A couple of interesting observations on Uzbekistan before we go any further. The first is that officially they now use the latin alphabet. Many sigs are still in Cyrillic, some are old, but many are those for businesses that want to cling to the Cyrillic. Then there is an occasional sign that seems to be a mixture of both alphabets, that makes things interesting.
The most popular fuel in Uzbekistan and we also encountered it in other Central Asian countries is Natural Gas for Vehicles (NGV) or Methane. Most vehicles seem to run on it and because they have to have multiple cylinders in order to travel any distance there is usually very little luggage space left in the boot. You often see trucks with many cylinders squeezed underneath. All over the country there are many new gas stations just for this fuel and there is a strict procedure that all passengers have to get out and stand outside the station, while the driver fills the tanks. Because of this procedure we never did get to see how much the fuel costs. But it must be quite cheap as nearly everyone is using it. There are also propane LPG filling stations as well as petrol and diesel.
A thing that we encountered only in Uzbekistan is a black market for the currency. This is quite an open black market, nothing covert about it. All the prices everywhere are based on the black market rate for the Uzbek Som that is nearly double the official bank rate. From ATM’s you can get out US dollars cash then change them on the black market. The rate of exchange is around 6300 Som to US$1. Now that wouldn’t be bad if you had a reasonable sized bank note, but the most common size is 1000 Som. So off one goes and changes $100 US and back one comes with this massive great wad of notes that is considerably larger and not much lighter than the average house brick. So be warned, take something large like a backpack with you when you go to change money. Don’t even consider changing any more than $100 US at a time, unless you have a truck handy. There is a new 5000 som note but there isn’t that many of them around yet. If you are one of those people who would be staying at the more expensive hotels then you would definitely need a truck.
As an example of just how honest these people basically are, the money changers hang around places with huge great bags of notes. In most western countries they couldn’t even consider doing that. It’s just another example of how honest all these countries are. The marshrutka drivers here in Bishkek just throw the money up on the dash in front of them, it’s only small amounts but still they couldn’t get away with it in most places. In the very busy bazaars even, you don’t seem to get the pickpockets you would in most places. There is crime here, like most big cities but it’s not out of control and my lot have not yet felt threatened or uncomfortable anywhere. Let’s hope L isn’t speaking too soon here:
Once back in Bishkek my lot decided to try for a Russian transit visa there. This occupied almost a whole day. The forms had to be filled out on line then printed along with photocopies of other documents etc.
Went along to the embassy in the morning, told to come back in the afternoon. Then we queued up in the afternoon along with lots of other people. Finally those of us wanting visas were called in, all to be told the same thing; no visas given unless we had at least three months on our Kyrgyz visas. As the entry stamp normal travellers get when entering the country is for a 60 day entry none of those waiting with us qualified any more than my lot did. So the whole project had been a waste of time. Some of the photocopies will come in handy when my lot apply again in Almaty but the application forms will have to be done again as the dates will have to be changed and also the place where they are applying for the visas. However, all was not a total waste, my lot had seen an advertisement for the ballet. So off we went to the Ballet and Opera House and there bought 2 or the last 5 tickets available for the Ballet on the following night. I was to experience some culture, that would be nice.
David retrieved the car from where it had been stored and it seemed fine. We sorted it out and loaded it up all ready for departure the next morning. Then in the evening we headed off to the Ballet.
We arrived nice and early and found that 70% of those waiting seemed to be school kids of all ages. Once inside we found that it wasn’t a particularly large opera house, but still seated around 800 probably. It was well designed so that everyone got a reasonable view of the stage. Our only problem was that there were 3 people videoing the whole show and one fellow set up right in L’s line of sight. She soon complained and he shifted, but he did come back from time to time during the show and she kept having a go at him.
This particular performance featured a star from the Bolshoi Ballet, a male soloist who just happened to have been born in Bishkek.
It was a wonderful show; it featured both amateur and professional dancers dancing excerts from a number of different ballets including Swan Lake. Two dances were Kyrgyz folk dances in ballet form with wonderful brightly coloured costumes. The star danced in a number of dances so we got to see plenty of him and his female partner. We all enjoyed the show very much, good value at around $6 AU each. Free for me as always.
Perhaps it was just as well we all enjoyed the show because the next day things seem to go ‘belly up’ again. The car didn’t even get out of Bishkek before dying again. This time it chose to die right opposite a garage advertising that it services BMW motors. Well our RR has a BMW motor and it lived just long enough to get across the road and into the garage.
The garage is run by a young Russian mechanic from Kalingrad. After speaking with him David found out that he was familiar with this particular engine as he’d had one himself in a BMW car. He was also able to locate a 2nd hand motor exactly the same. So we left the car with him, couldn’t do much else really, and returned to the hostel. This hostel is becoming like a 2nd home to us, we have spent far more time here than anywhere else this trip.
Hopes were high that the car would be finished on Thursday and that we could head off to Almaty that afternoon, however, come Thursday when David went out it was found that a problem had been encountered so that timetable went out the window. The latest is that it should be ready Friday. Let’s hope so, because if it’s not, then the mechanic will be away over the weekend drag racing in Kazakhstan someplace and won’t be able to do more until Monday and that could screw matters for another week. To complicate matters further David has lost his mobile phone so now we are back to smoke signals.
Soon after we got back here the weather came in wet and cold. It rained for some days and when it stopped and the clouds cleared we saw that the mountains were covered in snow. It had snowed down to 1300m, Bishkek is at 900m. It has definitely cooled off this week, can’t go out without a jacket and the locals seemed rugged up for winter.
© Lynette Regan 7th October 2016