Bishkek. Day 22

 Back to another inefficient travel day. Today being more inefficient than most.

At least it started well - tghe hotel has a particularly good buffet breakfast and we didn't have to assemble until 11am, so we had a leasurely start. It's only 20 minutes or so to the airport. But after arriving we discovered that our 1.40pm flight to Bishkek ion Kyrgyzstan had been rescheduled until 4pm and then further delatyed to 6.30pm. The initial rescheduling had occurred prior to today but it's not clear whether the guide should have been aware of that as the airline seems to have a record of rescheduling (or cancelling) without notifying people.

Either way - after some indecision most of us went back to the Hyatt where there were sufficient seats, food and drink and wifi. Actually that's where I am now, writing this as a way to pass the time until we head back to the airport and the usual rigmarole.

I'm picking up again at the end of the day... after a quiet afternoon reading in the hotel and then the late afternoon reading in the airport. We finally boarded a bit after 6pm and took off around 7pm. The good news was that the plane was only two thirds full, so we could spread out, and it was only an 80 minute flight. Though because it was dark we couldn't see anything.

Then on landing the customs and immigration formalities were quite staightforward. This is an auspicious start to the country. It is also cooler than the last three countries which will hopefully make exploring more pleasant. And I have internet access! While the cell connection's slow it at least exists for the first time on the trip. All the blogs have been written on intermittent hotel wifi.

Self-explanatory

Now we're in the Bishkek Novotel getting organised for tomorrow.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Map

Image
This is quite a complicated one - so I'll put in a couple of maps. The first is a static map, marking the number of nights in each place. Then there is an animation to give a bit more of a sense of how we move around... The video had to be replaced... our initial itinerary had us fly from Adelaide, through Doha to Istanbul where we spent a couple of days. But by early August the situation in the middle east was still uncertain and this meant that we were travelling through a country with warnings in place, so weren't insured for that part of the journey - and weren't insured anyway for any disruptions caused by war. We ended up changing our flights to avoid the UAE and fly through Singapore instead.  
Read more

Ashgabat. Day 5 afternoon

Image
 This afternoon we assembled in the foyer - the first time we really met the rest of the group - and went out on a bus to see the city. Apparently it's a Department of Tourism bus and driver. Not sure who the local guide is employed by, but I'm sure at the least he is licensed by the government. (update later in the evening - the Turkmeni local guide says the buildings are all fully occupied... the Uzbek tour leader says they were built as an employment project and many are completely empty.) Anyway, central Ashgabat is essentially marble buildings 10-12 stories high, surrounded by park. There are cars on the road but rarely people on foot and the buildings might be deserted - presumably the carparks are at the back. The people all live in white marble apartment buildings further out. Apparently people come out more in the evenings when it's cooler. Our first stop was the Independence Memorial. It was impressive and, apart from a couple of soldiers, we were the only ones th...
Read more

Karakol. Day 27

Image
 Not a lot happened today, which was fine really. It was essentially driving from the yurt camp on the south shore of Issyk Kul to Karakol at the eastern end. This was kind of painful; they seem to be upgrading most of the roads and so it was all uneven, gravelly potholed roads the whole way, just interupted by short sections where they'd got around to sealing it. It was still scenic - you can just see the north side of the lake where there is a continuous line of snow-capped mountain tops paralleling the shore. We stopped a couple of times at sort-of-scenic points (which involved turning up narrower but equally bumpy roads). The first time it was around eroded sand gullies. The second time there were large red rocks. Both were actually busy with tourists because this is apparently the touristy part of the country. As well as locals coming to the lake in summer, people come to hike in the mountains and there are snow fields in winter. It was about 3pm when we eventually reached Kar...
Read more