The 5000 Project

having switched from the truck to the car, we agreed to a 500som ($10) fee for us to be taken to sary tash, when we actually wanted to head to osh. During the car ride they asked for $50 for us to get to osh, we declined considering the standard rate from the border is $22. We arrived in sary tash, however noone seemed to let us know, so we agreed to ask if the next town is sary tash which was a few hours away, and then act as if we had been betrayed, in order to get the upper hand and pay a reasonable fee when arriving in osh. The plan worked, our acting skills were believable, we ended up paying ~$25 each for the 7hr journey all the way to osh, with the help of me actually running out of any additional funds requested :P

We found a restaurant and had a feed of kyrgys style dumplings, the family who own the restaurant were celebrating something and the father seemed to be quite drunk of vodka – we had a chat with him when he approached our table, then he offered to give the meal to us for free, while also giving us 200som ($4) he then proceeded to knock his bottle of vodka off the table, where it smashed. I fetched our unopened bottle of emergency vodka from my bag and gave it to the man, he was immensely happy and offered for us to join his table and celebrate with them, using the new bottle. A few shots later, we noticed that it was getting late and rather dark outside and we still hadn’t found the one guesthouse in town which hosts foreigners. We decided to say goodbye and leave, the father offered for us to stay at his house, however I had an assignment due the next day and required an internet connection to get it done – we respectfully declined, then the man was quite forceful, grabbing our arms; it took a lot of effort to escape.

We walked through rat-infested market streets and by using a set of instructions that we wrote down from a japanese backpacker in kashgar, not unsimilar to a treasure map, we attempted to find the guesthouse. It mentioned building locations, several turns to a hidden block of flats, finding a middle apartment block next to a red building; and then counting to the third entrance before walking up 4 dark floors. Knocking on an unmarked, other then the number ’22’, door , we were a little surprised to find that we were in the right place. The reason for the difficulty and somewhat secrecy the guesthouse location is that last year around this time there was a revolution against the government and during this time there were certain expulsions/assassinations of uzbekistan residents in Kyrgyzstan, I believe this may be why the place is kept so secret. We were paying $5/night for a bed in a dorm, in pretty much an apartment within an ex-soviet apartment block. The benefit being that we had access to a kitchen and the ability to walk to a market and buy western style food, which was a refreshing change from asia.

Half of the people in the street are russian and the other half are kyrgyz (quite similar to the mongolian look) and some others were a mix of both – quite an interesting combination. We spotted some young gypsy girls in the market, with much darker skin than everyone else, a rare group of people that were almost wiped out by the soviet union.

A couple of days rest and a completed assignment later, we took a car to bishkek, a 13hr drive costing $22. There are no busses in kyrgyzstan, not sure why this is the case, however the cars are reasonably comfortable. During a food stop, one of the kyrgyz guys in the car bought us a bottle of vodka, we downed a few shots before heading back to the car – it definitely helped sleep during the rest of the journey.

We arrived in bishkek greeted by falling snow, with a faded map given to us by a passing backpacker in kashgar, we found a masutka (vans pretending to be buses for local transport) heading in the correct direction and hopped on – thankfully finding the guesthouse… which is once again an apartment within a huge ex-soviet apartment block, also on the 4th floor – almost a carbon copy of the one in osh, except this one was only $3/night.

We had to wait in bishkek for visas, not only for the processing of the Uzbekistan and Iran visas but also the processing of the invitation letters which we applied for from various websites online (after ensuring their authenticity from backpackers heading from these parts). All up, the cost for visas are hefty, to the point where I’m fairly certain the project has failed, im too scared to check my bank account :(

Heres a list of the visa costs:

Uzbekistan letter of invitation through stantours.com
Time taken to process: 10days
Cost: $45

Uzbekistan visa:
only one way to pay and its instant visa on the spot if you have:
– the letter of invitation
– application form filled in and printed online (www.evisa.mfa.uz)
– copy of passport and kyrgyz visa
Costs: $75
Lasts: 1month

Iran visa Authorization code through http://www.iranianvisa.com (which the consulate receives to authorize the visa)
Cost: $54 through western union only, as US sanctions prevent paypal use as well as other US based payment systems, for iran.
Time taken to process: 10days

Iran visa:
– Proof of travel insurance, else pay for travel insurance through a company that they suggest and direct you to
– a photocopy of the main page of the passport
– a confirmed security code (although they still seemed to process the visa even through they didn’t seem to get the clearance when I first applied… makes me wonder if I actually needed the code in the first place…)
Cost: $80
Time taken to process: 5days (although its usually 7, it costs $106 to have it processed in 3 days)

All up, visas cost:
– $120 for Uzbekistan
– $134 for Iran
Total: $254

When I hit Uzbekistan, I’ll still have to apply for a Turkmenistan transit visa… I really hope it isn’t going to be the same kind of cost :(

I pre-arranged to sit my final exam for my computer science degree by emailing teachers and lecturers while I was sick in kashgar (ah, did I mention that I have been studying while travelling?) and the long visa wait turned out to be quite handy for studying, with the perfect combination of cheap accommodation and cheap food to cook stuff in the kitchen. I cooked almost every meal, porridge every morning and large batches of spaghetti bolognese to last the weeks. Some nights we would all chip in and get the Iron-chef japanese guy to cook some amazing meals, which cost between $1 and $2 each.

I sat my exam at the American University of Central Asia and was rather confident that I passed the exam, finally completing my 5yr (which is generally meant to be 3yr) Bachelors of Computer Science, the vodka celebrations began shortly after. Vodka here costs $3 for a 2ltr bottle, dangerously cheap.

Oh wow, I’m still in this Guesthouse…. this means I have finally caught up with blogging! :D

Going skiing with some locals on sunday, then crossing over to Uzbekistan on wednesday; eager to check out the museum tomorrow so that I have something more interesting to write about this country.

I will check my funds soon enough, to give the bad news of the failed project, once I gain the courage. Good news is I received a nice tax return, after doing my tax online while in Kashgar, which means I can keep going – I’ll just put the remaining funds in negatives as I gradually spend more, instead of registering 7000project.com or 8000project.com :P – The last time the funds count was updated was when I arrived in urumqi, around about two months ago.

Main cause of project failure:
spent too much money and time in china that I could have avoided, spent money for sleeper trains instead of putting up with sitting or standing for days. should have couchsurfed and hitchhiked more often…. I’m sure someone else out there should be able to do better :) give it a go!

8 months travel on $5000 isn’t too bad…
Well, fear not, my travels and blogging will still continue! Uzbek in 5 days!