Help me get home! :-)

Approved!

The cats and I will be rocketing into Atlanta on November 2nd! Wahoo!! All I need to do is figure out how to scrounge up $1500 between now and Wednesday. Plus that extra $400 I'll need to pay at the airport. Feel free to contribute to the whole getting-me-home fund :-)

Aeroflot to Atlanta?

Ever since my one and only flight on Aeroflot in 2005 – when my suitcase vanished and was hidden from me in a giant warehouse in Moscow – I haven’t had any desire to fly via Aeroflot. After researching Turkish Air’s policies regarding pet transport, I figured I’d return to the US the reverse of the way I came: Bishkek-Istanbul-Chicago-Jacksonville via Turkish Air. I found a ticket online that would get me all the way to Jacksonville for $1600, although I wanted to actually book the flight at the Turkish Air office in order to book “reservations” for the four cats as well.

Unfortunately, when I went to the Turkish Airlines office on Monday morning, I learned that the planes servicing the Bishkek-Istanbul route do not have a cargo area for pets, and only two animals are allowed in the cabin. Assuming no one else had reserved space for their pets on the flight, I could only take two cats, plus it would cost me $320/cat. Additionally, they wanted to charge me $2300 (not including cats) for the exact same itinerary I’d found online for $1600. They said that if I wanted, I could purchase the tickets online and then come back to their office in order to reserve space for my two cats.

I left the Turkish Airlines office in a panic, and went to the nearest internet café to look up the address of the Bishkek Aeroflot office, as Aeroflot is the only other airline servicing Bishkek which allows pet transport. I got the address and set off to find it… and of course it turned out to be an address which did not exist. At that point I was feeling super stressed, and decided to go into the first travel agency I saw which offered tickets on Aeroflot. (For a country where few people travel, Bishkek is oddly full of travel agencies.) Within about thirty seconds of reaching that decision, I arrived at Chuy Prospekt 108, home of the Avia Travel Club, authorized ticket seller for Aeroflot, among others.

The staff at ATC were very helpful. They found a flight for me: Bishkek-Moscow-New York-Atlanta for $1500, and said that it should be no problem flying with four cats as long as Aeroflot and Delta (the operator of the NYC-ATL leg of the trip) approved it, and the cost would be $100/cat. They went ahead and made the reservation in my name, and submitted a request to Aeroflot and Delta for permission for the cats to travel. I was told approval for the cats might take several days, and that I wouldn’t have to pay for the tickets until then.

Then came the one problem I encountered at ATC: they don’t take credit cards! Now, obviously, on my salary, I don’t exactly have $1900 (ticket + cats) lying around anywhere. I also don’t have that much in the bank, and had been planning to pay for my ticket via credit card. I figured I could just go to the bank and use my credit card to get a cash advance for at least part of the sum. Now, the only time I’ve ever gotten a cash advance with my credit card was in 1995 (when I went to Costa Rica with Melissa and Brenda), and then I just went to the bank, they ran the card through the machine like it was a purchase, I signed the receipt, and they gave me my money. Apparently things have changed. Now one must have a PIN number, as with an ATM card. The first I knew of this was when the clerk asked me to enter my PIN number. I took a guess that it was the same PIN as my ATM card (as they were issued at the same time by the same bank), but apparently it wasn’t. After trying three different banks, I headed back to the internet café to call my bank. Well, it turns out I had never requested a PIN for my credit card, and as such didn’t have one. But, the only way they could give me a PIN over the phone was if I called from my home phone – the one registered to the account. They weren’t too phased by the “But I’m in Kyrgyzstan!” argument. They did say that they could send a PIN to my home address, which would take 3-5 days. My “home” address is actually my mom’s, so that wasn’t too big of a problem; I was waiting for approval from the airlines for my cats anyway.

By Wednesday I had yet to hear from ATC, so I walked up to their office. They told me that they had already received approval from Aeroflot for the four cats, and were just waiting to hear from Delta. Woohoo! And there was much rejoicing! (Who would’ve expected that Aeroflot would reply before Delta?)

On Friday I called ATC, and learned that “my” agent was off until “после завтра” (the day after tomorrow), which one would assume to be Sunday, except that I just called them and didn’t get any answer. Not that any of this is surprising or anything… I am in Kyrgyzstan, after all. I’m hoping that everything will coordinate such that by the time my mom receives (and emails me) my PIN number, ATC will have confirmation that the four furballs and I will be flying into ATL on November 2nd.

And just today I learned that an Aeroflot flight crashed in Russia, killing all aboard. NO PHYSICAL HARM. Sigh.

I am The Anti-Mullet!

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Metro, one of the local Bishkek restaurants which caters to ex-pats. (It's also home to the best burrito in Central Asia, which is its main draw for me...) Anyway, our waitress has a super awesome haircut, so I embarrassed her by asking if I could take photos of her hair. Anyway, today I went to the hairdresser and scored a fabulous anti-mullet. Hooray! Anyway, below are my pics of the waitress and then of myself. Enjoy!

ESL teachers needed in Russia!

The American Home, the school in Vladimir, Russia where I taught from August 2005-June 2006, is urgently in need of two teachers, as two of this year's teachers must return home due to family illnesses. It was a great place to work, and while the salary is not large, it is plenty to live on in Vladimir. If you are interested, please let me know.

Of [nearly] bra burning and early morning champagne

Wednesday, according to our “schedule” the power was supposed to be out from 6pm until midnight. It didn’t go out until 10:45pm, which I didn’t mind so much, but one wonders why they bothered making and disseminating a block by block power outage schedule. Yay, Kyrgyzstan. I was hanging out with my headlamp and numerous candles when I began to smell something (other than a candle) burning. The candle I’d had sitting on my plastic chest of drawers had burned a hole through the top of the chest and had ignited something inside my underwear drawer. Ooops. You’d think that after the Oh, holy shit, the plastic box is burning incident of 2005 I’d have learned to stop placing candles directly onto plastic surfaces, but obviously not. Luckily only one of my green headscarves (of which I have several) burned, and my entire selection of underwear was not lost.

Oooops.

Shortly after that I blew out the candles and went to bed… only to be awoken from my slumber at about 2:30am by a loud Crash! Bang! from directly outside my window, accompanied by a lot of shouting and swearing in Russian. After the crashing, banging and swearing continued for a few more minutes, I dragged myself out of bed to see what the racket was all about. For some reason a crew of five workers had picked that very moment to install a gigantic metal sign (to which billboards can be attached) directly outside my window. This involved large metal objects dangling from a giant, teetering crane, which were being smashed repeatedly (and accidentally) into the trees outside my window amidst much shouting: Come on! Come on! Come on! Sasha! Saaa-shaa! Dammit. Hell. Come on! Stop! Stop! Vanya, help Seryoga! Fuck! Lift it up! Lift it up! Gosha! Come on! Come on! I listened to Sasha, Vanya, Seryoga, Gosha and their foreman (the one doing the bulk of the shouting) crash, bang and curse for a full two hours before they managed to get the thing erected. Then they uncorked a bottle of champagne which they proceeded to drink outside my window before driving away. They left the empty bottle.

The view at 3am

The finished product by daylight.
Not even containing an advertisement, just an empty metal sign. Boo.

Lights out!

The above is allegedly the schedule for power outages for our block for the indefinite future. I say "allegedly" as it seems more of a rough estimate than an accurate schedule. For example, last night, when according to the schedule power should have gone off at midnight, we lost power at 10:17. Boo.

The tail end of my vacation...

Vacations are always too short, and this one was no exception. Tommorow we start working again... and I only have two more months here in Kyrgyzstan before starting the next stage of the adventure that is my life. I will be sad to leave Kyrgyzstan, but I am also looking forward to going home for a while. In preparation for my departure, I've acquired all the documents I need to get my four furballs back into the US, and I've gotten four adorable kitty passports from my Bishkek vet (which are needed in order to take my cats out of Kyrgyzstan.)

Aren't they cute?

Meanwhile, I had assumed that I'd be taking Heelix with me on the plane, while stowing the others in cargo... but she has grown at such an absurd rate that she is already bigger than Lucy! I can't imagine how big she is going to get.

Heelix is already big enough to get to the top of the wardrobe.
When I first got her, she was too small to jump on a stool!

Also, I learned that cats have "baby teeth" just like humans. I discovered this when I found a tiny tooth on my bed and then checked the internet to make sure Heelix wasn't suffering from some dental disease.

I found this quite fascinating, personally.

Today was Kyrgyzstan's Independence Day. We had hoped there would be horse games at the hippodrome, but alas, no such luck. The center square was packed full of people milling about, but not much seemed to be going on. Not the most exciting end to our vacation.

Ala Too Square, Bishkek, Independence Day 2008

In other news... I mentioned the Toktogul Reservoir and how low it's become in my last post. This is a problem for Kyrgyzstan as the country functions on something like 95% hydroelectric power. The Toktogul has been depleted partly due to over-use last winter when the country sucked down more electricity than ever before in our record cold winter, and partly due to the fact that a large percentage of Toktogul's water has been sold to Uzbekistan. Recently, the Kyrgyz president sold several hydroelectric power plants and the rights to their reservoirs to Kazakhstan! Check out the following pictures of the Orto-Tokoy Reservoir (near Kochkor), in the spring and then in the summer, following the sale to Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, rolling blackouts have started again with a vengeance.

Orto-Tokoy Reservoir in March 2008


Same place in Orto-Tokoy Reservoir, August 2008
(photo by Ben Scott)


And, irony of ironies, this sign appeared today in the center of Bishkek. It reads, in both Kyrgyz and Russian:
Yes, there will be peace and success in our fatherland!
And it's president Bakiyev next to a hydroelectric dam.

The Epic of Manas Chapter Two: The Song of Jaisan

[large size]

For ten days the wedding той of Manas roared on. The happy voices of young men and women singing flew through the air on wings like swings – селничек. The beasts made noises, подбадрывая warriors, mounting their stallions and wrestling with one another from horseback, or showing their strength by fighting “kurosh” – the traditional form of wrestling. Ликовал people listened to a competition of singers, who compelled their listeners to laugh until they shed tears of mirth.

Still on the first day of the celebration, Manas, seeing the impatience of his father to learn the details of the military campaign said to him, “Father, every man in this world has his vocation. Mine is to fight and defeat my enemies. I am not gifted with words. Listen, father, to the art of my comrade.” And with that, Manas sent for Jaisan.

The gods had given that warrior a great poetic gift, therefore everything about which he sang appeared fresh and new to those who heard it. Every day there came an hour when Jaisan began his song of the recent campaign of Manas.

Holding their breath, the people of the village listened to the tale of the legendary Khan Koshoye, who was possessed not only of gigantic strength and wisdom, but the gift of sorcery, a blessing which enabled Koshoye to take the appearance of the Chinese ruler of the city Dagalak Kyrmusa, thus assisting Manas in the capture of the city.

Jaisan moved his listeners with the tales of the battle of the Kyrgyz army in the country of Eset, of the conquest of the city of Mangyt, of the meeting of Odozdu and Bakai and of Bai’s sad demise. When Jaisan sang of these battles, it seemed to the people that the earth trembled from the hooves of unseen riders. When he described the torment of the army of Manas, trapped for ten days and ten nights in the harsh sun of the desert, the listeners felt their throats and lips parch as though in reality they themselves felt the burning of sun and sweat.

Jaisan easily directed the moods of his listeners. One moment all were happy and smiling, as if they, not the warriors of Manas, had reached the magical land of Aspaan, where flew flies the size of mice, and where mice were bigger than dogs, where flowed rivers of crystal, and where the thick grass was filled with slow moving turtles similar to giant cats.

Suddenly fear appeared in the eyes of the listeners, and many covered their mouths from terror as Jaisan began to tell of the captivity of six of Manas’s archers by a one-eyed giant. The listeners found themselves quite vividly transported to a dark cave, inhabited by the giant and the group of unhappy captives who waited for their terrible fate to be meted out by the bloodthirsty cyclops. Finally, the listeners happily exchanged glances with one another; the archers had succeeded in breaking free after one of them, Kutubee, had gouged out the sole eye of the giant.

Jaisan related to the people of Jakyp the tale of the strange Italians, where the women were beautiful – as if made of feathers – and where the men had the heads of dogs. He sang of the giant cannons of Dubrokhan, the rulers of the Dangyts who fought a great battle with the army of Manas.

The cannon of the Dangyts was called Urkerboh
It was pulled by six elephants
In front of it were twelve shooters who проха всыпали in its muzzle
Thirty strong men loaded the cannonballs
Every time the cannon fired, the city of the Dangyts winced,
The sun was shadowed in smoke and the earth rumbled
The sound of shots smashed through the thirty cities of the Dangyts
As the innumerable army of Manas gathered and advanced
Every day Jaisan finished singing at the most interesting place possible, when he had brought the passion of his listeners to its summit. The listeners always remained until the end of his tale, and would then implore him to impart what would happen next, but Jaisan remained unmoved. The people of the village waited impatiently for the next day and for the continuation of the tale, animatedly discussing what they had heard in the interim.

With particular inspiration, Jaisan sang of the battle of Manas and his army with the Chinese. His voice rang with the blows of steel blades. As if with their own eyes, the listeners saw a grandiose dramatization, as though they looked upon a painting of the battle.

Battle-axes slammed against heads
Найзы rang upon their chests with a clanking sound
Swords crossed with a ringing sound
Hands became callused, and muscles lost their strength
The troop of warriors overran the entire mountain
Embracing their weapons, archers fell, breathless
Найзы fell, crossed with spears
Warriors lay, pinned down
And with the crown on his head, the dead Khan fell

The complete history of the military campaign of Manas was told by the singer, as Jakyp and his men listened with their hearts. When he finished, they all thanked Jaisan most warmly for his art. [original text: page 1 page 2]

Summer Vacation: Osh and Arslanbob

[There are only a few photos below. The full set of 184 photos can be viewed HERE.]

Saturday morning, Katy, Joe, Ben and I took a taxi to Bishkek’s Osh Bazaar, from where we were able to hire a car to take us to Osh – the second biggest city in Kyrgyzstan, located in the south-west of the country near the border with Uzbekistan – for 5000som total, which was a pretty fair cost from what we’d been told to expect. It took us nine hours, and brought us through a wide variety of scenery, much of which was quite different from the typical scenery up here in the northern part of the country.


The road began to get interesting just south of Kara Balta.
I’d say the most interesting point of the trip was seeing firsthand the depletion of the Toktogul Reservoir, which is Kyrgyzstan’s biggest source of water and hydroelectric power… It is obviously much lower than it should be. The eastern edge of the reservoir is nearly bone dry, and while the larger western half is still quite full, the water level is far below the previous water line. That doesn’t bode well for Kyrgyzstan’s future.


The eastern end of the Toktogul Reservoir is bone dry.

Luckily there's still a lot of water in the larger western end.
You can clearly make out the previous water line though.
Following the reservoir, the Naryn River is funneled into a series of smaller reservoirs in a picturesque canyon, and they seem quite full, so perhaps things aren’t quite as bad as some estimates suggest. Nonetheless, country-wide rolling blackouts have started again in preparation for the coming winter.


One of the many Naryn River reservoirs.
Once we got out of the mountain passes and entered the eastern edge of the Ferghana Valley, the scenery became much less interesting: flat and hot. To me, the most remarkable aspect of south-western Kyrgyzstan was the lack of Ladas and other Soviet era cars and the sheer preponderance of Korean Daewoo Ticos, which as far as I knew were no longer produced, having been replaced by the Daewoo Matiz. There were Ticos *everywhere* (and a fair share of Matizes and other Daewoo models as well). Now, Bishkek has a high population of Koreans, but we didn’t run across any Koreans down south. But there were Korean cars all over the place… and I bought a lime green Jumong t-shirt in the Jayma Bazaar. Curiouser and curiouser. [According to wikipedia, there is a Daewoo plant just over the border in Uzbekistan, which goes a long way to explaining this madness.]


Why all the Daewoo Ticos???
When we finally arrived in Osh, we had a bit of difficulty finding our way to our CBT homestay as it was located on a tiny, obscure street in a far corner of the city. While the house itself was certainly the most luxurious house I’ve been inside here in Kyrgyzstan, and while the owners were nice, there weren’t enough beds, despite our reservations. Plus it was 750som/night/person, which is incredibly expensive for Kyrgyzstan. We were a little disappointed.

Nonetheless, we unloaded our stuff and headed into the town center. After a short after hours walk around the famous Jayma Bazaar, we found our way to a nice café for some shashlik, then returned to our homestay. While we didn’t spend much time in the city, we found the people friendly, and we felt that even though there wasn’t much to the city, it had far more character than Bishkek.

The next morning we said goodbye to Ben as he set off on his solo adventure to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and the three of us headed to the Osh center in search of cheaper accommodation. Joe found a place called Stari Gorod located on the corner of Kyrgyzstan and Zainabetinova streets which rents fully furnished apartments for reasonable fees. They have both new/modern apartments and older more Soviet style places. We rented a Soviet apartment in the center for 900som/night total (so 300som/person) which was an excellent deal. After leaving our stuff in our new home, we set off to explore the Jayma Bazaar on its busiest day of the week.

Jayma Bazaar is far more impressive than Bishkek's Osh Bazaar, and it lacks the seedy air of the Bishkek bazaar. Plus, even though there is no ancient architecture whatsoever, it was rather awe-inspiring to think that there has been a bazaar in that location for roughly 3000 years. All of the vendors were incredibly friendly, (although no one guessed that we were from America/Canada – I got asked if I was German, Czech, Belgian and even Spanish!) and they were nice to talk to and willing to be photographed. I bought two scarves, the aforementioned lime-green Jumong t-shirt, and an orange bridle. The man who sold me the bridle and I got along quite well once we determined we shared the view that George Bush was a svolich. Awesome.


The fellow who sold me the bridle.
We left the bazaar and made our way to Suleiman Too (Solomon Mountain, commonly called Solomon’s Throne in guidebooks). This mountain is revered as Muhammad supposedly prayed atop it. Additionally, people claim that the mountain resembles a reclining pregnant woman (although unless she’s planning to give birth to a very pointy baby, I don’t see it), so pregnant women and hopeful mothers frequently make the pilgrimage to the top to pray.


I just don't see a pregnant woman.
The climb to the top is steep, although the path consists of fairly new concrete steps with a rail, so it is not difficult and only takes about 15 minutes. Nonetheless, by the time we reached the top we were drenched in sweat and feeling rather miserable. From atop Suleiman Too you can see an aerial view of Osh, and that’s essentially it. There’s a small mosque at the summit, but it is a new structure and not too interesting. While Suleiman Too is the main “attraction” of Osh, there’s not much to it.


The view from atop Suleiman Too
After hiking back down and snagging some lunch, we rested in our apartment for a little while, then made our way to a nice park next to the “river” (more of a canal, in my opinion) that runs through the city. The park was a tree-lined pedestrian avenue filled with people out for an afternoon stroll, and there were many small cafes. Additionally, there were numerous ancient amusement park rides which were obviously very popular with people of all ages. At the end of the park sits an old Soviet-era Aeroflot plane which somehow used to serve as a video theater. The plane is at the base of a fountain which would make for excellent morning photography, but is impossible to shoot from the front in the late afternoon. After dining at a cheap café in the park, we returned to our apartment and spent the remainder of the day relaxing.

The next morning we arose early and headed to the bus station near the bazaar in order to catch a marshrutka (a van which passes for public transport in this country) to Jalalabad. The ride cost 100som/person and only lasted an hour and forty-five minutes, but was thoroughly uncomfortable. We got the last three seats on the marshrutka. I had a normal seat, but with someone’s child in my lap. Joe got a tiny stool in the aisle. Katy was squished into a tiny spot next to the fattest woman in all of Kyrgyzstan. By the time we reached Jalalabad, none of us was in the mood to attempt a marshrutka to our next destination.

After a quick lunch at the bus station, we negotiated a taxi from Jalalabad to Arslanbob. We got it for 1000soms (although it’s much cheaper if you go via public transport), and our driver got us all the way to Arslanbob in less than an hour. (He was a little mad; his method of dealing with obstacles such as pedestrians and livestock was to lean on both the horn and the gas at the same time and hope that whatever was in our way moved.)

Arslanbob is a picturesque village located in the mountains north of Jalalabad, and it’s known for having the largest walnut grove in the world. It’s also predominantly Uzbek. The scenery, forest-land and culture of the village made it seem almost as though we were no longer in Kyrgyzstan. It reminded me of a bizarre combination of Taos, New Mexico and an ocean-less Costa Rica. It might very well be my favorite place in Kyrgyzstan.


The view from our CBT homestay in Arslanbob
Our CBT homestay (for the fabulous price of 350som/person/night) was located at the upper edge of the valley, and we had a balcony with a spectacular view, which was an excellent place for a nap :-) Our host family spoke mainly Uzbek, with a smattering of Russian and even less English. Uzbek is quite similar to Kyrgyz (in the way that Spanish and Italian are similar), so we were able to communicate using the few Kyrgyz words that we knew. They were incredibly friendly, wonderful people. There was also a super tolerant cat, an incredibly lazy dog, and a beautiful flower garden. [Side note on pronunciation: A few of the differences I was able to notice with my pathetic Kyrgyz skills – jok (no) is pronounced yok, and jeti (seven) is yeti, and saat (hour/time) is sahat.]

After napping on our wonderful balcony, we decided to head into the village center for some refreshment. We had tea and samsa at an incredible tea house with balconies overhanging the river. The tea house was apparently the hang-out for the old men of the village, and I felt rather out of place as both a foreigner and a woman, but we were treated kindly by everyone there.


Me in the Arslanbob tea house
After finishing out tea, we made for Arslanbob’s small waterfall, which is a fairly short walk from the village. The afternoon was hot and sunny, and the waterfall was gorgeous and cool. Katy and I merely soaked our feet, whereas Joe did like many of the locals and stood under the frigid falls himself. Several locals came to the falls, not just too cool off, but to bathe/shave while we were there. Many Kyrgyz tourists came to the falls to be photographed. Some were brave enough to venture into the frigid waters… including one very scary large man wearing nothing but tighty-whities. Additionally, like Suleiman Too, the small waterfall of Arslanbob is surrounded by some sort of fertility myth and is visited by pregnant women and those wishing to become pregnant. Katy and I obstinately sat on cold rocks (a belief introduced into this region by the Russians that such behavior will cause your ovaries to freeze).


Arslanbob's small waterfall

Joe in the waterfall. Doesn't he look like Uncle Jim?
After leaving the waterfall, we wandered around the village for a couple of hours before returning to our homestay for a wonderful dinner of home-cooked plov.


Typical Arslanbob street
The next morning we got up fairly early, and after breakfast set off on what ended up being a rather lengthy hike. First we hiked back to the small waterfall. From the top of the small waterfall, if you take the trail farthest to the right it will lead you to a panoramic view of the village and the valley. We went there first and snagged some pleasant shots before it got too hot.


View from the panorama

Me at the panorama
Leaving the panorama, the trail is dusty and covered with small rocks. I lost traction and totally wiped out, crashing quite solidly onto the rocky ground. Apparently my instinct is to save my camera at all costs, for in the split second between losing my footing and slamming into the ground I managed to direct the force of my fall onto my left side while holding my camera free and clear of the catastrophe in my right hand. I was bleeding in several places and my hip ached tremendously from that moment onwards (it has since developed quite a spectacular bruise), and it took me a few minutes to stand up. As I sat there wiping off the blood and dirt, a young woman came by herding cows... and they lost their footing in the same place I had, and nearly slid onto me! Luckily they didn’t, although who dies from having a falling cow push them into a ravine? At least that would’ve left Joe and Katy with an interesting tale to tell. No physical harm.

After I was on my feet again we continued on and soon thereafter made it into the famed walnut forest. There were dirt “roads” through the forest, so we never felt as though we’d left civilization, although it was beautiful, shady and cool. When we emerged from the forest we were still feeling fairly energetic, and we decided to try for the large waterfall, despite the fact that we didn’t know exactly how to get there and we’d heard that it wasn’t all that spectacular. We took two rather lengthy detours in quite incorrect directions, and were feeling exhausted by the time we finally got on the right track for the falls. We could see it in the distance in all its non-impressive glory, and I for one was not encouraged by the sight of it. Or the vast distance between it and myself. I found a shady spot by the river and decided to stay there as Joe and Katy continued onwards… but when Joe joined the lazy Jane camp, Katy decided to give up the quest for the big falls.


Walnut forest

The views around Arslanbob were incredible!

I took a ton of photos of this house.

Ahhh, paradise!

That was the big waterfall. I just couldn't bring myself to go the distance.
After resting for a while (oddly enough, chatting with a couple we’d met at our first homestay in Osh who had picked the same shady spot to rest), we turned and made our way back to the village. Katy and Joe headed first to the small waterfall for a “shower” although I was in pain at that point and decided to seek out the cat for a nap. We had a fairly lazy afternoon/evening, but after all our trekking about in the first half of the day, we weren’t up for much else. And Arslanbob is the perfect place to relax.

The next morning, Katy and I said goodbye to Joe (who is now off to explore Tajikistan and Afghanistan) and hopped in a taxi for Bishkek, which we shared with two travelers (from Scotland and the Netherlands) who had also stayed at our homestay. The taxi was 1250som/person direct from Arslanbob to Bishkek, which should have been a good deal… but he was an odd fellow. When it came to navigating high, narrow, winding mountain roads filled with hairpin turns, he was a pro, keeping the gas pedal pressed to the floor while passing three cars at a time on blind uphill turns in the grand tradition of Kyrgyz drivers. However, the instant we got onto a flat, straight, traffic-less stretch of road – the ideal place for speeding – he would drop to 60kph and just crawl along. I felt like beating my head against a wall. Or offering to drive. It should have taken us only seven hours to make it back to Bishkek, but instead it took us nine with this weirdo. I simply cannot wrap my head around how someone who could drive so fearlessly through the dangerous mountain passes could then poke along like a half-blind grandmother on the straight stretches. Beyond comprehension.

Anyway, we got back safely, after having had a wonderful vacation. If any of you are ever in Kyrgyzstan, I highly recommend Arslanbob. The scenery is spectacular and different from the rest of the country, the people are incredibly friendly, and the CBT homestays are fantastic.

My full set of 184 photos can be seen online BY CLICKING HERE. I’ve only posted a handful here and I highly recommend checking it out!