Life in Cambodia

Turkey!

After the pleasant folks at Turkish Airlines were nice enough change our Turkey flight without charge, we hopped on a flight a few days early ın order to spend more tıme ın Istanbul. Exiting Uzbekistan was made diffıcult by pandemonium and madness at the airport which we were ın no mood to put up with at 3am, which ıs when our flight left. At least the customs people didn't give us any problems or anything, as they are apt to do to the unsuspecting. I slept the entire way, waking up in Istanbul and once clearing the airport, I was amazed at the city. It is a land where fortunes are won, lost, and won again according to the whims of a Kurdish rabbit; a place where barbers cut your hair, not with scissors, but with fire. This is İstanbul! If you remember your history, Istanbul was formerly known as Constantinople (and know your They Might Be Gıants) - the capital of the Byzantine Empire, itself a spin off of the Roman Empire. Anyway, in short, it has a long hıstory and commands a key spot on the Bosporus, a narrow strip of water that links the Mediterranean Sea with the Sea of Marmara and further onwards, the Black Sea. We are staying ın an area called Sultanamet, which is basically the center of the old Constantinople (European side). Sultanamet ıs a winding mass of alleyways and buildings, many of which have now been converted into guesthouses, pensions, and cafes and is a wonderful place to whittle away tıme after a long day in the city at any number of cafes and sweet shops, of which we have certainly visited, baklava anyone?

We took a little side trıp out of Istanbul so that we could claim to have visited a bıt more of the country. We had a few places ın mind, but ın the end opted for Bursa. Bursa, if i recall correctly, was a capital of the Ottoman Empire for a while. To get there, we had to take a big ferry ride across to the Asian side of the strait and then a quick bus ride the rest of the way. We stayed ın the suburb of Cekirge which is famed for its medicinal springs and had the feeling of a small hillside village, rather than a town. There really wasn't too much to Bursa, but it was a nice town to walk around a bit and stroll through some of the ancient mosques, tombs, and whatnot. We even visited the tombs of the first two Ottoman sultans; Osman and Orhan. We had thought about hitting up a few other cities nearby, but we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time for İstanbul so after two nights in Bursa we headed home.

I also have to relay something I have called: "The Experience." My beard was getting a bit woolly and ıt had been a while since i had had a proper haircut, so Maggie and I set out to remedy that situation. We poked our heads ın a few places but finally found a suitable place. I have had my hair cut in a number of different countries using a number of different tools but this one was for the books. First, after stroking my beard and saying "good, good," the guy went to work. It started out as you might expect, a bit of clippers here, some scissors here. He was even trimming up my beard with a comb and a straight razor. Just your run of the mill hair cut, until that is, the guy brought out the large flaming q-tip. Maggie and i both stared at it, i thought he was going to stick it in my ear (what else am i supposed to think when some guy is waving a flaming q-tip in my face?) Well it did not go in my ear but in fact he ran it all over my neck, forehead, ears, around the eyebrows, etc to burn off any rogue hairs he might have missed. Next, he broke out the twine. Not exactly sure how he was holding it, but i know he was using both hands and his teeth and was somehow rolling it all over my face. i am not sure exactly how it works but somehow, as it rolls along it pinches and plucks the stray hairs which somehow escaped the flaming q-tip. it hurt, but i know that Maggie will call me a weenie for that. Once he was certain that i was sufficiently clean, he popped all the joints in my hands and then popped my ears. i did not know that your ears could be popped in that sense, but a good solid pull upwards will do the trick - i figure that probably is not good for you in the long run. The magic of it all was that he moved around the chair in a quick, sliding motion, impressive given the small, narrow room and that he was wielding a very sharp pair of scissors and a straight razor. Plus, he was dressed to kill and with a quick hair washing and short massage, he cleaned his hands, smoothed down hıs black and white striped shırt and i was out the door; but not before eating some dried chickpeas offered with a sly wink, a bıg grın and the conspiratorial whisper... they are known as "Turkish Viagra."

Other than the short jaunt out of town and "The Experience," a lot of our tıme has been spent wandering through the streets of Istanbul and getting lost in its hıstory. We did have our fortunes told by a Kurdish rabbit, who, after hearing our names would pick a piece of paper off a board. i was suitably happy with mine. Haircuts and rabbits aside, we have seen plenty here in İstanbul and its crazy to think that tomorrow you will find us in Parıs! There are a few bıg ticket items here in İstanbul, including the Hagia Sophia. When it was first built, it was the largest church ın Christendom (or so it claims). With the Muslim Conquest it was turned into a mosque, and later a museum. Though massive and impressive in size, its real beauty lies on the inside, as is true for most of the mosques in town. Without doing a laundry list of the sites we have seen, İstanbul is just a wonderful place to wander around aimlessly and get lost ın the old winding alleyways; to get off the beaten path a bit away from the tour groups and enjoy the city without really trying to find this mosque or that tomb. We were also able to hop on a little Bosporus cruise that took us up river for an hour and it was nice to be able to see the city from the different angles (though i wasn't feeling 100% afterward myself) We have even popped into The Grand Bazaar, basically just a huge covered bazaar ın the center of the city that is a must vısıt for those interested in shopping (that's why i am here typing this right now while Maggie is there!) Though come prepared to bargain! These guys are good and we are but putty in their hands and rich tour groups we've seen pass through are quite happy being putty. On top of all of this we were able to see Dervishes whirl at the old train station with our friend Thang (of Beijing, Kashgar and now Turkey!) and we all left in awe.

We have also had the opportunity to grow very fat on Turkısh food; it is unbelievably good and it is a welcome change from the mutton fat of Central Asia. On every corner is a sweet shop selling the best baklava and Turkish coffee and tea--and it is difficult to say 'No' to that. The sweets, ın addition to the huge piles of bread combines for a sugar and carb diet which is, needless to say, far from ideal (but still oh so tasty!)

Now with the Grand Bazaar under our belt...it was a bit too much even for me (Maggıe)! İ did however spend a good amount of time in one particular jewelry shop where İ was invited to become 'partner' so as to stay in this lovely city. My role was already confirmed when i was handed the phone to help dial and connect with a shop ın Miami--they agreed 200/month seemed fair and with that would try to find something for Matt to do while I sold the bling. But for now, we are sadly packing up to leave this fine city and all of its good food and kind people; no doubt we will be back in the near future...

posted by Life in Cambodia @ 7:42 PM 1 comments

Bukhara and us

posted by Life in Cambodia @ 6:32 PM 2 comments

The Road to Samarkand

posted by Life in Cambodia @ 6:17 PM 0 comments

On the way out of Kyrgyzstan

Once we finally got our Uzbek visa we made a break for it and headed south. We had a few other Kyrgyzstan places we wanted to visit, but snow was coming and it was getting too cold. Kyrgyzstan is a paradise of outdoorsy activity but once the winter comes - its game over. We took the hint and headed back to Osh in order to cross over into Uzbekistan. In theory, you can get there directly from Bishkek, but Central Asian borders are a bit un-user friendly and the road detours through Kazakhstan (thus requiring an additional visa) so we opted for the route less taken. We paired up with a couple of Germans and headed south. We had a few days to kill before our Uzbek visas kicked in so instead of just bumming around Osh for 3 days we found a ride to Ak-Terek, a small village in the hills that was reputed to have homestays. We had to pay far more than we would have liked for the pleasure of a beaten up, old school Lada taxi, but eventually we got dropped off in some random village. Just as we were staring at our Lonely Planet, we were approached by a local English teacher who pointed us in the right direction; the village head who was in charge of homestays, etc. We ended up staying at this guys house, but as soon as we dropped our bags we headed out for a short little hike around town/the valley. The hills are pretty steep on each side so we didn't stray too much from the road and the corresponding river that wound its way through the valley. There wasn't much out there in terms of people/traffic, etc other than a few little homes, some guys on horses and some goats; and the views were amazing. It was nice to be in a place so unused to tourists--the village head said that he got 50 tourists in a year, which needless to say, isn't much. We walked for hours along the road before turning to loop back along the river, which we hoped to follow all the way back to our homestay. We got a few hundred meters before a Kyrgyz man began yelling at us from the bluff above, motioning that we shouldn't go any further but should come up onto the road, so we complied. We were walking through his yard when he ran over and shuffled us into his house; it was like we didn't even have a choice - we were going in there for what started out as tea and turned into quite a bit more. Here was our first meeting of Askar and Sonya. They didn't speak a word of English, but we were all able to communicate through broken Russian and plenty of miming. Askar is a teacher of American History (?!) at the local school in town, and for living out in the boonies, knew his stuff and knew it well. In addition to the tea, we also got another taste of kymys, which if you remember, is fermented horse milk. How do they think of such things, I do not know. We didn't have time to ponder things though as we had a pretty big bottle to work our way through. On top of that, Sonya provided a big bowl of plov, a local rice dish (which is quite tasty I might add). EAT! EAT! We also learned how to break walnuts with bare hands - no small feat. We ate/drank/mimed for hours before we finally had to head home before the sun went down. They asked us to stay the night with them, but we were already set up, but promised to return the next day and spend the night. Once we returned home, there wasn't too much going on. We sat outside a bit and with the use of a yogurt ball and bottle cap, explained to one of the guys hanging around the house (checking out what the foreigners were up too) the phenomenon of how it can be 6am in Bishkek and at the very same time 3pm somewhere else. "Ne Pravda" - not true he said, though he eventually came around to the idea (or he said he did just to get rid of us) . We ate, we slept, we woke up and went for a quick hike around our neighborhood before heading over to Askar & Sonya's, about a 30min walk away. So as to keep us entertained, we were given a huge cane fishing pole and told to catch some dinner down in the river. Askar dug up some worms and we were off. The river is cold and fast and the cane pole long and if I squinted my eyes just right, I could imagine that we were fly fishing in northern Vermont (or something like that)... We were all excited, getting ready for all the fish we were going to catch and all that. And then we waited...and talked about how fishing takes patience and then waited...discussed if fish could live in such cold water (because of course if they aren't biting means they must all be dead) and waited. Askar came down to laugh at us, but he didn't do any better. We got the hook stuck in some rocks though and Askar dove in, a feat that I would repeat about 30 mins later. Needless to say, the water was cold and it sapped my desire to catch fish and we all headed in. Askar declared that we would, in fact, have fish to eat and broke open a can of sardines to snack on. And then we drank a bit more kymys to wash it down, and then we had a bit more kymys to wash down the first bit. Dinner came early and we were force-fed until we couldn't possibly eat anymore. After dinner, we were presented with some gifts, a kalpak (traditional hat) for me and a scarf and handmade pillow cases for Maggie. From there, we were split up with Askar and I going to visit his father and Maggie and Sonya off in the other direction to visit neighbors and other family members. At his father's place we drank more tea and ate more manty until I physically couldn't have eaten any more. We sat there for hours waiting on Maggie and Sonya to arrive, but they were waiting for us at other houses. The long and short of it is that we both got put through the feeding wringer in different locations (though Maggie got it worse than I did--3 dinners in one night!) . Maggie here, yes, Sonya and I, as usual, were waiting on the men per the designated plan, that they, uh, I guess just decided to forget. Sonya and I, after waiting at the house, went to a neighbors place where we chatted, drank more tea and I was forced to eat more plov and bread. Then we decided to head over to the brother's house to find the men. This was also a bit risky, as we had no flashlights (they were locked in the house, of which Askar had the key) and well, wild or semi-wild or just crazy dogs were roaming the streets. Sonya motioned as we got onto the road that we should take a big stick to fend off the dogs, if needed. We found suitably big and pointy sticks and headed out, calling the name of Askar's brother all the way, until he heard us and came out to scare off the dogs. We got into the brother's house and of course the men weren't there, but Askar's sister-in-law was sure preparing the manty, which I was to later find out, would be my 3rd dinner of the night. Anyway, after waiting for awhile, I asked where the men were and we were lead outside and next-door to pop's house where we found Matt and Askar lounging lazily amidst candy, tea and bread...waiting on the manty. ANYWAY, we ate our required portions of manty, dutifully thanked the family members, who of course pressed more candy in my hand for the road. We headed back home and had some tea and hot water (nursed our aching bellies), while Askar prepared his lesson for the next day, Sonya prepared soup for breakfast and Askar insisted we watch the Fashion Channel on his satellite TV (this was strange, but the only English language channel they had, so Askar was convinced we would love it...). We now know all about Paris fashion week 2007. As to be expected, we rolled into bed and woke to the chickens squawking and Sonya's soup simmering. We made a quick visit to Askar's school, met the teachers, took pictures and wished them well. It was the best way we could have closed out our Kyrgyzstan visit: so hospitable, warm despite the cold weather outside and we met friends we know we can consider family--we always have a home away from home in Kyrgyzstan.

The next morning, Sonya took off early and Maggie and I went out for a quick visit to Askar's school. We were afraid that we might get recruited into a bit of song and dance for the kids, but other than showing us his office and meeting some other teachers, we got off the hook in terms of classtime. Askar had to get to his kids and Maggie and I had to return to Ak-Terek to catch our ride and we were sorry to have to say goodbye, though we left with the promise that we would return someday when the weather was warmer and we'd go up into the hills to hunt/camp/fish.

After the last night in Osh, we caught an early ride the next morning into Uzbekistan. The Uzbek border is only some 10km away from Osh and other than some guy in line making a scene "America Bad! America Bad!" it was an uneventful crossing. A bit bureaucratic, but what borders aren't these days (especially for the Evil Americans!)? From there it was a straight shot into Tashkent, though we did have to navigate about 50 roadblocks (though we only have to cough up our passports once). Tashkent is a much bigger city than Bishkek (the biggest in Central Asia) but truthfully that's not saying much and Maggie and I walked just about all of it in a day.

posted by Life in Cambodia @ 6:36 PM 0 comments

Bishkek and the surrounding hills

We've been slaves to Bishkek for the past few days as we wait for our Uzbek visas, which hopefully will be sorted out before the week is out. Despite this, we've managed to see what we've wanted to see and generally have had a good time. Bishkek is not a bad place to be holed up for a few days (though admittedly we've been here longer than both of us would have liked). Our first plan was to do day trips out of the city, returning each night. We didn't dare wander too far from the internet because we were waiting on the Letter of Invitation (via email) that would allow us to begin the Uzbek visa process. One of the places we had planned on going was to Ala-Archa Canyon (over the weekend), just south of Bishkek which is supposed to be a beautiful place to camp, trek, hike, and basically just get outside. Maggie got a bit under the weather so we decided it best for her to take it easy and we hung around Bishkek while she recuperated. Luckily, the place we are staying in Bishkek is a pretty cool place with some interesting folks in the dorm room. At any given time, there are 5 or 6 nationalities represented in the 12 bed dorm room, Korean, Japanese, Polish, Hungarian, Iranian, Spanish, Israeli, I could go on. Anyway, my point is that at least its not some boring little hovel of a hotel. Being in Bishkek though, sick or not, we have managed to eat quite well. To those not in the know, one would assume Bishkek to be some provincial Central Asian backwater with only bread and mutton. Thankfully, one could not be further from the truth. We've been gorging ourselves on Turkish pide, salads, and Kyrgyz attempts at burritos. In addition to the little bug, the weather has also been keeping us in the hut. Every day gets colder and colder, dipping well below freezing at night, though the day time is quite nice. After a few days, we managed to make a break out of town to the Issik-Ata Hot Springs, about an hour and a half away. The weather was bad, a heavy fog, but we wanted to get out of town, if only for a day. Issik-Ata is a strange place. When I lived here back in the day, we used to visit a different hot springs site, so I was interested to check out another place. As we got dropped off, we got pointed up the hill and off we went. I don't know what we were expecting, but it definitely didn't fit with what we found. As we were walking up the hill, tens of 100s of old folks are lumbering down the hill and silently filing into this decrepit old building. We asked around for the hotel or room rental (anything) and got pointed in 4 different directions; basically we went building to building asking for a place to sleep. Alas, we were unsuccessful and were wandering around aimlessly (in the very cold) until an English speaking Kyrgyz woman found us and helped us locate lodging. The place was filled up because everyone comes from Bishkek for the healing powers of the medicinal waters of Issik-Ata (which explains the old farts wandering around) . Of course, there was only one room left in the entire place (10+ buildings) and it happened to be something like $40, which is, by far, the most we've paid for lodging since we began the trip. Admittedly, it was a nice place with meals included, but there for a bit (as the large old woman in 'reservations' wasn't pleased at our attempts to discuss the price); I was seriously thinking about heading back to Bishkek, though in hindsight, am glad we didn't. We dropped our bags and headed out for a walk, though we couldn't stay out too long since it was mid-afternoon and starting to snow. We wandered around looking for the hot springs, and after motioning swimming for the 5th time, we finally found it. At first glance, one sees a big empty swimming pool, so we had to ask "vada yest?" Do you have water? The man assured us there was water and pointed to a tiny little kiddy pool in the back, which proved to be quite toasty (we only stuck our hands in) . We agreed we would return the following morning for an early dip and headed back to our place for dinner. After we were completely sated, the Kyrgyz woman who helped us earlier in the day stopped by to check that we were doing OK. Even nicer than that, she knew that we were headed to Istanbul and brought over (and gave us) a pretty hefty city guidebook to all of Istanbul. We spent the rest of the evening fighting over who got to read the book first.

It snowed throughout the night and by morning, about a few inches or so had accumulated through the valley. And needless to say, it was cold. As soon as we ate our breakfast, we walked down to the Hot Springs, only to find it closed, for reason unknown, perhaps the snow. After the requisite staring forlornly and whining, we went for a little hike into the valley behind our cottage. As mentioned, there was snow on the ground and more coming down. With the crunch of snow underfoot, we discussed just how far we'd come since we left Cambodia. We hiked along for a bit, but weather not permitting, we really couldn't see much and turned back at the thought of a hot bath in our huge bathtub before returning to Bishkek. So, back in Bishkek, medicinal waters only from our bathtub and frozen fingers and toes from the snow...we hastily jumped on the bus to the internet cafe and anticipated a nice LOI from the government of Uzbekistan...wrong. Still nothing save for a nice email from our coordinator, apologizing for the extra long wait, after all there were several unexpected public holidays and blah, blah...so we waited. Holed up in our little room, shivering as the sun went down, but kept company by the steady stream of other (freezing) travelers willing to brave the weather with us for a beer at a local spot.

AND THEN, we received the LOI on Oct. 3 in the wee hours of the night! First thing the next day, we had our guest house owner call the Uzbek embassy to make an appoint for later that day...no luck, but not bad, we were told to show on Oct. 5 at 10am and don't be late! Things are finally moving and now we'll be able to move on and see more of the beautiful country of Kyrgyzstan...with our LOI ready and appointment waiting, Oct. 4 was left open, so we headed for the hills outside of town with our French compatriots--we were 7 total and followed Matt's lead out of the city. We arrived at the foothills and started our climb to find hundreds of grazing sheep and goats, horses and a few Islamic cemeteries. More hiking further into the hills revealed the peaks of the mountains beyond, which were beautiful on this (finally!) sunny day. We pealed off the layers of jackets, sweaters and turtlenecks and kept hiking uphill until we reached a nice spot to stop for an hour of snacks and water. Matt kept up with the French speaking and we lolled around on the grass (see pictures). I headed back down for an interview (yes, job searching!) over the phone and the others hiked until you could hike no more. Weary but refreshed, we all returned feeling warmer and happier for the day out of the city. We patiently wait for our opportunity at the Uzbek Embassy and pray the woman is in a nice, kind mood and gladly hands us our visas, sans problems! more updates soon...

posted by Life in Cambodia @ 8:19 PM 2 comments