The Stans 2026

 Perhaps Bishkek doesn’t have much to recommend it. Certainly we didn’t stay very long. But a man we were chatting to at lunchtime said that in Uzbekistan the cities are good but the countryside is unattractive, and in Kyrgyzstan it’s the opposite. All I know is that this morning we mostly saw communist statues and then headed out of town. Their biggest statue, next to their big flagpole, is of their mythic hero Manas. But further back there is Lenin, Marx and Engels. The walking was actually quite pleasant though, and I think we would have enjoyed more of the sightseeing the last few weeks if it’d been 10 degrees cooler. Lenin Anyway, the 14 tourists are now in two minivans and we headed east, along the border with Kazakhstan. For lunch we stopped at a local farm. We had to walk through the farmyard, which definitely smelt agricultural, but the food was actually very good.   Then we went to Burana tower. Kyrgyzstan has very few old buildings as they were all nomadic for a...

 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 i...