Tired of hanging around Bishkek waiting for our Tajikistan visas to get sorted out, we loaded up our bikes and headed out on a short warm-up/test drive to the nearby Ala-Archa canyon. Only 40km from the city, it was the quickest way to get out of the smog and into the mountains and would give us a chance to make sure that our bikes were in good working order and that we had all of the camping gear that we needed.
It ended up being a pretty ambitious venture. People often ask us what we do to get ready for a trip like this. Do we bike all the time at home? How to we train? The truth: we don't... I mean really, what better way to train for cycling for 8-10 hours a day and riding over high mountain passes on rough roads than doing just that? So this trip was sort of meant to be 'training'.
And if "No pain, no gain" is really true, then we gained a LOT on that little adventure. In the 40km from Bishkek to the park, we gained over a kilometer of elevation, and then another 600m on our hike the following day! If that isn't training, I don't know what is!
Still, the long slog to the park was well rewarded with wonderful mountain scenery in the steep valley, fall colors, ibex sightings and incredibly clear starry skies at night!
Now, we're even more excited to really hit the road and see the rest of this country...
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Maps
Here are the best maps that we could find of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for those that want to follow along.
We have finally learned better than to draw lines on them since our plans change more often than our bike shorts (which is probably less often that it should be!). Instead, each time we leave a large-ish centre where we have internet access, we'll let you know where we're headed next.
With our Tajik visas finally and firmly in hand, we're heading out tomorrow morning around the north shore of Issik Kul lake to Karakol. The next updates (and hopefully more exciting ones) will be from there in about 5 days.
Christine & Jodie
We have finally learned better than to draw lines on them since our plans change more often than our bike shorts (which is probably less often that it should be!). Instead, each time we leave a large-ish centre where we have internet access, we'll let you know where we're headed next.
With our Tajik visas finally and firmly in hand, we're heading out tomorrow morning around the north shore of Issik Kul lake to Karakol. The next updates (and hopefully more exciting ones) will be from there in about 5 days.
Christine & Jodie
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
How to get a Tajikistan Visa (cont'd)...
Step 16: Drop off passports at the embassy and tell them that a letter of invitation will be faxed there soon. Get out of town for 2 days, knowing that your visa will be ready when you arrive.
Step 17: Come back to the city, go to get your visa and learn that your letter of invitation was never sent.
Step 18: Hurry to an internet cafe to see what the problem is...learn that you gave the wrong code to the person who was going to write a letter.
Step 19: Realize that you lost the code. Phone Western Union and learn that they cannot give you the code.
Step 20: Have another beer at 11am to calm your nerves.
Step 21: Have someone translate a note for you into russian explaining that you sent money last week and need the code again.
Step 22: Go to Western Union and get the code. Email the man.
Step 23: Get confirmation that your letter has been sent.
Step 24: (this is now day 8 of this project!) Go to the embassy and get the visa!
Step 25: Do a happy dance and ride your bike back to the hotel with no hands, singing loudly :)
Step 17: Come back to the city, go to get your visa and learn that your letter of invitation was never sent.
Step 18: Hurry to an internet cafe to see what the problem is...learn that you gave the wrong code to the person who was going to write a letter.
Step 19: Realize that you lost the code. Phone Western Union and learn that they cannot give you the code.
Step 20: Have another beer at 11am to calm your nerves.
Step 21: Have someone translate a note for you into russian explaining that you sent money last week and need the code again.
Step 22: Go to Western Union and get the code. Email the man.
Step 23: Get confirmation that your letter has been sent.
Step 24: (this is now day 8 of this project!) Go to the embassy and get the visa!
Step 25: Do a happy dance and ride your bike back to the hotel with no hands, singing loudly :)
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Tajikistan wins the president's cup 2008!
It was a tense game. With kyrgyz flags flapping, drums pounding, horns sounding and the crowd cheering, "Nada! Nada! Nada!" (goal! goal! goal!), the national soccer team put up a good fight. The game was tied 1-1 at the end of regular time, the same after 2 extra times and it finally went to penalty kicks. Everyone was on their feet and cheering loudly (or boo-ing when the Tajiks kicked) but unfortunately their enthusiasm wasn't enough (nor ours) and the Tajiks took it.
A bit of a disappointment, though we still had a great time cheering with the crowd and being taught how to cheer in Russian :)
Christine
A bit of a disappointment, though we still had a great time cheering with the crowd and being taught how to cheer in Russian :)
Christine
Saturday, September 20, 2008
How to get a Tajik visa in Bishkek (in 15+ easy steps)
Step 1: Spend two and a half hours riding around the suburbs of Bishkek on your bike (dodging people, busses, cars, and manholes without covers) with a scrap of paper with a street name on it, and trying to follow directions given in a clear-as-mud mix of russian, kyrgyz and sign language.
Step 2: Arrive at embassy just in time for it to close for lunch, back track to the nearest food stand and enjoy some delicious samsas while waiting for it to reopen in an hour and a half.
Step 3: Fill out necessary forms and hand them in, only to be told that Canadians now need a letter of Invitation from a tourism company in Tajikistan (this wasn't the case about a month ago).
Step 4: Return to the city centre and spend the rest of the day searching for a tourism company in Bishkek that could help us get the letter. Find none.
Step 5: Eat and Sleep, business hours are over and there's nothing you can do until morning. Sleep in a -30 down sleeping bag in +25 degree heat in order to escape the mosquitos in your hotel room.
Step 6: Continue the search for a letter of invitation, this time via internet. Frantically email all of the english-speaking tourism companies in Tajikistan for help.
Step 7: Become so frustrated that you take a break over a cold pint of beer (9 %) at 11am.
Step 8: Get a reply from Tajik Tourism that they will write the letters for 50 USD each, wired through Western Union. Get your hopes up that everything will work out before the weekend (this is Friday afternoon, by the way).
Step 9: Return to the embassy to hand in our applications and tell them that a letter will be faxed to them soon. Once again, arrive just as it is closing for lunch (at a different time, we didn't really make the same mistake twice).
Step 10: Eat pizza (it's the most common food around here!) because you've been on such a rat race that you're starving.
Step 11: Begin the search for a Western Union, following the same method as to find the embassy. Finally track down a Western Union sign, only to find that there is no longer actually a branch there.
Step 12: Return to the embassy. Determine through some rough hand gesture and even rougher russian that lunch was actually turning into a full day affair and that we'd better come back on Monday.
Step 13: Race back to the city centre to continue the search for a Western Union. Arrive just as they're closing at 5:00. Consider crying, but laugh instead.
Step 14: Eat and sleep. It's the weekend now and there's nothing you can do until Monday.
Step 15: Stumble accidentally upon an open Western Union on Saturday morning when you're not even looking for one (we were actually looking for a toilet since the water and power in our hotel were off). Wire the money for the letter of invitation. One small success!
To be continued(on Monday, when we can go back to the embassy)......
Step 2: Arrive at embassy just in time for it to close for lunch, back track to the nearest food stand and enjoy some delicious samsas while waiting for it to reopen in an hour and a half.
Step 3: Fill out necessary forms and hand them in, only to be told that Canadians now need a letter of Invitation from a tourism company in Tajikistan (this wasn't the case about a month ago).
Step 4: Return to the city centre and spend the rest of the day searching for a tourism company in Bishkek that could help us get the letter. Find none.
Step 5: Eat and Sleep, business hours are over and there's nothing you can do until morning. Sleep in a -30 down sleeping bag in +25 degree heat in order to escape the mosquitos in your hotel room.
Step 6: Continue the search for a letter of invitation, this time via internet. Frantically email all of the english-speaking tourism companies in Tajikistan for help.
Step 7: Become so frustrated that you take a break over a cold pint of beer (9 %) at 11am.
Step 8: Get a reply from Tajik Tourism that they will write the letters for 50 USD each, wired through Western Union. Get your hopes up that everything will work out before the weekend (this is Friday afternoon, by the way).
Step 9: Return to the embassy to hand in our applications and tell them that a letter will be faxed to them soon. Once again, arrive just as it is closing for lunch (at a different time, we didn't really make the same mistake twice).
Step 10: Eat pizza (it's the most common food around here!) because you've been on such a rat race that you're starving.
Step 11: Begin the search for a Western Union, following the same method as to find the embassy. Finally track down a Western Union sign, only to find that there is no longer actually a branch there.
Step 12: Return to the embassy. Determine through some rough hand gesture and even rougher russian that lunch was actually turning into a full day affair and that we'd better come back on Monday.
Step 13: Race back to the city centre to continue the search for a Western Union. Arrive just as they're closing at 5:00. Consider crying, but laugh instead.
Step 14: Eat and sleep. It's the weekend now and there's nothing you can do until Monday.
Step 15: Stumble accidentally upon an open Western Union on Saturday morning when you're not even looking for one (we were actually looking for a toilet since the water and power in our hotel were off). Wire the money for the letter of invitation. One small success!
To be continued(on Monday, when we can go back to the embassy)......
Friday, September 19, 2008
Nightmare in Urumqi
Our flight to Urumqi, the second stop on our long journey to Bishkek was 3 hours late. It had taken some time to convince the immigration officials at the Beijing airport that we didn't need a visa because we promised not to leave the airports there or in Urumqi and we'd be out of the country within 24 hours. We tried desperately to get some sleep while we waited for the flight, but with no one able to communicate with us in English to tell us what time the plane was expected, we had to keep an ear open for announcements and an eye on our departure gate. I had a migraine and my pills were all in the checked luggage. By the time we finally reached Urumqi, we'd been up for well over 30 hours and it was the middle of the night local time.
We were quite shocked when they kicked us out of the airport because it was closing for the night. Technically, we weren't legally allowed in China at all. So when 5 friendly taxi drivers tried for nearly an hour to convince us to go to a hotel to sleep for a few hours before our flight, we kept smiling but refusing. If we were going to be hassled about not having visas, we wanted to be as close as physically possible to the airport....and so we sat on top of our luggage, right outside the door all night until it opened at 6:30am.
And then the fun really started. My bike box had to be searched before we could get in the door, then we had to pay nearly $200 at 2 different offices before they'd let our bikes on the plane. The fact that we had to pay didn't bother us nearly as much as the rudeness of the airport staff who wouldn't even try to understand our sign language or communicate with us at all beyond yelling "pay money!" and shouting directions in their own language.
Sweating and physically and mentally exhausted, we finally battled our way through security and sat down to enjoy some noodles - our first meal in far too long...only seconds before we were called to board. We scalded our mouths trying to wolf down as much food as we could before the lign-up disappeared, then got on one last plane to Kyrgystan.
Despite hitting an all-time low on the way there (tearfully wondering why we were doing this to begin with), we were hugely reassured as soon as we arrived at the Bishkek airport. The people here are so incredibly friendly and polite and helpful - we are sure that travelling around this country will be wonderful!
Christine
We were quite shocked when they kicked us out of the airport because it was closing for the night. Technically, we weren't legally allowed in China at all. So when 5 friendly taxi drivers tried for nearly an hour to convince us to go to a hotel to sleep for a few hours before our flight, we kept smiling but refusing. If we were going to be hassled about not having visas, we wanted to be as close as physically possible to the airport....and so we sat on top of our luggage, right outside the door all night until it opened at 6:30am.
And then the fun really started. My bike box had to be searched before we could get in the door, then we had to pay nearly $200 at 2 different offices before they'd let our bikes on the plane. The fact that we had to pay didn't bother us nearly as much as the rudeness of the airport staff who wouldn't even try to understand our sign language or communicate with us at all beyond yelling "pay money!" and shouting directions in their own language.
Sweating and physically and mentally exhausted, we finally battled our way through security and sat down to enjoy some noodles - our first meal in far too long...only seconds before we were called to board. We scalded our mouths trying to wolf down as much food as we could before the lign-up disappeared, then got on one last plane to Kyrgystan.
Despite hitting an all-time low on the way there (tearfully wondering why we were doing this to begin with), we were hugely reassured as soon as we arrived at the Bishkek airport. The people here are so incredibly friendly and polite and helpful - we are sure that travelling around this country will be wonderful!
Christine
"Hello!"
Despite all of our stress and headache trying to get here and then to get visas sorted, it's the little moments make this all worth while:
-We were sitting beside all of our gear in the dark outside the airport in Urumqi when a van drove by; we'd been watching the driver unload parcels for an hour or so and he had been too shy to come over and talk to us. When he zoomed by us he leaned out the window and yelled, "Hello! Welcome to China! Bye-Bye!"
-Yesterday as we were walking to dinner we met a group of young children just getting out of school. As they got closer they were looking at us and talking and giggling. Finally one of the boys said a loud "Hello!" and then they all laughed and kept saying it... I replied with a "How are you?" and they all took off running and yelling "How are you! How are you! Hello! How are you!"
-Last night, again walking we heard someone behind us say hello, and turned around to see two Turkish students offering a handshake saying, "Hello, can we meet you?" We talked with them for a bit. They were shy but excited to get a chance to practice their english. They told us how all of their textbooks for computer programming were in english and they realized how important it is.
It is challenging to be in a country where you do not speak the language, but all of these moments make us smile and remind us why we are here. They also encourage us to try that much harder to practice learning the local language. It is so much fun to hear someone putting themselves out there while trying talk to you!
-Jodie
-We were sitting beside all of our gear in the dark outside the airport in Urumqi when a van drove by; we'd been watching the driver unload parcels for an hour or so and he had been too shy to come over and talk to us. When he zoomed by us he leaned out the window and yelled, "Hello! Welcome to China! Bye-Bye!"
-Yesterday as we were walking to dinner we met a group of young children just getting out of school. As they got closer they were looking at us and talking and giggling. Finally one of the boys said a loud "Hello!" and then they all laughed and kept saying it... I replied with a "How are you?" and they all took off running and yelling "How are you! How are you! Hello! How are you!"
-Last night, again walking we heard someone behind us say hello, and turned around to see two Turkish students offering a handshake saying, "Hello, can we meet you?" We talked with them for a bit. They were shy but excited to get a chance to practice their english. They told us how all of their textbooks for computer programming were in english and they realized how important it is.
It is challenging to be in a country where you do not speak the language, but all of these moments make us smile and remind us why we are here. They also encourage us to try that much harder to practice learning the local language. It is so much fun to hear someone putting themselves out there while trying talk to you!
-Jodie
Thursday, September 18, 2008
We made it!
I don't know if we could have chosen a tougher place to get to in the world! 30 (quite unpleasant) hours in transit, but we're here and we can already tell that Kyrgyzstan is going to be a wonderful country to travel around. The people are very friendly and helpful and the mountains that we saw on the flight in were incredible!
We've spent the last 2 days running all over town trying to sort out visas for either China (not going to happen) or Tajikistan (proving to be difficult, but we're working on it) so we haven't had time to sit down and blog or upload pics. We promise they're coming though, before we head out on the bikes.
We've spent the last 2 days running all over town trying to sort out visas for either China (not going to happen) or Tajikistan (proving to be difficult, but we're working on it) so we haven't had time to sit down and blog or upload pics. We promise they're coming though, before we head out on the bikes.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Update
Last week, Jodie and I met up in Vancouver for a one-day visa-getting and trip-shopping marathon (chauffered by Corey - thanks!). Project #1 was appyling for our Chinese visas. No problem...just show up at the consulate at openning time and we'd be good to go. Or so we thought. When we showed up, we saw the beginnings of the line. We asked someone where to go and were told, "through the hall, down the stairs, out the door and down the back alley." "Ha ha ha," we laughed. But it was no joke. I guess the first person in line got up at 5:00am. Showing up at 8:30am set us back about 200 people...
So we left. Visa-less. With our only option being to pick up the visas the morning of our flight, we didn't want to run the risk of not being early enough in the line and not getting our passports back. Fortunately, our flight takes us to Kyrgyzstan first, where we know we can get a visa at the airport. From there, we'll be at the mercy of the Chinese embassy in Bishkek...who, by all reports, still aren't issuing visas to foreigners because of the olympics.
But fear not! Chronic planner that I am, I'm alreay looking into back-up plans. We could stay in Kyrgyzstan and get to know just about every road in the small little country or there's Tajikistan to the south, that is supposed to be even more mountainous...
So we left. Visa-less. With our only option being to pick up the visas the morning of our flight, we didn't want to run the risk of not being early enough in the line and not getting our passports back. Fortunately, our flight takes us to Kyrgyzstan first, where we know we can get a visa at the airport. From there, we'll be at the mercy of the Chinese embassy in Bishkek...who, by all reports, still aren't issuing visas to foreigners because of the olympics.
But fear not! Chronic planner that I am, I'm alreay looking into back-up plans. We could stay in Kyrgyzstan and get to know just about every road in the small little country or there's Tajikistan to the south, that is supposed to be even more mountainous...
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
The Plan
Coming up with a general route for this trip over the past couple weeks has felt almost as exhausting as riding the route will be. It wasn't very convenient for us to want so badly to visit China and Tibet right after the Olympics. Tourism has been very restricted since March of last year and with the legal status of travelling in Tibet changing on a whim at the best of times, it just didn't seem worth the risk of ruining our trip to plan on going there and get turned back.
So there's a new plan...one that, after a bit of research (a whole lot of google-earthing and blog-reading) and letting go of the idea of Tibet, we're just as excited about.
Voila:
We leave Vancouver on September 15th and after a quick (30-hour!) hop across the ocean and most of another continent, we land in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan (I just love spelling it) has a lot of the same appeal that Tibet did: huge mountains, nomadic traditions, friendly people and lots of rural culture. We'll spend up to a month exploring that country, making our way towards the border of China where we'll cross into Xinjiang province along the historical Silk Road.
Once in Xinjiang, we've got a few options based on the weather. The climate there is much like here, and being in the mountains, we could have to reroute a bit if passes are closed due to snow. We hope to take in a section of the Karakoram Highway (the southern loop on the map, where we can see some of the world's highest peaks, including K2), visit the Taklimakan desert (third largest in the world) and hopefully ride over an impressive pass in the Tian Shan mountains before ending up in Urumqi (pronounced 'a room key'). This province of China won't be at all like what we all consider 'Chinese'. The people in this province (actually an autonomous region) are mostly muslim and they are more ethnically similar to their neighbors in the former Soviet Union than the rest of China.
So that's the plan. Subject to as many changes as we need to keep the adventure rolling...that's all part of the fun!
So there's a new plan...one that, after a bit of research (a whole lot of google-earthing and blog-reading) and letting go of the idea of Tibet, we're just as excited about.
Voila:
We leave Vancouver on September 15th and after a quick (30-hour!) hop across the ocean and most of another continent, we land in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan (I just love spelling it) has a lot of the same appeal that Tibet did: huge mountains, nomadic traditions, friendly people and lots of rural culture. We'll spend up to a month exploring that country, making our way towards the border of China where we'll cross into Xinjiang province along the historical Silk Road.
Once in Xinjiang, we've got a few options based on the weather. The climate there is much like here, and being in the mountains, we could have to reroute a bit if passes are closed due to snow. We hope to take in a section of the Karakoram Highway (the southern loop on the map, where we can see some of the world's highest peaks, including K2), visit the Taklimakan desert (third largest in the world) and hopefully ride over an impressive pass in the Tian Shan mountains before ending up in Urumqi (pronounced 'a room key'). This province of China won't be at all like what we all consider 'Chinese'. The people in this province (actually an autonomous region) are mostly muslim and they are more ethnically similar to their neighbors in the former Soviet Union than the rest of China.
So that's the plan. Subject to as many changes as we need to keep the adventure rolling...that's all part of the fun!
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