How to go from Bishkek to Tashkent

Happy Independence day Pakistan! So, what did I do to celebrate? Well...I got a mean headache, and felt real weak. I felt so exhausted, I could not even think about doing the drive from Bishkek to Osh, stay the night, then hire another car to the border of Uzbekistan and another on the opposite side to Tashkent. I felt like I had been on far too many rides, haggling and being cheated or worrying about what some jerk keeps in his car door or worse passenger door to make it look like it is ours or who decides to throw stuff through the window at night. So, Omar and I decided to just fly to Bishkek for about $150 more.

This is a vacation after all. We spent the day figuring out the logistics of all our travel plans, then bought or changed tickets. The four of us were exhausted as we shared a final dinner together on this trip at a place called NY Pizza. The pizza was very good and we were all grateful that we had each other to make this trip possible. I went to bed early that night.

Fun at the Osh Bazar

 

In the morning we got up and head down the street to a more modestly priced restaurant than we had seen before. It was upstairs and there was a recording of verses from the Quran being recited over the speakers (kirat). The place had a really calm and peaceful atmosphere. The family that ran it was very friendly. They led us to the kitchen and out back when we had trouble communicating ingredients for an omlette. The food was some of the best I have had in Kyrgyzstan. Afterwards, we head to an internet cafe where the guys had to tend to matters back home.

I uploaded some more blog stuff, then just hung out. Eventually Omar and I went to the Osh bazaar. It was okay, like many other bazaars we had seen, but the police were extra friendly. A pair of them called us over, then checked our documents, before introducing us to a group of their buddies working diligently on nothing to one side of the road, definitely not goofing off or anything. Likewise, we figured we should return the favor by going through all our belongings with them and then Omar stared at the mysteriously palmed 100 som note the one guy had held on to for safe keeping before he returned it. This happens all the time in Osh bazaar according to Lonely Planet. We expected it to occur far more often all over, but thankfully that was the only place and time during our stay in Kyrgyzstan.

After all that fun, we decided to walk back and wait for our other friends who aren't as polite about holding money for us. That evening we met up with some friends of Andy's who were very sweet to come hang out with us. We ate some delicious food together and called it a night.

Lake Issyk-Kol day 2

  

We woke up in the home that Gulbubu had found us a room in. The guys slowly got out of bed and we played some music for the family. The kids started dancing and it was a lot of fun just watching the funny things they did as we sang. Gulbubu kept explaining things to us in Russian and some of the grade school children who knew some English tried to translate bits of it. Either way, she had such a sweet and friendly laugh, like one of my aunts. She was so warm and sweet to us, that even after trying very hard to explain something to us, and then just receiving a blank look with no understanding from us, she would start laughing and try some more. It was a little sad saying goodbye to these sweet people, but I did record some video of something Gulbubu was trying to tell me. I'll try and find someone to translate it for me. Enjoy this video of our biggest fan, dancing away. Watch as her assistant comes in during the clip.

After that, we grabbed some food, played for the people in the restaurant then walked over to the beach and enjoyed a quick dip in the super cold water. The beach had some rides in an amusement park and typical fair type game stalls and food vendors. There was a weird pizza guy selling gross looking pizzas out of a box who didn't seem to take a hint or like it when I mimed that his pizza looked like barf. But he left eventually and so did we, catching a bus leaving for Bishkek. We played lots of music on the way back in the bus, and got here around evening. We head to the internet cafe, then barely made it back to the hostel for some beds that were not gauranteed. So plenty of stress later, we slept in our many times slept in by others beds, and enjoyed the sweet scent of stranger's sweat (one of many times) as we fell asleep.

off to Lake Issyk-Kol, Bollywood in Kyrgyzstan

The next morning we woke up, cleaned up a little and with the help of Andy's friend head over to the train station to get tickets to Lake Issyk-Kol. The lake is a scenic tourist spot, for locals as well as foreigners. After navigating several lines we were turned away to other lines, met a line cutter I dubbed "the Buzzard", then found out that the one and only train there was at 6am. Many friendly taxi drivers approached us repeatedly offering to drive us there for a princely sum. We declined, and one asked for Asel's phone number. I was sad that none of them took notice of me. We thanked Andy's friend Asel, and head over to grab a minibus (or as they call it, auctobus) to the bus station.Once there we got a price that seemed high, so we went the hostel we stayed at, a couple blocks from the bus station, sat down and played some music as we waited for a man there who offered a driver service. Twenty minutes, and twenty more minutes and then many more minutes later, we all ate, found out the bus was the better deal and head out to it once again. We had to wait for the bus to fill up with passengers before it would leave, so Andy and Omar decided to pull out their instruments and help the conductor get people on the bus. I joined after a while and we sang a whole bunch of songs and got a crowd around us. We even managed to make some ice cream money thanks to the generous donations of our audience into Omar's hat.Finally, after a very long time, we all boarded the bus, ice cream in our bellies and started down to the lake. I fell asleep, a bunch of times until we reached Bosteria, a popular section along the huge lake. We stepped out and there were people walking all over, returning from the beach, walking up and down the streets. We grabbed some food at a restaurant, found out the places to sleep on that section of the lake were very expensive, then started walking back to the main road to search for a better option.Along the way we saw an old man playing an accordian beautifully. We sat down and started playing music together. A crowd gathered, the sun started to go down, we had no place to sleep but we were having too much fun to care. He played a bunch of different songs, including an old Hindi movie song "Juta maira Japani, patloon hai Englistani, topi Turkistani par dil hai Hindustani." While we were playing we befriended a lady at a stall next door and some random drunk guy who kept trying to speak to us (like a small child speaking gibberish that sounds like sentences). We explained to the lady that we were looking for a place to sleep. She was really friendly and though we shared no common language, we started walking with her and so did the gibberish guy. She had really enjoyed a Junoon song we played called "Saeen". She turned out to be Muslim as well and as we walked we explained to her "Nyet Vodka" "Mussalman" etc and got away from the gibberish guy and ended up renting a room with her family for the night.

Al-Archa

 

 

We woke up and head out of the hostel to Andy's friend's place. She had very graciously offered to let us stay in her apartment. She seemed worried that the place would be too small, but I don't think she'd seen most of the places we have stayed at. Anyway, it always feels so much better to stay in a place where there is the warmth of friends. So we dropped our things off and head out to meet up with a few Turkish guy that Omar and Mike had met the previous day.Ali showed up at the bus station for us. He took us to a Turkish restaurant, and invited his friend Yusuf to join us. We ate some amazing Turkish food and got to know each other a bit better. We decided to go to Al-Archa where there was a beautiful canyon and river. It took us a while to figure it all out, but Ali was tired apparently from a long night of video games, so Yusuf who spoke English, joined us in a cab and the rest of us squeezed in the back seat. After about an hour or so we reached the outer gate and were convinced that we should walk the rest of the way.So, we started walking along a road for a bit, then Yusuf ran back to get the taxi to come take us the rest of the way. Reluctantly, the cab took us up to the river. We sat down next to it, relaxed and started playing some music. There was a Kyrgyz family having a picnic close by. The children came to check us out, then the grandfather came by and invited us to join them. We sat down at their picnic and they shared their food with us and we played more music. Some other people nearby came with cameras and there was a bit of a crowd there with young and old. It was so much fun playing for them. I don't really care much about singing for everyone in LA. I mean, it is fun, but I don't care for attention and there's shyness too when you're put on the spot in a group, but here with my friends playing music is a joy. Just like when I did it with friends back in high school, it was never about attention. To play music to people here is fun because there is a real sweetness that we share with people when we connect that way, across language and cultures. In many ways, to me it feels like we are saying thanks for being so nice or in other situations, just breaking down that barrier between being consumers on this trip and getting a bit more connected just as people.After a while, we parted ways, head back to the taxi and drove back to the Turkish restaurant. The cab guy wanted to charge us extra again, and we were all sick of getting overcharged by people, so we refused. We could tell that Yusuf was going to pay the guy to avoid any issues, and more than not wanting to pay the jerk, we didn't want Yusuf to pay him, so we paid the extra 100 som and walked back toward the restaurant. Omar and Andy sat down on the steps to play some music, Mike went off to use the restroom, and I walked down a couple stores to get over that annoyance. As I was walking, I heard some men speaking in Urdu. I turned and saw a group of men sitting at a table in front of a burger joint. I introduced myself and asked if they were from Pakistan. They were and invited me to sit with them. A few moments later so ice cream was brought out and I was offered one. I wasn't about to leave after that. I explained that the music they heard in the distance was from my other friends. We talked a bit and I shared some stories from our travels and they shared their stories as well. One man was visiting and the others all worked in Bishkek for a number of years. The ice cream was great and so was the company. Omar, Andy and Mike came looking for me and found me there at the table. The too were invited to join. So we put some tables together and sat down. They even placed an order at the Pakistani owned fast food place which does not serve Pakistani food, for some Pakistani food. Apparently the group hangs our there every day and they have the restaurant cook up some Pakistani dishes for them. Usually on this day they go out for a hike, but as our luck would have it, they didn't go today and so we were lucky enough to meet them.We sat for hours talking, playing songs, then eating, and talking and singing some more. Another wonderful experience with music.Afterwards, we head back to Andy's friend's place, gave her a run down of the day's adventures and went to sleep.

In Bishkek at last!

 

The next morning around 6:30am or 7am, we reach Bishkek and a hostel that had been recommended in Osh. It was very quiet and hardly any people were on the streets as we paid the driver the balance of what we owed and some money to help him with his windshield, not that it was our fault, but because it seemed like the right thing to do to Omar and I. We were all really annoyed by all that had happened, and just glad to be there at last. It felt like we had gone from misery at travel the night before, to really enjoying the day in Osh, to more miserable travel at the last night getting from Osh to Bishkek.The hostel was a house with some tents and yurts in the backyard. The staff was busily preparing food for the wedding of the two owners which was taking place that evening. We got information to take Andy to the hospital, and planned to but he decided not to at this time. Again some guy tried to tell us that we should have jumped out of the car and beat the guy up. He told us about a fight he had got into with some guy who said something to him while he was walking down the street and then a photo of a huge gash he got in his head as a result as proof of why we should have gotten into a fight. While his reasoning seemed sound, we decided his advice probably wasn't worth taking. There are a lot of macho jack asses in the world who put ego before the safety of those around them as well as their own well being. Mike, Andy, Omar and I grabbed some breakfast, then Mike and Andy returned to the hostel for some sleep. Andy and I decided to check out the town and sleep at night instead. We walked around, checked out a mosque, made our way toward the center of the city, and met of with a friend of Andy's from Kyrgyzstan. She took us around to a museuem of Soviet history, with statues of Lenin and many major occurences during his time. It was all pretty sad, until we got to the top floor that was focused on Kyrgyz cultre which was similar to Mongolia and very beautiful. The people at the stores on the first floor were really nice. One lady had me sit down once she learned I was an artist and asked me to make something on a piece of cloth. I drew some flowers on it and signed and gave it to her.We checked out some art in a park just before that also, and walked around an amusement park, ate some good food, then parted ways and returned to the hostel.I finally took a shower, and sat for a bit as we waited for Mike and Omar who had gone out while we were away, to return. They came back and we met up with Andy's friend and another friend of hers again for some dinner. She and her friend were so kind to us, that it really made us feel at home. For all the rough travel and some negative experience during the trip, it is all these beautiful places and even more important the kind people we meet along the way that makes it all worth while.After dinner we grabbed a taxi back to the hostel and got some sleep.

To Bishkek!

 The next day we woke up and paid for our room. After we talked to the guest house people about arranging for a car to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan's capital). They called back and said a car would be there in 30-40 minutes, so Mike and I walked over to pick up some food as Omar and Andy sat with the bags in the apartment complex courtyard and played music with a few kids as the start of the audience sitting on a bench across from them.We picked up some food to go, and again everyone we ran into as the day before was so kind and polite and went out of their way to help us communicate and make us feel welcome. We came back with food and saw that the crowd had grown significantly. There were children dancing happily, and some adults standing around, smiling, including the owner of the apartment we stayed in, who was smiling by the door of the building as Andy and Mike played. I sang a little and we wrapped up with the kids playing around with the instruments a bit. A Pakistani and an Indian medical student who were roommates had come by and joined the crowd while Mike and I were purchasing food. I talked to both and they were very friendly, inviting us to come eat with them and telling us lots of invaluable information about the area. We would have loved to join them, but were just about to leave the city. Perhaps we will see them on the way back. I've met so many nice peopel travelling like this, and getting email addresses etc along the way.Our car arrived and we loaded up, then drove off. Along the way we took out our nan and kabobs to get some food in us, as beautiful mountains streamed past. Things were looking good. The car was fast, the road was good and the scenery, as usual, beautiful. After a while, the car started to stutter. We kept making stops at the side of the road, eating with some British travelers, getting to know our driver through our limited communication, listening to tapes. Several times we stopped and just walked around until the car got settled down a bit, until we reached an autoshop run by children on the side of the road. We stayed there for many hours as they went to get some clean gasoline, then drained the contaminated gasoline and refilled it. We played music and made friends with the kids who worked there. The river water there was very clean and good. By now it was night and we were far behind in getting to Bishkek. It seemed at this point that we weren't destined to have much luck with transport on this trip. Still, we were very grateful that it was much better than the horrible ride from the border into Osh, so everyone was patient and in good spirits. It was dark by the time we got back on the road. We passed more rock, and went through a very long tunnel, as we all tried in vain to sleep. Suddenly I heard a loud crash and a 7-8 inch piece of concrete fell next to my foot in the back seat. Andy told the driver to keep going, and we got out of there quick. At first I thought a rock had dropped from above, but noticed that we were surrounded by trees. We drove a ways from where the rock had smashed through the windshield then stopped to assess the situation. It turned out that Andy opened his eyes, just in time to see a 20 or so year old man throw the rock into the windshield from the side of the road. He barely moved out of the way and the rock scraped his hand and the side of his head. All of us were covered in fragments of the windshield. We checked Andy out. It was dark everywhere. The driver called another car and decided he wanted to go back. Andy had said to keep going at the time because we had no idea if there were more people waiting in the dark or if this guy had some other kind of weapons. The driver drove back to find this guy with us in tow. As we reached there, another man had already grabbed a kid who seemed to fit the description. There really wasn't anyone else out at that time, so it seemed likely that he was the culprit. He even had the same color red shirt that Andy had seen, but he could not be absolutely certain and we could not accuse someone not knowing for certain. So we let the kid go and the two men (our driver and the other car driver who had turned up to help) communicated to us in gestures that they thought we should have jumped out of the car and beat the guy down. Sound logic in a pitch dark place, where we don't speak the language and the law can't be trusted any more than the bandits who roam about at night. We drove on down the street, not quite understanding what they were all saying. At a row of roadside stalls in the dark, our driver picked up some tape to cover up the gaping hole in the windshield that Andy had been covering up with a cloth propped up by his feet to try and keep sand like glass from getting into our eyes. Meanwhile a brawl was taking place a few stalls down from us and a bunch of cars pulled up around us. Our driver didn't seem worried, but we all felt we needed to be cautious. I found some odd things in the car, so we all tossed them out at the next spot we stopped at as our driver taped up the windshield unaware of us.From there the ride was tense and silent in the dark.

Osh: Welcome to Kyrgyzstan

 

No one could sleep or sit still, or relax for the entire ride. Finally, we reached Osh at about 6:20AM. Plat wanted his money right away and we explained that we needed to check into a hotel first. We hunted around for one, and he got us close by but then just panicked instead of being of any help. Of course he was extremly exhuasted and paranoid about whether he would be paid. I felt bad for him, but I was also pretty mad that he refused to listen to us or communicate his thoughts in an efficient way so we could listen to him properly. Language barrier or not, he really didn't make it any easier on us. Still, I tried to set his mind at ease and explain what we were doing each step of the way, looking for the guest house. No one would let us call, whether because it was not possible or it was expensive to them I do not know. Finally, we met an excited woman who worked for a restaurant there that was just starting to prepare for the day. Her name was Sonia, and she head all her front teeth in gold, as we would find many people in Osh have. She walked around with Andy and I to find the Osh Guesthouse. The directions in the book started at a trash heap and went to one of the apartment buildings in the vicinity. So we walked around in the early hours of the day. Sonia asked some people questions in Russian, but no one knew. Finally I found a sign, and from there eventually the trash heap. She called the place and we met Ali, who told us they were full but kindly started calling around to find another place to stay. These places are basically apartments that people own and rent out to guests as added income. He walked back with us to the car and explained the situation to Plat as we awaited a call from one of his associates regarding a room. Plat apparently was cursing and said some nasty things to Ali, who calmly related this to me in English (not the actual cursing, just the situation). He told us Sonia requested some money for her help, so we gave her a dollar and she told us to come back to te restuarant. I think the money was for phone use, which may be very expensive in Kyrgyzstan. I'm not sure yet.Finally we somewhat calmed Plat down long enough to pay him, get our things and thankfully bid him farewell. It's no wonder we didn't take him up on his offer to take us further to Bishkek the next day. No thanks.Ali on the other hand was very calm and sincere in helping us. This was his business, but unlike many people we had met, he knew how to conduct his business in a manner that made you want to come back. The city had not quite awakened yet, and it felt pretty uncomfortable after that nasty entry into the country. Ali introduced us to an apartment owner how was just finishing cleaning up the place for our use. There was no electricity yet as it was turned off every night and then came back in the morning. We were very grateful and they were very relaxed about the fact that we would change money and pay them later. So got the key and collapsed on the beds for a few hours. I awoke a while later, and took a cold shower and woke the guys up so we could see the city some before leaving the next day as we planned. With the sun up and some rest it seemed a lot more pleasant.We went back to Sonia's restaurant for some food. There were all kinds of kababs, and we figured out what was what by making animal noises. Sonia was hilarious and more than happy to help us non-Russian speakers. After some food, Andy tried contacting his friend's friend in Osh, then we walked down the street through a bazaar, looking around until we got to Soloman's Throne, which is a rock hill with a small room on top. We played some music at the base and more than made our admission money back. Omar, as a joke opened up his drum case and people put money in as we played. After a few songs we said thanks to the people and walked up the stairs to the top. My legs sort of quivered by the time I reached the top. Too much tiredness. The view of Osh was very beautiful. In the room there was an old Muslim man speaking in Russian. Along the way to the top there were rags tied to trees. Local people believe that the Prophet Mohammad prayed here once, though I have never heard of him travelling here. Expecting mothers tie rags in hopes of improving their fertility as some say the hill has the shape of a reclining pregnant woman (I didn't notice that). Afterwards we walked back down and checked out a 3 story yurt which was a museum of folk crafts and traditional Kyrgyz clothing. There were beautiful wall hangings made of felt and some musical instruments and other interesting crafts. From there we crossed the street and entered a place called the Art Faculty. All the rooms were closed inside, except one where I found two people with a sound mixer and computer. I asked if they were musicians (mausikaar) and they nodded, so of course we sat down and played music with them for a bunch of hours, before heading out to dinner with the pair. They were both music teachers there, and we had a lot of fun playing music and acting things out to communicate outside of that. At dinner we laughed a lot and talked, before heading to an internet cafe. One of the guys at the internet cafe wanted to communicate to me so we talked a bit using google translate to go from Russian to English and back again. The electricity went out (as it does at that time every day in Osh), so we took a taxi back to the hotel. I don't think it is safe to be out at night, particularly as we don't speak the language, and it is very dark all around, so we went back and slept.