Day 1 in Kyrgyzstan

I arrived in Manas international airport sometime around 600 AM. the date was June 15th, 2019. I was able to find a volunteer opportunity through workaway.info just a few days before, and had pre-arranged an airport pickup. Getting someone to meet me at the airport was a bit of a relief. I was in Manas once before just in transit and the so -called “black taxi” drivers (people with private cars trying to give rides to tourists were rather aggressive. They usually wait just outside the baggage claim area and try to intercept the tourists before they can reach the official taxi area. The airport has since improved not allowing the drivers inside.

The volunteer opportunity had been orginized by a Kyrgz expat in Switzerland named Baktygul. Her brother in-law, Adilet picked me up at the airport. We proceeded into Bishkek, which was ~ 20-30 min from the airport and settled into his friend’s place for the morning. He had been up most of the night waiting for me so we decided to relax for a while before seeing some of Bishkek. I was to proceed to Borbash village the next day.

I couldn’t sleep perhaps because of the jet lag. Adilet arose around 1200 pm and we went to pick up another volunteer from England. “Gary” (not real name) had just finished volunteering at the tourist locale Bokonbayeva, and was travelling long term through Central Asia and eastern Europe. We went to pick him up and he told us that he had been “robbed” by police after a night of drinking at a Bishkek nightclub- to the tune of 10,000 Kyrgz som (about $140 usd). He was supposedly “drugged” and incapacitated. He lucky to have his wallet and other items returned to him-minus the cash.

I’m stating the story as objectively as possible-as I heard it. Gary had wanted to go to the police station to launch a complaint. I reminded him that he was a guest in the country and may be inviting himself into more trouble. We convinced him it was a bad idea. Although she was completely not responsible for what happened, the volunteer organizer,Baktygul, returned the lost money to Gary. I would spend the next week with him as fellow volunteer in Borbash.

We spent what was left of the day touring around Bishkek. The plan was to get a shared taxi from the famous Osh Bazaar in Bishkek to the actual city of Osh, and then on to Borbash. It would take a total of 13 hours! I had wanted to fly considering it was only $100 RT, but Adilet had convinced me it would be a good way to see a lot of the country.

Adilet had an older 6-speed sports car, that he used to drive us around. It had one non-operational cylinder so the un-combusted gas fumes drifted into the car making it a bit uncomfortable.

Adilet had left us alone for the night in the apartment and said he’d be back at 800 am the next morning to take us to the taxi.

That’s it for Day 1! The journey is just beginning and gets better so stay tuned! Share! Subscribe!

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