August 10, 2011

  • The Silk Road (Sort Of) Overland
    Tuesday 9 August 2011

    Well, I made the right decision in pressing on and following my plan. The taxi journey to the Kyrgyz border went OK (the driver wasn't a maniac) and the border crossing was completely hassle free and took only 45 minutes from beginning to end. So, now I know.

    When I arrived in Osh, I just took a taxi to one of the hotels listed in the Lonely Planet (Taj Mahal). As the only room available turned out to be a room inside the hotel owner's flat, I gave it a miss. I was warned by some back-backers sitting there about another hotel (which happened to be the hotel listed as the official office for the Community-Based Tourism project) because they drank a lot and there were fights there. Hmm, this IS the Wild West.

    I decided to take another taxi and try a hotel that seemed to house lots of NGO reps (seems safer!) but when the taxi driver dropped a bag of bread onto the street and kind of slid out halfway himself when opening the car door, I decided this was not the taxi for me.

    Eventually, I found the NGO place, called TES Guesthouse. This is a great place - with WiFi! - and at USD20, it's a fabulous deal. Nice, clean, with friendly English-speaking staff. I also got a lead about a travel agent that might be able to help me with a tour of the area tomorrow.

    I went for a quick walk in the neighbourhood before bedtime. The only establishments near this guest house are either bars or gambling halls (they kind of alternate). The feeling I'm getting from Osh so far is that it is a pretty depressing (and possibly unsafe) place.

    We'll see what my tour of the area tomorrow will be like. I'm keeping an open mind about Osh and Kyrgyzstan. However, I really need to find a flexible tour company that can combine two or three things for me on a short notice. I need to fly back to Dubai on 19 August, and I can't really allow less than a week for my Silk Road tour in China. It wouldn't be fair.