Ala-Archa Canyon

Bishkek is fortunate enough to have a world class mountaineering playground only 30kms from its city centre. Ala-Archa National Park contains more than 20 glaciers and over 50 jaggered peaks.

With the number of the correct marshrutka in mind, and our overnight packs decked out with supplies for the next few days, we swung by the Kazakhstan Embassy to collect our visas, before intending to jump on the marshrutka and head for the hills.

We had submitted our applications over two weeks ago and were told our visas would be ready the following Thursday. So it should be ready, right? 

Wrong.

It appears that while we were enjoying ourselves in Karakol, Kazakhstan's visa policy had changed and Australian passport holders no longer need a visa if their stay is less than 15 days. 

Even though we had applied for a 30 day visa, and already paid, the embassy decided to hold off on processing our visa! What the...?!?

I explained to the man behind the counter that we would be in the country for more than 15 days and so would require the 30 day visa for which we had originally applied and paid.

'Okay. It will be ready at 6pm tonight.'

What!?! We had our bags packed and were ready to hit the road for Ala-Archa. We couldn't hang around till 6pm.

I leaned over the counter towards the official and said with determination, 'We were told our visas would be ready last Thursday at 6pm. We are leaving Bishkek today. Can you process them before you close at 12pm?' 

It was 11am already, so I knew it was a big ask. The expressionless man behind the counter told us to wait one moment before going to speak to his colleague. Upon coming back he said, 'Alright, they will be ready at 12pm'. 

I smiled inside. We took our packs and waited outside. I had my doubts whether it would be ready on time and thought maybe he was just trying to placate us. At 11:45am Claire went back to the counter. 'Not ready' was the response as soon as she stepped in the door. 

At 11:55am, I sat in the foyer. I wasn't going to give them the opportunity to lock us out. Then exactly at 12pm I saw the man I spoke to exit through a back door. Noooo!  My hopes were dashed. It was supposed to be one of the easy visas and now we would have to miss out on Ala-Archa while we sat around in Bishkek another day. 

Just as I had lost hope a man came to the counter and said 'Australia?' He had our passports with a newly inserted Kazakh visa. Hooray! We stepped outside with much glee, double checked the visa dates were correct and headed for the 265 marshrutka which stopped virtually outside the embassy.

It was now early afternoom and the temperature was soaring above thirty degrees. The marshrutka ride was hot, cramped and full of oldies who I dont think appreciated us foreigners taking up their marshrutka space. Our packs were blocking the door and one old grandma, as she disembarked, picked up my pack with superhuman strength and threw it away from the door. I would have been pissed off, but I was too impressed by her ability to lift my pack one handed. 

The 265 marshrutka only goes all the way to the park entrance on weekends,  but we managed to convince the driver to take us all the way for 150 som each. Once at the gate, we bumped into an Indian guy who was also heading to the Alplager and managed to bargain a taxi for 300 som for the three of us. It seemed too cheap to me and the taxi driver displayed his dissatisfaction by speeding around the corners at full pelt. It took me a good 15 minutes for my stomach to find itself once I got out of the car. 

The Alplager is a tiny village with a hotel that looks like it belongs in the Swiss Alps...

After admiring the surroundings, which included a few necessary tourist yurts, we pulled out our trekking poles and began our ascent. When the Lonely Planet said it was a strenuous climb it wasn't kidding. Up and up and up. Very steep. At several points the track split and momentarily Claire and I lost one another but eventually met back up. I waited on a rock in the shade to avoid the stinking heat and took photos of the view.

Finally, after three hours of excruciating pain, we made it to a forrested area which had a few flat spots to pitch a tent.

It was just below the base of the waterfall which is half way to Ak-Sai Glacier, so we decided to leave all our gear here and do a day walk to Ratsek hut the following day, hoping no one would steal our stuff.

We woke up early to start our climb in ordsr to avoid the heat. It only took two hours to get to Ratsek hut and the glacier, thanks to not having our 15kg packs. It was steeper today than yesterday, but thankfully a lot of it was in shade due to the rocky outcrops.

Finally, we reached the quaint valley in which Ratsek hut sits. There was a trickling stream with half dozen tents near by.

There were no people around as it was a perfect day for climbing and hiking and most people were off exploring the glacier and summiting Mt Korona. Above the Ratsek hut is a narrow ridge which is accessible via a scree slope. Once on top, the glacier is in full view and looks a little something like this. 

We could hear voices echoing around the rocky crags above us and soon spotted five rock climbers on a precarious-looking piece of rock up very high. We saw another couple walking down from the glacier but besides that it was pretty deserted and not nearly as busy as we were expecting. 

After chilling on the ridge for about an hour...

... we made our way back down the incredibly steep and slippery slope.

Upon our return it was nice to see nothing had been stolen from our tent. In fact, we gained an addition to our campsite.

I'm guessing he's some kind of Kyrgyzstan squirrel?? Bye bye little friend. Back to Bishkek tomorrow for us. 

Lake Issyk-Kol and Skazka Canyon

After taking a day to recuperate from our epic hike, it wasn't long before we got back on the horse. Literally. After doing some reading on Trip Advisor we came across a horse trekking company called Bulak Say. We decided on the 'Panoramic day trip' starting at 9am and finishing at 3pm. Although it wasn't the cheapest in Karakol, paying around $80 AUS for the two of us, it was well worth it. The valley was beautiful with snow capped peaks, hundreds of brightly coloured wild flowers and no other tourists.

The next day we had sore bums and were thankful for an easy day on a marshurtka getting to the village of Tosor.

Tosor is a small settlement, relatively untouched by tourists, situated on the southern side of Lake Issyk-Kol. 

After scoping out the lake front, we found a place in amongst some shrubbery to pitch our tents for the night.

At sunset we headed down to the lake front and bumped into two Polish girls who had been on the same marshrutka as us from Karakol. They had a purchased a whole watermelon at the local store (they don't sell them in halves or quarters) and needed a knife to cut it and assistance in eating it. Fortuitously, we had just such a knife, so we passed the evening stuffing our faces with watermelon and sharing travel stories.

Five kms down the road from our camp site was the picturesque Skazka (also know as Fairy Tale Canyon).

We thought it would be simple enough to get a marshrutka, but had been warned that transport on the south side is a lot harder than the north. We waited on the roadside for 45 minutes before deciding to walk. After 10 minutes of walking, we saw a marshrutka heading down the road towards us and hailed it down. When we climbed aboard, we found the two Polish girls crammed in the front with their packs, also heading to Skazka. This was very handy because they spoke some Russian and made sure we were dropped off at the right place. 

We were soon at out stop and were met by this stunning view.

The two Polish girls headed to the beach to set up their camp for the night, while we headed on up to the canyon. It was such an amazing contrast to what we had seen in Kyrgyzstan so far. The red gorges can be likened to Utah with the contrasting colours of Lake Issyk-Kol in the background. It was beautiful and definitely worth the 50 som entry fee.

We spent several hours wandering around the canyon and climbing the beautiful red hills. Everywhere we looked was stunning, and we got a bit excessive with our photographing.

We stopped for lunch in the shade of a rock and slowly made our way back to the entrance. The sky started to turn grey and stormy as we walked, so we picked up the pace and high-tailed on outta there, but not before Claire took this beautiful photo.

Next stop, Kochkor, for some horse trekking around Lake Song Kol.

Lake Ala-Kol

First off, I should confess that the title of the post is incorrect. 'Kol' is actually the Kyrgyz word for 'lake'. So the title reads 'Lake Ala-Lake'. You get the gist...

We arrived in Karakol on a beautiful sunny day, so the surrounding snow-capped mountains were clearly visible. It's a real hiking town, with many foreign backpackers congregating at Karakol Coffee (the excellent local coffee shop) looking like they've been in the wilderness for years.

We pitched our tents for $3 AUS a night at Yak Hostel in a beautiful garden filled with green space and colourful roses. Shame about the unreliable hot water system and the one bathroom for the entire hostel (I'm sensing a theme) but besides that it was lovely and a great place to meet travellers.

Yak Hostel in Karakol

After reading some trail descriptions from Lonely Planet, we had our hearts set on the six day walk from Jeti-Oghuz to Aksu village via Lake Ala-Kol. It's rated as quite tough, so we were contemplating getting a guide and were discussing it at the Tourist Information Centre when we bumped into two French chaps who had just finished doing that exact walk. Their shoes were falling apart and they smelt pretty fragrant, which suggested they had been in the wilderness for some time. Sure enough, we learned they had hitch-hiked all the way from Paris and spent the last 30 days walking through Kyrgyzstan. They convinced us we didn't need a guide, gave us some tips and we were on our way!

Day One - Valley of Flowers

Trying to find a marshrutka to take us to Jeti-Oghuz the next day proved impossible. We walked up and down the Karakol Bazaar with our packs heavily laden with gear for a six-day hike, following bad directions from well-meaning locals in the boiling hot sun for at least an hour. Taxi drivers kept telling us 'no marshrutka to Jeti-Oghuz' but other locals and travellers told us there was one. After accidentally slapping a man in the face while gesticulating wildly and knocking a girl with my pack when about to get on a marshrutka, we gave up and took a shared taxi. We felt defeated, but it turns out it was a win because there are actually two Jeti-Oghuzes. Refer to map below.

When we asked for a marshrutka to Jeti-Oghuz they had assumed we meant the southern one. I didn't realise our taxi driver was taking us all the way to the trail head and before we knew it we were at the Seven Bulls for 1600 som cheaper than CBT had quoted us.

So now we were ready to walk, but the hardest part of any hike is finding the trail head. After wandering into the extensive gardens of a sanatorium and meandering around for 30 minutes, we thought we had better consult our map.  But before that we managed to stumble upon a bunch of Kyrgyz tourists who wanted a photo with us. Once again we were quite the novelty.

After speaking in some broken English with the ladies for a time we decided we better get moving if we wanted to start this walk sometime today, and it was already noon. We retraced our steps to where the taxi had dropped us off and there it was! The track was on the LEFT HAND side of the river. Whoops! 

After a long walk through Kok-Jaiyk (The Valley of Flowers) and past some yurts, yurts and more yurts, we decided to pitch our tents near the confluence of the river we had been following throughout the day and the river we would be following tomorrow. 

Unfortunately it came with some curious neighbours.

Thankfully our tent wasn't trampled in the night and we awoke still alive and kicking.

Day Two - Teleti Pass

So, we may have underestimated the intensity of today's walk. It all started off well, walking through beautiful valleys such as this one:

Unfortunately, shortly after this photo was taken we lost the track and became dependant upon our expert navigational skills. A serious concern. Following the instructions of our map and our compass, we headed up this...

And over this...

It was not for the faint-hearted. And it's even more concerning when there was no track to follow and you're just kinda winging it. But soon enough, after many false alarms, we saw the pass!

Yes, it is as high as it looks - 3,800m!

And then is started snowing.

And then Claire got stuck in snow.

And I laughed and took photos.

We were so wrecked that as soon as we lost a bit of altitude we promptly pitched our tents well before our desired end point for the day. But we didn't care. We were cold and buggered and just wanted to be inside our warm sleeping bags and pass out.

Day Three - Karakol Valley National Park

After examining our map the night before, we were relieved and a little excited, as today's walk appeared to be relatively short and mostly downhill. Remember what I said earlier about our navigational skills? It's possible our map reading skills suffer from the same affliction.

The descent from the pass was quite steep and slippery and we didn't move as fast as we had anticipated. We eventually made it into Karakol Valley National Park (no park entry fee like we were told) and were hoping to find a yurt to sell us some bread. No such luck! We had been told by the French chaps that we would be able to buy bread from yurts along the way. Thus far, nada. 

After feasting on some dry biscuits with cheese from our packs, we pressed on and came face to face with the first hikers we had seen on this trek. 'Where are you guys heading?' we asked. 'Altyn-Arashan' the French couple replied. Huh? We are heading to Altyn-Arashan, and were walking in the opposite direction. After some conferring and map checking it appeared we had missed our turn off. Thankfully we only had to double back five minutes. Talk about a God-send! I would have been very disappointed if we ended up in Karakol three days early.

We backtracked, and were now heading straight up a very steep valley. According to the map, a river runs down this valley (called Kurgak-Tyor Gorge) so we weren't carrying much water. Then we realised the river was underground! Thanks a lot, stupid map. Fortunately we bumped into a young couple on their way down who said they had made the same mistake. They also had plenty of water they offered us. Thanks young couple! They said it was at least an hour to the water source :( 

We struggled on up the hill, taking frequent stops to return our palpitating hearts to non-medivac levels admire the view, and finally crested the top and had a bit of exhausted fun clamouring over large boulders before reaching the flat.

We found running water shortly thereafter, and gratefully pitched our tent next to a mini lake in the river. It was just gorgeous. By far my favourite campsite for the whole week.

Day Four - A short day

We were still recovering from doing the Teleti Pass, believe it or not, and even though we were close enough to do the Ala-Kol pass today, we decided to have a bit of a rest day by our awesome campsite. 
It was a stinking hot day, so we spent most of it in the shade by the river and I was thankful we didn't have to walk through the heat. 

By 4pm, we were ready to move a bit further up river to make tomorrow's day a bit easier. The plan was to walk for one hour. We walked for two and came upon this incredible, partially-frozen waterfall, so decided to pitch here.

And our view was pretty sweet too...

Mental note. Sleeping next to a waterfall is loud. Thank goodness for ear plugs.

Day Five - Lake Ala-Kol and Ala-Kol Pass

Today was going to be our hardest and highest day, with the pass sitting at 3860m. We reached Lake Ala-Kol relatively early in the day, and were very excited to see it had just recently thawed. In Karakol three days ago we were told it was frozen, so that goes to show how hot the last few days have been.

The weather was fine to begin with, but as soon as we begun to ascend above the lake it started to get cold. Real cold.

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the pass because the clouds came in and we couldn't see anything. And then it started to snow. A lot. 

At first it was melting as it hit the ground but then it started to stick. By the time we reached the pass the wind was blowing a gale, my legs were numb and I couldn't feel my hands. Claire was equally as uncomfortable and all I could think of was 'let's get off this pass, asap!' 

Unfortunately, the visibility was so bad we couldn't see where to descend on the other side. We scouted around and stuck our heads over the ledge of the pass for a while before finally seeing some footprints in the snow. 'We have to go down that?!' It was so steep it was virtually impossible to walk down so we sat on our butts and slid. Not the safest course of action, due to rocks and avalanche, but definitely the fastest and funnest.

After getting back to our feet and commenting on how we could no longer feel our butts, we scurried down that mountain as fast as we could. I was getting worried about developing hypothermia or my body going into shock. Thankfully, after an hour or so we were in a green valley with the sun shining down on us. We decided to stop as soon as we found some flat space so we could pitch and get into our sleeping bags. 

Day Six - Altyn-Arashan

This morning I slept in till 10am! We slowly packed up the tent, excited in the knowledge that we would be having a real dinner in Karakol that evening. But first we had to walk the 16km outta there. It rained on and off, but the track was easy downhill and following a 4wd road the whole way.

We finally walked through the little mountain village of Altyn-Arashan where most people stop to enjoy the hot springs, but we were keen to get to Karakol so gave it a miss. After walking for what felt like forever we finally hit paved road and straight away were asked by a man on the road 'Taksee?'

'Yes please!'

Chong Ak-Suu Valley

We have decided to hit the hills for some hiking whilst our Kazakh visas are being processed. First stop, Chong Ak-Suu Valley, just outside the town of Grigorievka on the north shore of Lake Issyk-Kol. 

Lake Issyk-Kol is the second largest alpine lake in the world and, not surprisingly, is massive! It's 170km long and 70km wide. The Lonely Planet advised us that the north side is where the wealthy Kazakh and Russian tourists spend their summer months. That, combined with the positive write-up of the Chong Ak-Suu Valley, made us assume the town would be buzzing and that we'd run into a fair few other hikers. Much was our surprise when we disembarked from the 604 marshrutka to a fairly desolate street, populated only by a few fruit stands and a bunch of bored taxi drivers.

After a few minutes pacing down the street wondering if we were in the right town, we approached the taxi drivers with our topographical map (purchased at GeoID in Bishkek) in hand. We pointed to the beginning of the Chong Ak-Suu Valley walk and, after some confusion about the cost, brought up the calculator app on my phone and they typed it in.

1000 Som!?! No way! The taxi drivers made an up and down motion with their hands indicating the road was very rough. After some conferring with Claire, we decided to skip the taxi and walk. We made the walking motion with our index and middle finger and the taxi drivers looked at us like we were crazy.

We had our packs ready and we were psyched for our first trek in Central Asia. Until, it started to rain. I was not keen to walk in the rain. We were on the 4WD track for five minutes when we decided to hail a ride. In classic Kyrgyzstan style, I put my hand by my hip, palm down and made a slowing down motion, ushering the car to stop. And it did! And it wasn't just any car. It was a Soviet van! Featured in the background of this picture.

Oh yeah, and there's a falcon on my arm and another one on my head. He was a bit close to my face for my liking and I was scared he would peck out my eyes. Maybe I've seen one too many Hitchcock films, but I was relieved when the boy took him back. I paid the obligatory 100 Som (even though the bird was thrust upon me) and he ran away to find another tourist willing to throw their money away.

Anyway, the Soviet van ride... we jumped in the back with a few other local randoms and some fresh produce and whatever else was in there and we were on our way! It had wide windows so we could view the steep ridges on either side of the road. It was a bit hairy at times on the wet road and I had visions of our van tumbling over a cliff edge into the gushing river below, but eventually we reached the trail head and we jumped out.

Bye bye soviet van.

At this point, the road deviated away from the river so it was a perfect opportunity to escape civilisation. The river headed into a beautiful valley and before we knew it we came upon a lovely patch of grass to pitch our tents, and so we did. 

We loved it so much we decided to stay for two nights before walking back down the valley on the third day. The weather cleared up and we enjoyed some spectacular views.

We have now arrived in Karakol where we will be planning our next multi-day hike. It's the hiking Mecca of Kyrgyzstan, so I hope the next post is epic.

Visas

Two visas down, one to go... 

So far it appears the majority of travellers in Bishkek are not there for the many Soviet statues (situated on just about every street corner), but are stuck in transit, waiting for their visas to be processed for Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Sad to say, we have joined that queue.

Warning: this post is going to be kinda boring for those who never intend on applying for visas in Bishkek. But hopefully it will be informative for those who would like to know the various processes, or lack thereof.

We rose bright and early to head directly to the Uzbek embassy, having been previously warned that it is the most difficult country for which to procure a visa. Lonely Planet had warned us the staff were 'far from friendly', so we were prepared for the worst. A sign on the tall and intimidating gate informed us that we must call for an appointment between 2 - 4pm, Monday to Friday. We buzzed the intercom anyway and were curtly told 'you phone!' 

Ok, new plan. We headed to the Kazakh embassy where we were informed we had to pay the $30 USD visa fee at Kazkommertsbank, a 10-15 minute taxi ride away! After rushing there and back we realised the embassy closed at 12 noon. It was now 12:10pm. Doh! 

Ok, onto Plan C. We headed to the Tajik embassy where there was no queue and we were told our visas would be ready the next day at 10am. Yay! The helpful lady at the desk even asked us if we wanted to apply for a GBAO permit (which we did, but had forgotten to do) as there was no extra fee involved. We had also applied for a 30-day visa, but she pointed out we could get a 45-day visa for the same cost, so ticked that box instead.

After leaving the Tajik embassy, we phoned the Uzbek embassy at 2pm, as per the instructions on the embassy gate. Despite these instructions, we were then told to phone back at 4pm. I said we could come in at 4pm rather than phone to which I was abruptly told 'NO COME!' And hung up on. I called back again at 4pm and was to come in the next day at 10am. 

The next day...
We got to the Tajik embassy right on 9.30am and collected our passports, freshly stamped with a shiny 45-day tourist visa with GBAO permit. The visa cost $75 USD. We then rushed to the Kazakh embassy and provided our receipt from Kazkommertsbank and our completed visa application forms, and were told to come back on Thursday 6pm to collect our visas (3 working days). 

After this, we caught a taxi to the Uzbek embassy and arrived there at 10.10am. The problem? There were seven other foreigners in line front of us who had also been given the appointment time of 10am. We had been warned we could be waiting up to three hours, so had come prepared with food, water and Kindles. We pulled out the Kindles, settled down on the dirty pavement, and waited.

The queue actually ended up moving rather quickly. Unfortunately, this was because people were getting turned away for not having the correct paperwork. We were getting a little nervous. After 40 minutes, we were finally let into the tiny office and handed over our documents, including our very important Letter of Invitation (LOI). This letter is essential for an Uzbek visa application. If you book your travel through a tour company, the company will usually organise the LOI for you. As we were not planning on doing any tours, we had to find another way of getting our LOIs. Before we left Australia, we had found a company online that organises LOIs for a fee, without you needing to book any tours. This company was called Stan Tours and they were very good. The LOI wasn't cheap, at $70 USD each, but it was worth it. Bear in mind, though,  you still need to pay the visa fee of $75 USD in addition to that.

We were required to provide a 3cm x 4cm passport photo and a photocopy of our passport (for each visa application). Some people report they were required to have a photocopy of each page of their passport that contained a stamp, but we were never asked for that. After 10 minutes, the woman handed our passports back to us and I asked when we should return to collect our visas. She gave us a blank stare. I opened my passport and there it was, in all its colourful, shiny glory... 

The Uzbek visa! 

'It is done' she growled, and we high-tailed on out of there in a state of euphoria, before she could change her mind.

Two down, one to go....

Welcome to Bishkek, baby!

After a one night layover in Bangkok and a brief plane change in Singapore and Almaty, we arrived in Bishkek. We had our concerns whether we would even get this far, especially when checking in at Bangkok for our flights to Almaty and Bishkek.

After giving our passports and plane tickets to the lady at the Astana Air counter we were asked a dozen questions. "Where is your visa?", to which we replied, "We don't need a visa for Kyrgyzstan". Then she asked for proof of where we were staying in Bishkek. Thankfully, I had made an online booking on one of those rare occasions when we had reception in the Kimberley. "This is only for two nights. Where are you going after that?" We explained that we were unsure because we were applying for visas in Bishkek and didn't know how long that would take, or whether we'd even be successful. She asked for proof of our departure from Kyrgyzstan. We didn't have any, but I did have my plane ticket from Almaty to Tbilisi in Georgia for September 27th. After showing her our home-brewed Excel itinerary on Google Docs (which I'm sure impressed her immensely, as she took a photo of it on her phone), she was pleased enough and allowed us to board the plane. She recommended we book some accommodation in Tajikistan to show to Kyrgyzstan Customs on arrival. We quickly rushed to the airport's info desk to find out how to access the free wifi, found a nice spot on the floor (seriously, how can an airport the size of Suvarnabhumi not have any seats??), struggled to get our phones connected to the wifi, then finally booked an overpriced hostel in Dushanbe (capital Tajikistan).

As fate would have it, when entering Kyrgyzstan we weren't asked a single question about how long we are staying, where we are staying, proof of departure, or anything else.

Air Astana flight Almaty to Bishkek.

Once exiting the departure gate in Bishkek we were swarmed by taxi drivers. I was keen to get a local sim card for my phone and had learned there was a provider called Megacom at the arrival gate (the only provider in the terminal, as far as I could tell). Although the man at the Megacom counter was initially a little reserved, he turned out to be a great guy. His name was Maks and he had some family near Lake Issyk-Kol he said we could stay with. He said he thought we were crazy for arriving at Bishkek airport without speaking the language and with no one to pick us up.

After been interrupted several times by a drunk taxi driver (who Maks assured me was harmless, but perhaps not a reliable driver), I purchased a prepaid sim with unlimited internet for 30 days for 600 som, which is roughly $12 Australian dollars. The reception and speed has been great thus far.

We also had to change some money and get some som, as none of the money changers in Darwin had any. Thankfully, with the aid of a calculator, this process was very straight forward.

After much haggling with the taxi drivers we were able to negotiate a ride down from 600 som to 400 som. Local buses stop running to the airport after 7.30pm and it was now after 8pm, so a taxi was our only option for the 30km drive to town.

By the time we got dropped off to our accommodation it was around 9pm and getting dark. After much ferreting around the back streets of where the taxi driver pulled up we eventually found the Bishkek Guesthouse. We had found out about it on Hostel World and booked it based on the price more than anything else. It wasn't until the next day when I was flicking through the Lonely Planet that I found this very accurate description of the Guesthouse: 'Ragged and high in a truly dismal apartment block.' It's actually just a regular three-bedroom apartment that has been converted into a 'Guesthouse'.

The problem is the manager doesn't say no to any potential guests, so people roll out hiking mats on the lounge room floor or wherever they can squeeze. Twelve people to one bathroom was the tipping point for me. Having to hold it in for 30 minutes because you're third in line isn't cool. On the plus side, there were lots of cool travellers and it was nice to hear about some of the things we can expect to see and do in Kyrgyzstan. 

Bishkek Guesthouse apartment block.

Unfortunately, our main purpose in Bishkek is not sight-seeing, but lodging visa applications. Stay tuned to find out how that goes. It's going to be riveting!

1 day to departure.

Sunset at Mirima National Park, just outside of Kununurra.

We survived our three week outback adventure and have spent the last two days in Darwin getting ourselves organised. Or should I say getting myself organised. Claire has already had her vaccinations, told her bank she is heading overseas and has printed off some passport size photos for her visa applications. I, on the other hand, have not.

Little did I know three weeks before departure that the rabies vaccination is administered in three separate doses on day 0, 7 and 21-28. Each costing $125! Will I or won't I?? That is the question. I decided to have the first shot in Melbourne and try my luck with the others. It turns out I happened to be in Kununurra on day 7 and the pharmacy had the vaccination! Win.

After a quick dash to Kununurra hospital emergency department (it wasn't an emergency - it just happens to be where they administer the vaccination), I was injected with my second bout of Rabipur.

Now that I'm back in Darwin, I made some mad dash phone calls to order the vaccination and was finally injected with my third and final shot of Rabipur today. Talk about leaving things to the last minute! All I can say is, I'd better get bitten by a rabid dog to justify the $375 I've spent on this!

Other vaccinations recommend by travel doctors are Hepatitis A and B, Typhoid, Measles, Mumps and Rubella, Polio, Diphtheria and Tetanus, Varicella (chicken pox), Meningitis and Tick-Borne Encephalitis. Anti-malaria tablets are also recommended for southern Tajikistan. However, I've taken these before and didn't enjoy the side effects, so I'm giving those a miss and just going to risk it.

In Darwin we have been staying with a lovely chap named Tom who neither Claire or I had ever met before, but know of through a friend. He works for the Red Cross in the asylum seeker field and is a pretty awesome guy. Especially because he has allowed two strangers to stay in his spare room in his city apartment overlooking the water. Great way to end our time in Australia. Thanks Tom!

Claire at Purnululu National Park (also known as the Bungle Bungle).

7 days to departure!

Broome sunset.

I wish I could tell you things were more or less on track for our upcoming departure, but alas we are currently four-wheel driving in the Kimberley in Western Australia and the Top End of the Northern Territory. A beautiful place to spend three weeks with our friend Renton before departure, but not an ideal place to prepare for our epic hiking adventure in the Stans. Notice the lack of internet cafes below.

However, we have obtained a one-way ticket to Bishkek and written up a rough 30-day itinerary for Kyrgyzstan, so it's all systems go.

When first undertaking research on Central Asia over ten months ago we fast learned that visas were going to be our biggest headache. Kyrgyzstan is the only country for which we (as Australians) don't need a visa. The capital, Bishkek, is also home to various embassies where we will be obtaining our visas for Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. That is, if all goes according to plan.

So, fingers crossed we will be successful with visa applications in Bishkek or else we're kinda screwed...