Trip Issues 9

I went to the Pakistan embassy here in Bishkek to apply for a visa.  My plan was to just drop off the application, but oddly enough I was called back to see the Ambassador for an on-the-spot-interview. Typical questions were asked to include: anticipated date of transit, mode of transportation, path, entry and exit points, who would be joining along, my religion, etc,. etc. etc.  The Ambassador and his assistant took particular interest on my planned route, which seemed logical, until he strongly suggested, more like insisted, that I take a route that would bring me through Afghanistan.  After kindly explaining to him that I was not interested in driving though an active war zone, he again pushed his point informing me that my intended route, China, is boring, and that Afghanistan is much more scenic.  I was a little baffled by the suggestion, as was his assistant.  I am not sure if he was trying to get me to admit that I had been to Afghanistan before (which I had, but did not admit to), or his nice bubbly demeanor was a ruse to have me killed off by either the Taliban, Al Quieda, ISIS, or possibly all three simultaneously.  The interview lasted 45 minutes, and at the end, he told me that he did not see an issue with getting a visa to transit his country, I just needed a letter from the US Embassy stating that they did not object to the transit.

So,  I registered for the next next possible appointment at the US Embassy, which was three days later.  I went in through three security check points, all aware of my visit, to meet with Embassy personnel.  I explained the situation, and they flat out refused to provide a letter.  Their response, "they can look it up online and see that we do not restrict our citizens travels."   I explained to the representative that this is their country and their requirement..  And again, in an ignorant, albeit pleasant manner, I got the response "We are the Department of State, we do not write letters."  Nor support US Citizens abroad, apparently.

So, after multiple attempts (this post is "Trip Issues 9" and all of the other "Trip Issues" posts involve Pakistan), at multiple embassies, I am foiled by my own government.  This seems that I will have to transit the 600 miles by air (Tajikistan to India).  This sucks.

Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan

After running around Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) obtaining visas, bike repairs, shipments from home (thanks Mike), and other nit-picky things, I decided to head out of the City and see what makes Kyrgyzstan one of the most beautiful places on the planet.  The country in this Country is wild, untouched, and serene with amazing landscapes on all sides.  The trip brought me all the way out to Karakol, a small little town on the eastern side of Lake Issyk-Kul.  The ride out was long, slow going, but scenically rewarding.  

Tian Shan Mountains

The only negative part of the trip were the dozens of police traps.  Notice I didn't say speeds traps, because that is not what they were.  The traps mostly consisted of pulling over luxury automobiles (Mercedes, Lexus, etc.).  Probably a good time to point out the the police here are quite corrupt.  Their approach is quite similar to Colombia, Peru, Bosnia, well, all corrupt police, they ask for your documents, accuse you of a made up charge, then hold your documents hostage for cash.  Typically the amount "requested" is $200-$400 (always in US currency).  I usually argue with them, cause chaos, wear them down, and then after 45 minutes of this, I get my documents back without paying up, and then I go on my way (I did end up in jail once using this approach).  So here in Kyrgyzstan, I was pulled over twice on my way up to the Lake, once for going 78 kph in a 60 kph zone (I was actually doing around 40 kph), and the second time for doing 20 kph over the speed limit, when I asked what was the limit was, the cop looked confused and responded with the same answer, "20 kph over the limit," My theory was that he basically had no idea what the limit was where the trap was set up.  During the shake down, I walked over as he was "shooting" other cars, and his speed gun was not even turned on.  My theory was pretty much proved.  On the first stop, the cops (three of them) and I went through the routine, I handed over my documents, heard my charge, informed it was only payable in cash, and then came the amount, "five -hundred...," oooooh damn, I stared getting instantly mad, about ready to pounce and call him out for being corrupt and preparing myself for battle, and then he said "...som," which is the local currency.  The three man shake-down team took for me $6.45.  I just paid, it wasn't worth the 45 minute argument.   I got wise on the second stop, and just handed him 200 som (less than three dollars), retrieved my documents, and left.  Integrity is apparently pretty cheap here.  Weirdest shake downs of my entire trip.  

-

Lake Issyk Kul and Tian Shan Mountains

Lake Route

Back in Bishkek, I went to a local small motorcycle shop (all motorcycle shops here are very small and out of the way) to buy a new battery.  The owner was very nice and invited me to his motorcycle club's house for dinner.  I met many individuals, all very cool, interested and supportive, and they are helping me map out the most scenic route for a Kyrgyzstan/Tajikistan three week tour. Apparently, passable roads, accommodations, food and fuel are very difficult to come by in this part of the world, so this is very valuable information and should lead to a fantastic trip.  More to come.

Leg Distance: 646 mi (1042 km)
Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 26,717 mi (43,091 km) 

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan

Tamgaly Tas, Kazakhstan

Tamgaly Tas (aka Big Buddha Rock) was an open-air sanctuary where religious rituals were once held by wandering Buddhists.  In total, the series of canyons in the area feature around 5,000 petroglyphs from the Bronze Age through the Medieval era.  Today, the area is an adventure site for campers, hikers and me. 

The site is located about 70 miles outside of Almaty and is best accessed via an off road vehicle.  The site gets is name(s) from the petroglyphs located on the canyon walls (see pic below).  The name, Tamgaly Tas, literally translates to “ written rocks, stones with signs.”  The Kazakhs use the location for a day trip escape from Almaty or a nice spot to set up and camp by the river for a couple of days.  It really is a wonderful little spot.

Big Buddha Rock (hue has been changed to make the Petroglyph more legible)

Leg Distance: 136 mi (219 km)
Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 26,071 mi (42,049 km) 

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan

Overview of Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan was a country I new little about and had no plans on visiting while on this trip.  All that changed when I was denied a visa to Pakistan and had to scramble to figure out a path through this part of the world.  The Country has just started opening their borders to foreign tourists and there are few blogs discussing the country from a travelers point of view.  So here is a quick rundown of what I learned on my trip through Uzbekistan.

Entering and Exiting

The country requires a visa for most foreigners, and the fee appears to be reciprocity for what Uzbeks are charged to apply for a visa to the applicants country.  In the case of Americans, it it is $162 for a 30-day single-entry visa.  I applied at the embassy in Azerbaijan and the turn-around time was 4 days.  The e embassy was easy to deal with.

Border control was relatively quick (approx 30 minutes for entry and 20 minutes for exit), organized, and very cordial.  As a tourist, I was provided preferential treatment.  The search was the most exhaustive I have been through, and I have crossed over 200 borders in my travels.  Customs officers looked though everything, by hand and with dogs.  They looked at each one of my prescription medications with an attentive eye.  They wanted to see copies of the prescriptions and wanted to know what was the purpose of each drug.  Things were getting dicey until I pulled out pictures and descriptions of each drug, and a letter from my doctor detailing my illness.  They kept a copy of the letter.

Fun Fact:  Uzbekistan is a double land-locked country.  So not only are they landlocked, but all of the countries that border Uzbekistan are also land-locked.

Money and Credit Cards

The money in Uzbekistan has been devalued so much that the largest bill is worth about $6 and the lowest is bill is worth about a penny. Since all transactions are conducted in cash, this can be a real issue.  I changed money at the border and ended up with about a pound of money in exchange for a single  $100 bill.  To make the situation even more screwy, credit cards are not accepted in the Country.

Equivalent of 100 USD

Due to the devaluation of the S'om, ATMs can not use the currency and instead dispense US Dollars.  However, merchants don't typically accept US currency, so the money has to be converted into local currency.  So, to buy something, you have to convert your purchase price from Uzbek S'om to US dollars, go withdrawal that amount from an ATM, find an exchange location and exchange it into the local currency, get a document that proves to customs that you exchanged the money at an approved location instead of a black market exchange, go to the cashier at the store where you wanted to buy the product, hand them the load of money, wait while they count it all out, and then you can have your product.  In other words, commerce is not easily conducted in Uzbekistan.

Fun Fact: A decent hotel can go for as little as $12, diner for about $2, a steak with fixings at a nice restaurant is about $3.75, a medium pizza is about $2, and an ice cream cone is about $0.12.

Roads and Gasoline

The roads, basically all the way from the western border to Nukus are just crap and really can not be classified as roads.  From Nukus east they start to get better and become quite good as Tashkent is approached.

Typical road for hundreds of miles

Gasoline is a MAJOR issue.  There are no gasoline stations from Benyeu, Kazakhstan (45 miles west of the Uzbek border) to Nukus.  The total run is over 320 miles, and even the guys with the adventure models will have pack gasoline.  I had to again pack gasoline on my trip from Khiva to Bukhara.  There are four types of fuel in Uzbekistan, and in order of prevalence they are: propane (LPG), methane, gasoline (benzine), and diesel.  With regards to gasoline, there are primarily two octanes, 91 and 80, with the former only available near cities.  

Fun Fact: Over 60 percent of all cars in Uzbekistan are made by Chevrolet (a US company), and 90 percent of those are white. 

Route Through Uzbekistan

Police

I had heard nightmares about the Police.  To be honest, I had absolutely no issues, and I found them to be quite polite and accommodating.  There are dozens of police check points and I was pulled aside for document review just once.  The officer spent two minutes on my docs, and 10 minutes asking about the bike and my trip.  I am pretty sure that was why I was stopped in the first place, as the document check portion of the stop seemed more like an afterthought.

People

The people were some of the nicest that I have encountered in all my travels.  The Uzbekis are polite, helpful and very friendly.  People offered their space in the front of queues in stores and gas stations (I never accepted), kids waved and chatted, hundreds of people asked questions about the bike, or gave me the thumbs up when they drove by.  I know the country has made a big push for tourism and it is quickly becoming a big industry for them, and I am not sure how this affected their friendliness, but regardless, it was welcome and seemed quite genuine.

Bizarre Fact:  Wife kidnapping still takes place in Uzbekistan.  In one province, 20 percent of women become wives through means of kidnapping.

Sightseeing

The Country is flush with UNESCO world heritage sights, but they all seem to be very similar.  All Madrases (religious schools) and minarets were built 500-600 years ago.  Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand are the primary tourist cities, with my favorite being Bukhara. Tashkent experienced a major earth quake back in 1966 and lost most of their attractions.  As such, the city has mostly modern buildings

Summary

I enjoyed Uzbekistan.  Not sure I would make it a destination vacation, but I am definitely glad things worked out that I had the opportunity to visit this little known about part of the world.  

Charyn Canyon, Kazakhstan

Charyn Canyon is located about 140 miles (226 km) outside of Almaty (just a few miles from China), and with a new roadway system, it is a very easy run from the City.  The Canyon has become somewhat known to adventure bikers when Charlie and Ewan ventured down onto the floor during their Long Way 'Round TV series.  Numerous other adventure bikers have vlogged and blogged about the Canyon; it has almost become a mandatory stop when passing through Kazakhstan, a cliche in the making, albeit a very beautiful cliche.    

The Park is not that well visited, but does have some tourist traffic.  I visited on a holiday, weather was 70F and sunny, and there was maybe a dozen people milling about, mostly to shoot pictures in the "golden hour."  Charyn Canyon looks very similar to the Grand Canyon in the US, almost like a scale model  (Grand Canyon averages 10 miles in width, whereas the Charyn Canyon is maybe 0.25 miles across).  The similarity is not lost on the locals.  After my motorcycle with the Florida licence plate was spotted, two questions were inevitably asked: 1) Do you like the Canyon?  2) Not as nice as the Grand Canyon, is it?  I was somewhat surprised that they knew about the Grand Canyon, or at least knew enough about it to be able to draw a comparison.  But they did (schools here run 10 months a year and 6 days a week, so the average Kazakh receives more schooling than we do in the US).  Overall the park was enjoyable.  Great hiking and nice scenery.  

Trip Map

Leg Distance: 1,141 mi (1,840 km)
Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 25,935 mi (41,830 km) 

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan