. The train left at 4:44 am and we slept as soon as making our beds on the train, after battling to stay awake at Almaty station waiting for the train to arrive. The next thing we knew it was midday, and the train was almost empty, all of our fellow passengers had departed whilst we slept. We passed the time by drinking some Kazakhstan Cola, that we had purchased at a station near the border to get rid of our remaining Kazakh Tenge coins. The semi empty train, chugged to the border and without fuss we departed Kazakhstan.
My expectations of the people of Kyrgyzstan were of a laid back and relaxed demeanour. I fully expected this to be reflected by their border officials. This was shot to pieces as a stern faced guard asked to look in our bags, whilst I was asked to get off the train, taking both Casey's and my passports with me, and walk to a room half way down the train platform. This made me feel a little nervous. I wasn't happy about having to enter what looked like an interrogation room, and I wasn't happy leaving Casey on her own having to deal with the bag searches of both our bags. I waited for what seemed like an eternity in a very hot room that was baking in the afternoon sun, before three guards arrived, one holding what looked like a very impressive velvet bag. I watched with anticipation as one of the guards caressed the bag. He slowly, but purposefully undid the knot securing it. As it opened, he pulled out the stamp! I afforded myself a smile that the stamp was given such a special home. With aplomb, he opened our passports and firmly pushed the stamp downwards. With a smile he handed our passports back and I rushed back to our train carriage to check Casey's bag search had all gone ok (which it had) and we waited for the short journey to Bishkek to begin.
We had read plenty about the dangers of Bishkek before our arrival. Basically the advice was to take extreme care after dark and to take even more care when dealing with the police. It seems that pickpockets, muggers and corrupt police officers are in abundance in the city. I was probably most fearful of the police, whom apparently are not above demanding fees for returning passports or stealing possessions when undertaking bag searches. With this information, we felt ill at ease in our surroundings especially in the evenings. As such we never left far from our wonderful Soviet themed hostel in the evenings, and ate every night at the same restaurant, which conveniently showed World Cup games and served up delicious food. The staff also spoke some English and went out of their way to help.
The city itself is leafy and green, but at the same time not particularly attractive. It has some impressive if not beautiful buildings and looks like it could do with a bit of a facelift. We all the same, had a very enjoyable few days walking around the city, enjoying its sights, shopping at the Osh Bazaar on the edge of the city centre and riding on yet another roller coaster.
Our main reason for being in Bishkek, was to begin our Central Asian tour. For 30 days, we, with around 15 others will travel through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. As we were leaving our hostel to attend the meeting that would begin our tour we bumped into a Canadian girl (Sarah) who was also staying at our hostel and on our Central Asian trip. We chatted and shared a taxi to the hotel on the other side of the city. I think we, and Sarah, were relieved to have met someone pleasant and normal, so we would at least have somebody to talk to if everybody else turned out to be irritating! Initial impressions of the rest of the group, which were mostly Brits, Australians and Canadians were positive however, so hopefully that continues in the month ahead!
So far in our trip we have some absolutely beautiful sights. Unlike our trip to Bishkek, we have been able to view the beauty of the Kyrgyzstan countryside, which is dominated by mountains, including a huge range that includes several peaks over 7000m. We have been to Ala Arch gorge, where we went on a short trek before an evening of camping and the next night camped at the beautiful Chong Kemin valley. The camping and scenery has been fantastic, but I think both Casey and I are enjoying our stay at a hotel in Karakol, south of Issyk-Kol before some more camping in the south of the country. We have some fantastic experiences that lie ahead in the next week, and I look forward to seeing how Casey covers these in her next blog!
Ala Arch Gorge
Chong Kemin Valley
Lake Issuk-Kol and surrounding mountains
Karakol
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