Umai Hotel Bishkek

... on 19th October and enter Russia 20th October. I cannot extend my Kazakhstan visa. That will be interesting! <br> At the lodgings Mihi, a Romanian biker, has just arrived. He has been to Mongolia. We swop notes. He hopes to get a visa for Uzbekistan tomorrow. I have doubts.<br> I spend a pleasant evening having a Chinese meal with Remco and Petra, a Dutch cycling couple, Patrick, my German friend, and Emmanuel, a Swiss cyclist.

... be able to cycle the remaining 80 miles or so before dark at 7.30-ish (as Jonathan would leave K-S the next day). So a mashtruka it was. These are minibuses that most people seem to travel in, cost very little, and have bad drivers. Thankfully, the driver kept his eyes on the road long enough to deliver me plus bike to Kaji-Say in time. Hurrah. <br><br>I am probably now highly radioactive, as not only was Kaji-Say a big Soviet uranium mining operation for a ...

... I take it with me the next day to drink along the way. I have to say that it may have found a new home far enough out of town to minimise the risk of offending him. <br><br>So, anyway, cooking up/eating the pasta/soup/whatever else I put together (nom nom nom) when in comes Almat, a guy who was hitting part of a van with a hammer earlier. A brief look in the phrasebook, and he proclaims 'Happy Birthday'. Turns out it was his birthday, and he and his Kazakh mates wanted me to ...

... flurry of action as we all flipped through our images to delete any 'naughty' pictures. By naughty, I do not mean of the bedroom kind - in China, a naughty picture is one that does not show 'great and glorious China.' So in other words, pictures of soldiers, barbed wire and impoverished communities (which pretty much sums up our 13 days in Xinjiang) do not really show great and glorious China. After 2 hours there, we drove to the next checkpoint, then the next, then the next, then the ...

... our whimsical travel planning, we decided to check it out that night and inviting the American boys, headed off in a 'taxi' to find the lake on our dubiously remembered directions. We were lucky to make it as the road quality disintegrated in the last 10km and our elderly driver got into an altercation (and almost fight!) with a group of brusque Kyrgyz boys blocking the track, coming away from the lake after a day on the vodka. This was our first ...

... au hasard : affiches a tous les carrefours, distributeurs de tracts, annonces hauts-parleurs... Dans les banques, les guichets fermes affichent un portrait du president. Comme si chez nous a la poste, au lieu de la perpetuelle annonce "guichet momentanement ferme" on avait une affichette "Votez Sarkozy au gros zizi".<br>Bon allez, je vous livre le scoop : Bakiev sera elu a pas moins de 90 pour cent et la tripotee d'observateurs internationaux nous aura coute bon bon : voila tout ce qu ...

... at night- this factors stipulate thermal activity.<br>The southern part of valley (from Kyzyl-Su river till ridges of Zaalayskiy range) is wider and has piedmont relief crossed by many rivers. The range has the height in average of 6000-6500 m. And the crown is Lenin Peak (7134 m). At the paraxial part of the range, high-mountain relief is strongly pronounced with narrow valleys, covered with glaciers and high Rocky Mountains.<br><br>Some about the ...

... twirling shadows streaming down its slopes. "Khan-Tengry" &#8211; "The Master of the Sky" in Mongol language, from time immemorial is known to native local inhabitants, Kyrgyz, as "Kan-Too" &#8211; "Blood Mountain" ("kan" means "blood", "too" - "mountain").<br>First scientific account on the Peak dates to the middle of the 19th century when Khan-Tengri had been seen and described by notorious Russian explorer of the ...

... area of Western Tien Shan is regarded as very attractive in the region, owing to its immense valleys and peaks exceeding 5000 metres. We make our way in picturesque valleys, cross several passes that lead to great canyons, cloudless alpine lakes and foamy mountain rivers. We&#8217;ll visit the large valley of the Chatkal river with a pristine nature. Twice we&#8217;ll cross the Chatkal ...

Our Flight from Tashkent to Bishkek <br><br>Our Uzbekistan Airlines flight from Tashkent to Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan crossed the lower part of Kazakhstan over massive broad acre farms before touching down at Manas airport, Bishkek. Our flight was two hours late and having come from the bureaucratic nightmares of Tashkent airport we faced with some trepidation the long queues at Manas. Once again, and because we do not have a relevant embassy in ...