Kyrgyzstan | Jason Around the World

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to Almaty, Kazakhstan and time in Almaty

Europe and Central Asia 2013, hotels, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Restaurants No Responses »

Jun 072013

Apologies in advance this post will be a stream of consciousness mostly text post because, well, we were so busy working we didn’t get to see a whole ton!

Ended up working until mid-afternoon in downtown Bishkek, and at 4pm we got ready to head to the Almaty. Our office in Bishkek had arranged a driver to take us to the border, and our office in Almaty had arranged another driver to meet us at the border and take us the rest of the way. Sounded like an easy plan, and as someone who’s gotten used to negotiating minibusses and share-taxis the last couple years it was a rare treat! Not only the chance to not have to negotiate, but comfortable and uncrowded. Score!

Traffic in Bishkek wasn’t awful for a Monday afternoon, and about 30 minutes later we were at the border. Our Kazakh driver was already waiting for us on the Kyrgyz side, and walked us through the car lines (the pedestrian lines were super long on both sides of the border, and apparently he knew some tricks that we could just walk through the much shorter car lines…it took quite a bit of yelling, complaining, and posturing, but in about 15 minutes we were through the border. His car was parked on the Kazakh side, so he loaded up our luggage, and we got ready to head out. I turned back to take a quick snap of the border from the Kazakh side:

Very soon after the border, things got very rural…very fast. We drove for around two more hours before we started to see any signs of the city, and then spent nearly another hour fighting Almaty traffic trying to get to our hotel. All total from downtown to downtown travel time was around 4 hours, and that wouldn’t include any time fighting at the border or negotiating with taxis.

Our hotel was the Rixos Almaty and appeared to be located pretty centrally in the city. It was around 8pm by this time, so after checking in we decided to head out quickly in search of a bite. Nothing was easy to find and we were getting pretty hungry at this point, so just decided to admit defeat and head back for room service since we had an early morning. Unfortunately work was incredibly busy here, so there wasn’t a whole ton of time to sightsee. So, I’ll do a mini hotel review first.

The obvious place to start, since I just mentioned room service, is with the food. Let’s just start by saying that for the region I thought prices were outrageous. I ended up with a club sandwich and a beer from room service, which came to nearly $45. Stunning. I was expecting to get something pretty awesome for that price, but you be the judge:

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Attractions, Europe and Central Asia 2013, hotels, Kyrgyzstan, Restaurants 1 Response »

Jun 062013

Got to the hotel around 430am, the Hyatt Regency Bishkek:

Guess this is as good of a place as any to start the hotel review…since I had problems from the very start. Check-in was quick, up to my room, and it was roasting. AC and blower weren’t working. Call down to front desk and ask to switch rooms, “no, we are full, I will send someone up.” The maintenance guy fiddled with it for 30 minutes and couldn’t get it to turn on either, and then I elevated and demanded a manager. He still said there’s no rooms, blah blah blah. I threw a mild fit. Well, look there, there’s a room on the Executive Floor. Funny how that worked out! An hour after arriving, around 5:30am, I passed out…and didn’t wake up until nearly 2pm.

But, back to the hotel. The staff was friendly the entire time, although I didn’t have a ton of interaction with them. The perk of the new room was executive lounge access, but it was nothing to get excited about. A nice espresso machine and cookies (?) in the morning, but in the evening they put out quite a nice snack display with meats, cheeses, etc, and free beverages. I was allowed to bring my colleague in as well, so that was a nice perk.

Other than that, we really didn’t use any hotel facilities. We had one drink in the bar which tried really hard to be cool, but weren’t overly impressed with it. There was an in-house travel agent, who was fantastic and managed to book us a daytrip for the next day at around 9pm – impressive, and more on that later.

The room was comfy enough, and no complaints about the bed or room temp once I got a room where the AC worked. It was plenty quiet, and my room had a huge shower and tub in it. I would say the paying the extra $20 or so for the deluxe room upgrade was way worth it – it was double the size of the standard rooms plus had a king bed. Overall, no question this is THE place to stay in Bishkek.

So, woke up at 2pm, and decided to go for a stroll. I’ll go through the sites pretty quickly, and I didn’t see all of these the first day….since I had the weekend to recover. But, going to post them all now regardless.

We’ll start right next to the Hyatt with the national opera and ballet:

A short walk away was the Dom Soyuzov, a very cool Soviet-era building:

Sarajevo, BiH to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Turkish Airlines

Airports, Bosnia and Central Asia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Flights, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey 1 Response »

Jun 052013

So, got to Sarajevo airport in plenty of time. Check-in was absolutely painless, no line, and security and passport control were also painless. Less than 10 minutes after arriving, we were inside security and passport control and ready to see the lounge. It’s a common use lounge where they check your boarding pass, but it had free internet and drinks, so was more than adequate to pass the time. Nothing special, but good enough!

We didn’t spend any time in duty free, and soon it was time to board right on time.

Turkish flight 1024
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (SJJ) to Istanbul, Turkey (IST)
Depart 14:10, Arrive 17:05, Flight Time 1:55
Boeing 737-900 Registration TC-JYI, Manufactured 2012, Seat 3F

First shocker…unlike the flight to Sarajevo, this plane actually featured something close to international business class! Well, it was more like US domestic first with an extra foot or more of legroom, but still…very comfortable compared to what I expected, I was super impressed…and this was off to a good start!

I know…still nothing to be super excited about, but it held promise for the next segment to Bishkek. I was sure we wouldn’t be so lucky again, but in my experience flying Turkish has been a complete crapshoot, so who’s to say what was in store. Pre-departure drinks were a variety of fruit juices and lemonades:

Here a Stan, there a Stan, everywhere a Stan Stan….

Austria, Bosnia and Central Asia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Uzbekistan No Responses »

Apr 262013

No sooner had I gotten back from Johannesburg than I found out that the new job I took starting the day I returned had a trip planned for me. I expected it would maybe be one new country, but as planning has evolved it’s now planned for nearly three weeks and four new countries! Score! The downside is not getting to really play tourist too much, but you can’t complain about getting to go to four relatively out of the way countries without it costing any vacation time or out of pocket expense! Things are pretty much lined up now, and the the route looks like:

Plan is to visit four new countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Assuming the visas show up in time, all systems should be go for this trip! Lots of long segments on Lufthansa…perhaps in First if upgrades clear, along with a couple long segments on dreaded Turkish 737s from Sarajevo to Istanbul to Bishkek. Also, two new airlines: Uzbekistan Airlines and Air Astana, one on an A320 and the other on an ERJ-190. This assumes, again, that everything happens as planned…

Not sure how many sights I’ll get a chance to see, but I’ll definitely make an attempt to review the flights, check out the local restaurants, and use my evenings wisely to at least try and see some sights around town! Plus, I should have a full weekend day in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, so that should be a chance to see a fair bit!

More to come soon!