Thursday, September 2, 2010

The Adventures of John and Vasili Part 2


John and I explored Arslanbob for the rest of the day. We climbed all around the area looking for what the people in the town called “The Panorama.” The Panorama is an area that allows for a view of all the mountains and the surrounding valley. When we finally reached it, we sat for over an hour looking out over the village. While we surveyed the valley a local horseman came along and offered to let us ride his horse. As I haven’t ridden a horse since I was 7 years old, I was slightly uncomfortable, but I hopped on anyway. Eventually john came over and tried it out as well. In Arslanbob we also found the largest fruit roll-ups EVER.



The next day we woke up early, said goodbye to our host and took a taxi to Jalalabad. When I spoke to my mother on the phone after our arrival, she shouted into the phone “YOU’RE IN AFGHANISTAN!?” Thus, it is important to note that there is more than one Jalalabad. Our driver from Arslanbob dropped us off into the care of another driver in the city who took us to a fairly nice hotel which cost 300 Som a night, which is about 6 dollars. We liked the new driver so we offered to pay him 500 Som to be our tour guide for the day. He agreed, and after we dropped off our bags we got back into the taxi and started our tour.

At first he drove us by what he claimed to be the house in which the former president Bakiyev was hiding after the revolution. Then he took us to a restaurant he claimed had the best shashlik in town. Shashlik is an incredibly flavorful form of shish kabob. The restaurant ended up having fairly decent Shashlik and the owner’s son had studied English in New York City. This was nice because we were all able to engage in the conversation.

After lunch our driver took us up a mountain to a resort where there was a “magic” spring which would supposedly make us feel great if we drank from it. The water ended up tasting like a warm salt and iron mixture, a lot like blood. It could have been something else but I’m pretty sure I developed a slight stomach ache after drinking the “magic” water. Next he drove us to the highest spot on the mountain and we looked down onto the large valley through chain link fence as the sun set.

We had set aside a week to travel so we again had to move on. The next morning we called our driver and he took us to the Avtovokzal where we picked up a bus to Osh. As we got closer to the city we noticed more and more burned down stores and homes. Nonetheless, it was still quite surprising when we were suddenly in the heart of Osh where so recently there had been so much unrest. We were also surprised by how many people were on the streets, the city was bustling.


Our first goal was, as always, to procure a hotel for the night. The first one we stopped in was fairly large, and seemed to be fairly western. We didn’t know how western it was until the woman at the front desk asked us for our passports. John handed his to the woman and she said “Americans, 50 dollars a night.” Most likely, the cause of the high price was probably all of the reporters that had recently been there throwing money around while their offices were picking up the tab. John took his passport back and we laughed at the prospect of paying that much. I told the woman that we were students, not reporters and we walked out.

We asked around and as it turned out that not 200 meters away from that hotel was an incredibly nice bed and breakfast style place with rooms to rent. We went down a back alley and knocked on the door. A woman came out and offered to show us inside. The door opened up into an incredibly beautiful courtyard with a garden and a small modern banya adjacent to the main building. The price was 350 Soms a night, so we quickly agreed. The woman then asked us if we wanted to use the banya and when. We said 8 o’clock that evening would be great. We threw our stuff down and started walking the town.


I wanted to grab some extra so I stopped at a cash machine. My card didn’t work at several. I made a note to call my bank the next day.

We hopped in a taxi and asked to go to Mount Suleiman. There have been settlements in Osh for thousands of years and there is lore that Soloman himself formed the city. We asked the driver to wait for us while we walked up the mountain. We took a path which led to the tallest point. Eventually we were left with about 15 meters of cliff face to the top. The sun was setting in the background as I attempted to scale the wall. I almost made it, but I will have to wait until I am there again to make it to the top.

When we climbed down our taxi driver had left. People said that he had gotten tired of waiting. We bought some ice cream and walked to the road where we caught a taxi back to where we were staying. We enjoyed the banya and some tea and then passed out.


The next day we went to an internet café where I called my bank on Skype. Apparently they had not just put a hold on my card, they had actually killed it. They told me the number had been “compromised.” I told them that I was in Kyrgyzstan and I could not get money out and they responded that I had not given them a “Travel Notice.” Even though I had given them notice that I would be out of the States, I asked what it would take to get money out. The fraud operator told me that he could open it if I was in front of an ATM. I said that this was not really possible since I was in front of a computer without an ATM anywhere near. Finally I asked if he could give me 15 minutes. He said that was “pushing it,” but that he could. He said that as soon as we hung up he would activate it. I said “thank you,” and he said “good luck.” I hung up, paid my bill at the internet café and ran out into the street. I started asking people “Izvinitie pozhalusta, vi znaete gde bankomat?” Most people looked at me confused. Someone gave me directions a block away. I checked and it was offline. Many of the “Bankomats” in the city were offline since the riots. Finally about 4 blocks away from the internet café, with only a few minutes to spare, I was able to find one that worked. I got the money that I needed and came back to the café to tell John who was still confused as to why I ran out of the café.


Afterwards John and I found a woman selling Kyrgyz chewing tobacco. We decided that eight Soms was worth spending to try something new. The tobacco is formed into small little pellets that do not look pleasant. They taste even worse. We only put four or five little pellets in between our lips and gums. It only took five minutes before we were ready to skip down the street with an incredibly strong nicotine buzz. We felt great. We eventually got back to where we were staying, paid our bill and went to the avtovokzal. We would not feel that happy until 16 hours later when our taxi driver dropped us off in Bishkek.

The driver crammed too many people into his minivan and too much stuff. It was hard to breath, let alone move our legs. Luckily we stopped every couple of hours because we had three flat tires. I have to say though, that even though the trip was incredibly uncomfortable the mountains we drove through were incredibly beautiful. At night the moon silhouetted everything and in the morning light the peaks were an incredibly new and beautiful experience.

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