In Istanbul (Sort of... )

Quick summary.

 

I left Bishkek for Almaty in a minibus. While in the station took a hard fall over a minispeed-bump thing ... why it was in a path in the dark in the rain? I don't know. But I fell hard on concrete and hurt my wrist and ribs while using both to protect my camera. Camera outside scratched on the edge of the lens, but functional. Wrist - sore for a while, used an ace bandage and pain killers and now it's up to par. Ribs bruises are almost gone, still hurts like hell if I stretch or breath too deep. Oh well. No stretching... back to minibus... took it to Almaty. Had a fever, wasn't fun. Fail. Got to the airport, got a room at the hotel attached. Quick shower, hour nap and then off to Uralsk. Arrived there to discover. DAAAAAMN this place is cold. Really cold. Like the captain announced when we landed at 9 am - it was 5 below zero. COLD. And I've got this annoying fever and red nose and... the hotel we're supposed to stay at that the director stayed at in May... well it's a nice place. But they don't turn the hear on till the 15th. Whoops. Not gonna cut it for a sick Urv. So Ainura and I go to 6 different places checking both quality of the hotel and more importantly - does the heater work. Some had heaters in the room that they said worked, but if you turned on the fan, cold air. Eventually we found a place. At this point we eat lunch. Return to the room at 12 pm. I pass out. Pass OUT. So passed out that at 10 am the next morning I wake up. 22 hours of sleep. Fever easing up a little. Sleep = magic.

 Then blah blah stress phone call pack up leave crazy stress 12:50 flight out... somehow catch it. Money is as always a problem as Ainura's flight we can't get as we need to exchange money to get the ticket and the cash counter is randomly closed. We panic a bit, make some calls and eventually I say good luck, farewell and board my flight leaving her with almost all the money and taking $100 for excess baggage fees... Which was less than half of what I needed. But I had my salary in cash so I ended up being okay/spending that/I'm gonna be so broke as a result of this project/OMG where am I going?!?

Moving on. I fly out to Atyrau. Where is that? Good question. I didn't know either. I found it on an inflight map. South of where I was. I arrive an hour later. And wait until 5 pm to board a flight that left at like 7? Then off to Almaty. I arrive near 10 or 11pm (flying east here folks) and then wait till 3:40 for the flight to Istanbul.

I have no clue the time here... I'm flying east now I'm flying west. I arrive in Istanbul just after 6 am and the Delta flight counter opens at 9:15. We've gone west, the time has changed, I have no watch, had no sleep, have been going east and west and the light makes no sense and I'm just too tired. Eventually I find out for $250 they will change my flight to the flight today as opposed to in three days. Sold. Then $205 excess baggage fee because I'm carrying all the stuff I was supposed to leave in the Land Rover I never saw when I was in Uralsk... Whoops. There goes my September pay. Ugh. Then after waiting to sell me the ticket until 11:15 when they knew they had a seat for me, Delta tells me "RUN!" So I do. Check in has started. I rush for passport control, dash through customs, jog down a very long airport with my north face gear making me look much more athletic than I am and arrive to the gate just in time to be pulled aside for extra security and have my bag hand searched, scanned for radioactivity and also have the normal x ray treatment.

Then I wait. Wait 2 hours more. Then we get on the plane. Wait 2 and a half hours more. Then Delta says, sorry... we're not flying today. Panic. Border control. Passport checks for everyone. Waiting to collect our bags. Shuffled onto buses... And magically deposited at a utopia of a hotel.

After getting through the annoying long check in process (I've had enough lines people!) I'm given a key and one of my new friends from the last few hours of waiting (obviously I talked to everyone around me as they spoke English and this after Central Asia was a novelty!) helped me carry the REI bag that's the size of a dead body and then some up to my room. Glorious room! Took a hot shower and came out a smiling human. And then they gave us delicious food (first real meal since the flight from Almaty to Istanbul... which wasn't real. It was fake eggs I swear!) and suddenly life was good. Now I'm well fed, about to rest, in good company, logistics are being managed and delays are not costing me a penny. And added bonus, I have internet. And a kiwi tart for dessert. Oh heaven, I arrived.

Someday I hope to see Istanbul. 

But for now I'm loving this extreme comfort giving me a break from airports as well as helping restore my health. Also found chapstick for sale here! The cold in Kazakhstan and the dry air on the flights made them chapped enough to almost bleed... it looked like I was wearing lipstick. Insane. But after obsessively reapplying it in the last few hours I am beginning to smile again without the painful cracks threatening to bleed on me.

 

TMI there probably. But oh well. Tomorrow at 8 am Delta should be collecting us from the hotel to send us all out to NY and then on to our connecting flights. So if all goes well I'll be back in California tomorrow night before traveling to an even more foreign land... Texas.

Standing in Sandals

Walking around Bishkek today nothing really came to mind. It just was. Another place in the world operating on its normal pace. Different people on the posters. Different politicians being sold to the people. Different language being spoken. Different food on the plates. Different currency in my pocket - but the daily rhythm was so evident it felt nothing but normal. The way it feels to walk through a neighborhood you know, to swing by your favorite coffee shop - that sort of nonchalance I feel when I'm going through a place I know and it seems everyone else is too. I didn't personally feel like that- the language barrier makes it a little hard for me to -but it was the vibe I was getting from everyone else. I might be the odd tourist interrupting the status quo by taking photos of the markets and being the unusual foreigner in their midst - but something about the daily routine was palpable. 

Too often when traveling it seems the foreigners don't actually see the place they're meant to be seeing. We see sights, monuments, the predictable photo ops and so forth, but we don't see the place for what it is to those who live in it. I don't think I've seen that side of Bishkek yet. I doubt I will given that at some point I'm going to have to dash out to Kazakhstan to pick up a car for work - and these things take time to see. But at least I am aware I'm not seeing it all? 

It took me a long time to find my niche in Santa Barbara. It took me a while to feel the comfortable familiarity and feel like I could give a recommendation as to where to eat or what to see. And I feel like even then whether there or at home in the Bay Area - I feel like I can't give those recommendations. I know where I like to hang out, where I like to go, but it strikes me as odd to think of traveling and finding the right places to see to make a place reveal itself when I don't even know if I know those places at home. 

I wonder if someone else was standing in my sandals they'd feel the same. Or how very different they'd see the same sights. I was reading my coworker's blog and it struck me how poetic her reflections were - and seeing the same sights I saw no poetry. There's no hint of nostalgia for me in the scents of the streets.   This place reminds me of India - without the Indians, without the crowds, without the scent of sandal wood and the noise of people. It feels quiet. It's not some place lost in the past though - there's still net cafes and children growing up, couples getting married in Victory Square, life being lived. But it still feels like life on the edge. Somewhere in the vast part of the planet without the superpower mentality, where the recycling bug hasn't hit, where the trash is still burnt, where the people are hospitable and the pace of life is less frantic. 

It's also a place where it seems saunas are expected to have prostitutes, corruption is normal within politics, the kids play with mock AK-47s in addition to their stuffed toys, and the Americans and Russians have their military bases and their power can be felt in ways big and small. The super market had boxing gloves with the stars and stripes on them in the toy section. The good quality goods are from Turkey and the poor quality is brought from China. And I'm an oddball American in the midst of it. 

Perhaps it is good that my reflections tend to be more regurgitation in visual form - photos rather than words. For regardless of the number of posts I seem to have churned out I feel like I haven't had any meaningful reflection nor have I had a genuine enough opening into the Kyrgyz lifestyle enough to be making those reflections/judgements/etc...  I've just been in the midst of them as they live their lives and wondering what I'm doing with mine. 

Day of Rest

Today is the first official rest day since I arrived. As such I have had an incredibly exciting day... resting actually. I woke up with the call to prayer, thanked god that I could sleep in, rolled over and went back to bed. And then proceeded to sleep some more. Periodically I would wake up, say to myself, 'Why bother?' and return to sleeping. I guess the degree of jet lag and the mosquito attacks at night have been taking their toll on me as I was able to fall asleep again and again even when the sun had risen and the traffic on the streets of Bishkek peppered the air with the sound of horns.

If Bishkek had a few million people more, it might feel like India - but it's surprisingly quiet for a capital city. Not sure what my plans will be for the rest of this day of rest - but I hope to go out exploring or at least see some of the city beyond the few block radius of the flat. Right now there is a car driving past trying to disprove my theory that Bishkek has been rather quiet by blasting its horn as it goes past - and it's interesting how clearly the doppler effect can be noticed. Anyways - if you're in or around Bishkek with recommendations let me know - otherwise I'll likely continue my day with a trip to Ala Too Square or an internet cafe or something of that nature.