DAY 3, FRIDAY OCT 2 2015, FROM BISHKEK TO OSH
We are up at 5;30 a.m. to make the 12 hour drive from Bishkek to Osh, the drive that Jamshed made in reverse to get to us and then all the hassle with the Tajik visas. The whole day spent in the car ended up being 18 hours plus. I was in Slava's white van. The door in the back does not open from the inside. I thought it might be a child proof lock but could never find anything to release it. So everyone in that van always had to wait for someone in the front seat to get out and open the door.
Slava and Anatoly spent yesterday driving back and forth to Almaty, Kazakhstan
. This morning, we are setting off on another road journey of many hours with the same two drivers. They are drinking red bull already. Is it any wonder that I always put on my seat belt in foreign countries. Somehow, thinking if we crash that the door will manage to pop open on its own.
But we are off onto mountain roads to make this run to catch up to the schedule. There are some great views in the mountains and we have some wonderful stops for photos but also some horrid stops for toilets. Toilets in these countries are always awful. Many times it is just better to find a bush than to find an actual toilet which is never more than a hole in the ground inside a shed that has often been missed. Often we had to stop to let livestock get out of the way, sheep, goats, horses (rarely) and cows. Never saw any pigs anywhere
We did make it to Osh safely, finally. We stayed overnight at the Sunrise hotel. It was the hotel that was on the program. Instead of eating at the hotel though, we got our rooms and gathered in 10 minutes to go out to eat. What a mess. It was something that should have been avoided because we were all so tired and not in a good mood. I don't remember where we went but we were in a room by ourselves and everyone had to choose from the menu and the food came out slowly and the drinks slowly so it got later and later and finally the bill
. The bill was all in one, of course. So people were trying to find the menus (of which only 2 were in English) and when some of the people were told the price of their meals, the prices were different than in the menus. I think part of the problem was Jamshed didn’t do very good math. And since it wasn’t in English, nobody could check him.
He told everyone what they should pay and people were putting in money and taking out change, etc. I think I paid enough. Most of us were on the street waiting for the drivers and Jams to come out and they were all still at the table to I walked back and pretty much exploded. When they said they didn’t have enough money, Walking Australia and I both volunteered to pay the difference just so we could get out of there and get back to the hotel and sleep. I think that shamed them into paying the rest themselves but W.A. and I both put in more money just so we could leave. The long day was finished.
DAY 4 SATURDAY OCT 3 2015 OSH TO SARY TASH
Breakfast at the hotel was good. Wish we’d had dinner here. We leave at 9 and we walk to the market. People are loving us asking to take photos
. What a change from some countries like India where they want money if you take a photo. We spend a lot of time walking through the market. Jams agrees to meet us at the front at a certain time. I stay with my roommate, Walking Australia, Wales, Mauritius, and London. We lost New York and Australia couple shortly after we got into the market. We are mostly in the food sections. We wander quite a long way through the market and finally get to what we think might be the end. We are taking photos the whole way and people are being just lovely about it. But we had all wanted handicrafts.
As we are walking by one building that looks to be recycled goods, there are several men in camies that are getting out of a truck and going into this store. Maybe they are soldiers and maybe not but they very emphatically gestured that we were Not to go into this building! We didn’t but it made it very alluring to check out this building.
As we get to the end of the market, we have bought a few things between us, including some fruits and some candies. One woman gives me some of her cabbage to taste which was quite good but sure didn’t need to be eating it in the car.
We head back to the front of the market
. I get some juice. We get back to the meeting point just before time to be there – about 20 minutes – so Mauritius and Wales and Canada go to walk around a bit more and see if they can find the handicrafts and say they’ll come back to get us. They don’t show back up so we walk off to find them and run into Jamshed who was coming to get us and shows us where the handicrafts where which was across the street and across a bridge and through the meats and into a corner of the market and voila!
Now we are finding things we want and bargaining and purchasing and before long, it is past time for us to be at the meeting place. We finally finish our purchases which included slippers for the bath, pillowcases, local hats, magnets and head back to the meeting place. Along the way, we pick up Aussie Couple who had ducked into a shop for tea. The only one not with us at this point is New York. When we get to the meeting point, she is not there either and we are ½ hour late. I’d have been pissed and she was definitely. She managed to convey to one of the stalls there that she was going back to the hotel. We walk back to the hotel and stop on the way to exchange our money to get some Tajikistan currency and then to the hotel to pack up our suitcases and away for Sary Tash.
New York is there and pissed and in this instance, we don’t blame her
. Jamshed should have gone to the meeting point to get her and bring her back to the handicrafts. So we have to stop for her to exchange money and then we are away to the Lenin statue in town and then to the museum which is on top of the hill overlooking Osh.
We park in the lot and walk up the hill which takes about 10 minutes. Wasn’t such a bad walk. We are told that we must pay ourselves to get into the museum which I thought all museums were covered. Oddly enough, the website no longer has this tour listed so I can’t go back and check right now. After all the problems we had, I’m not surprised.
Anyway, we all paid and went into the museum. What was funny was the price is listed as triple the cost for foreigners as it is for locals but we didn’t see that at first. What we saw was a price saying 50 Som and as we walked up to the ticket lady, she pulls out a sign and places it in front of her desk saying 150 Som. There was supposed to be an extra charge for using a camera as well but other people were walking around using their cameras so we all did as well without paying.
The museum is on three floors and it’s up stairs for each floor, long flights of stairs but I’m managing ok. There isn’t really much English at the exhibits but some so we can sort of figure out what things are. There is a group of Kazakhs in the museum busing taking photos of themselves in front of just about every exhibit and they got involved with us and soon we were all taking photos of each other. It became quite fun to get in their photos and for them to get into ours
. There were also some Tajiks with them as well and we all became one happy group of tourists enjoying the museums and the views and the photos. .
We are finally done with photos and looking over Osh from the balcony of the museum. Jamshed tells us it is time to leave and points out the path but as we are walking down to the level of the ground floor, he finds the English guide that was supposed to tell us what the museum was about so we are back into the museum, at least some of us, to listen to the English guide. I just sat with the ticket taker and watched everyone else go around the bottom floor again.
Once done with that, apparently we had to walk across the side of the mountain to get to the cars as they had moved to the other parking lot. This was a very long, long, long, long, long walk on a sidewalk from one side of this mountain overlooking Osh to the other side. It was about a 3 km walk up and down. I was well in the back and watching the rest of the group climb up and out the other side when we came to a very small stone slide where some ladies were sliding down this rock slide of about 10’ long. Canada says she must try it too and after her first slide down it, Jamshed tells her she must do it 7 times for luck. As we are not going to tempt fate by not doing it the required amount of times, she did it 7 times and I faithfully recorded each slide which was about 3 snaps per slide. So 21 photos later, we are ready to finish our walk across the side of the mountain and up the cliff at the end to then walk down to the level where the cars started which is in a park that has a three story yurt.
We look at the yurt from outside and look in the door but it doesn’t seem worth it to pay to go inside
. The cars are there and ready for us to drive on to Sary Tash so some of us get some ice cream then hop into the cars and we stop for lunch in town and then drive to Sary Tash which isn’t as long today thank goodness.
There are good views along the way and we stop for photos. Usually the cars are within sight of each other so when one stops for photos the other pulls in behind and stops for photos or potty breaks. We are still in the mountains though when the sun sets so we see the sun go down over the mountains but from the car, it is hard to get good shots.
We are in a rest house tonight. Think the difference between a guesthouse and rest house is how primitive is the toilets. This rest house wasn’t too bad as far as the rooms go but it is pretty much sleeping on mats on the floor. There are three in our room and New York is in the room with Canada and me.
The drivers had brought in a bottle of vodka which they freely shared shots with everyone so we had some shots. The lady of the rest house also made her own strawberry jam which was delicious. I asked Jamshed to see if she sold any as often times these places supplement their income by selling their handicrafts or their food goods. She told him no that she didn’t but in the end, before we left, she gave me a jar of her strawberry jam which I managed to get home and use for a couple of times before it fermented on me and went bad but it was delicious.
We are up at 5;30 a.m. to make the 12 hour drive from Bishkek to Osh, the drive that Jamshed made in reverse to get to us and then all the hassle with the Tajik visas. The whole day spent in the car ended up being 18 hours plus. I was in Slava's white van. The door in the back does not open from the inside. I thought it might be a child proof lock but could never find anything to release it. So everyone in that van always had to wait for someone in the front seat to get out and open the door.
Slava and Anatoly spent yesterday driving back and forth to Almaty, Kazakhstan
. This morning, we are setting off on another road journey of many hours with the same two drivers. They are drinking red bull already. Is it any wonder that I always put on my seat belt in foreign countries. Somehow, thinking if we crash that the door will manage to pop open on its own.
But we are off onto mountain roads to make this run to catch up to the schedule. There are some great views in the mountains and we have some wonderful stops for photos but also some horrid stops for toilets. Toilets in these countries are always awful. Many times it is just better to find a bush than to find an actual toilet which is never more than a hole in the ground inside a shed that has often been missed. Often we had to stop to let livestock get out of the way, sheep, goats, horses (rarely) and cows. Never saw any pigs anywhere
We did make it to Osh safely, finally. We stayed overnight at the Sunrise hotel. It was the hotel that was on the program. Instead of eating at the hotel though, we got our rooms and gathered in 10 minutes to go out to eat. What a mess. It was something that should have been avoided because we were all so tired and not in a good mood. I don't remember where we went but we were in a room by ourselves and everyone had to choose from the menu and the food came out slowly and the drinks slowly so it got later and later and finally the bill
. The bill was all in one, of course. So people were trying to find the menus (of which only 2 were in English) and when some of the people were told the price of their meals, the prices were different than in the menus. I think part of the problem was Jamshed didn’t do very good math. And since it wasn’t in English, nobody could check him.
He told everyone what they should pay and people were putting in money and taking out change, etc. I think I paid enough. Most of us were on the street waiting for the drivers and Jams to come out and they were all still at the table to I walked back and pretty much exploded. When they said they didn’t have enough money, Walking Australia and I both volunteered to pay the difference just so we could get out of there and get back to the hotel and sleep. I think that shamed them into paying the rest themselves but W.A. and I both put in more money just so we could leave. The long day was finished.
DAY 4 SATURDAY OCT 3 2015 OSH TO SARY TASH
Breakfast at the hotel was good. Wish we’d had dinner here. We leave at 9 and we walk to the market. People are loving us asking to take photos
. What a change from some countries like India where they want money if you take a photo. We spend a lot of time walking through the market. Jams agrees to meet us at the front at a certain time. I stay with my roommate, Walking Australia, Wales, Mauritius, and London. We lost New York and Australia couple shortly after we got into the market. We are mostly in the food sections. We wander quite a long way through the market and finally get to what we think might be the end. We are taking photos the whole way and people are being just lovely about it. But we had all wanted handicrafts.
As we are walking by one building that looks to be recycled goods, there are several men in camies that are getting out of a truck and going into this store. Maybe they are soldiers and maybe not but they very emphatically gestured that we were Not to go into this building! We didn’t but it made it very alluring to check out this building.
As we get to the end of the market, we have bought a few things between us, including some fruits and some candies. One woman gives me some of her cabbage to taste which was quite good but sure didn’t need to be eating it in the car.
We head back to the front of the market
. I get some juice. We get back to the meeting point just before time to be there – about 20 minutes – so Mauritius and Wales and Canada go to walk around a bit more and see if they can find the handicrafts and say they’ll come back to get us. They don’t show back up so we walk off to find them and run into Jamshed who was coming to get us and shows us where the handicrafts where which was across the street and across a bridge and through the meats and into a corner of the market and voila!
Now we are finding things we want and bargaining and purchasing and before long, it is past time for us to be at the meeting place. We finally finish our purchases which included slippers for the bath, pillowcases, local hats, magnets and head back to the meeting place. Along the way, we pick up Aussie Couple who had ducked into a shop for tea. The only one not with us at this point is New York. When we get to the meeting point, she is not there either and we are ½ hour late. I’d have been pissed and she was definitely. She managed to convey to one of the stalls there that she was going back to the hotel. We walk back to the hotel and stop on the way to exchange our money to get some Tajikistan currency and then to the hotel to pack up our suitcases and away for Sary Tash.
New York is there and pissed and in this instance, we don’t blame her
. Jamshed should have gone to the meeting point to get her and bring her back to the handicrafts. So we have to stop for her to exchange money and then we are away to the Lenin statue in town and then to the museum which is on top of the hill overlooking Osh.
We park in the lot and walk up the hill which takes about 10 minutes. Wasn’t such a bad walk. We are told that we must pay ourselves to get into the museum which I thought all museums were covered. Oddly enough, the website no longer has this tour listed so I can’t go back and check right now. After all the problems we had, I’m not surprised.
Anyway, we all paid and went into the museum. What was funny was the price is listed as triple the cost for foreigners as it is for locals but we didn’t see that at first. What we saw was a price saying 50 Som and as we walked up to the ticket lady, she pulls out a sign and places it in front of her desk saying 150 Som. There was supposed to be an extra charge for using a camera as well but other people were walking around using their cameras so we all did as well without paying.
The museum is on three floors and it’s up stairs for each floor, long flights of stairs but I’m managing ok. There isn’t really much English at the exhibits but some so we can sort of figure out what things are. There is a group of Kazakhs in the museum busing taking photos of themselves in front of just about every exhibit and they got involved with us and soon we were all taking photos of each other. It became quite fun to get in their photos and for them to get into ours
. There were also some Tajiks with them as well and we all became one happy group of tourists enjoying the museums and the views and the photos. .
We are finally done with photos and looking over Osh from the balcony of the museum. Jamshed tells us it is time to leave and points out the path but as we are walking down to the level of the ground floor, he finds the English guide that was supposed to tell us what the museum was about so we are back into the museum, at least some of us, to listen to the English guide. I just sat with the ticket taker and watched everyone else go around the bottom floor again.
Once done with that, apparently we had to walk across the side of the mountain to get to the cars as they had moved to the other parking lot. This was a very long, long, long, long, long walk on a sidewalk from one side of this mountain overlooking Osh to the other side. It was about a 3 km walk up and down. I was well in the back and watching the rest of the group climb up and out the other side when we came to a very small stone slide where some ladies were sliding down this rock slide of about 10’ long. Canada says she must try it too and after her first slide down it, Jamshed tells her she must do it 7 times for luck. As we are not going to tempt fate by not doing it the required amount of times, she did it 7 times and I faithfully recorded each slide which was about 3 snaps per slide. So 21 photos later, we are ready to finish our walk across the side of the mountain and up the cliff at the end to then walk down to the level where the cars started which is in a park that has a three story yurt.
We look at the yurt from outside and look in the door but it doesn’t seem worth it to pay to go inside
. The cars are there and ready for us to drive on to Sary Tash so some of us get some ice cream then hop into the cars and we stop for lunch in town and then drive to Sary Tash which isn’t as long today thank goodness.
There are good views along the way and we stop for photos. Usually the cars are within sight of each other so when one stops for photos the other pulls in behind and stops for photos or potty breaks. We are still in the mountains though when the sun sets so we see the sun go down over the mountains but from the car, it is hard to get good shots.
We are in a rest house tonight. Think the difference between a guesthouse and rest house is how primitive is the toilets. This rest house wasn’t too bad as far as the rooms go but it is pretty much sleeping on mats on the floor. There are three in our room and New York is in the room with Canada and me.
The drivers had brought in a bottle of vodka which they freely shared shots with everyone so we had some shots. The lady of the rest house also made her own strawberry jam which was delicious. I asked Jamshed to see if she sold any as often times these places supplement their income by selling their handicrafts or their food goods. She told him no that she didn’t but in the end, before we left, she gave me a jar of her strawberry jam which I managed to get home and use for a couple of times before it fermented on me and went bad but it was delicious.
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