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| Our destination in Kochkor |
We thought that the CBT office was going through the door on the right of the photo, but no. That was a souvenir shop selling shyrdak (felt rug). We even thought the table at the end of the shop was the said CBT "office". Lol. Anyway, after checking with the shop owner/keeper, CBT office was next door.
To be exact, the "next door" means this white door on the right of the photo. It was locked when we were there. We waited for a bit before a driver came by and helped us called one of the CBT staff. About half an hour or so later, we sorted out our payment and decided to have lunch before going up the mountains. We were recommended to have our lunch at a cafe named "Visit".
We set off looking for this Visit cafe and was stumped that it was not easy to find. In fact we walked passed it thinking we have yet reached. Well, the reason was actually quite obvious. We are illiterate in Cyrillic scripts. Else we would've realise that "визит" reads as "visit". Hopefully when I finish blogging these Central Asia trip, I could read Russian characters. ^^
To be honest, the food was actually pretty good. Though it would be really hard to overlook the flies that zig zag all over the place. If you have internet connection, google translate's photo facility is pretty handy to assist with some guess work.
We ordered a laghman dish and pelmeni cooked with potato, cucumber and cheese (230KGS in total)... and the best conversation we had on this trip ensued.
In the midst of eating, sis stopped eating and looked up at me.
She said, "Do you bring Imodium?"
I nodded, "Yes, why?"
"Hmm... nothing much, I saw a fly crawled out from the laghman."
"Umm... ok. I didn't tell you earlier but I saw another one on the pelmeni pot when I opened the cover. "
"Oh.."
"...so, we continue (eating)?"
"Ya..."
Happy to report that both of us did not need the Imodium. ^^
Side note: Why are hazelnuts so expensive...
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| Source: Lonely Planet Central Asia |
The easy way was to arrange for a private transfer from Bishkek all the way to Song Kul but it was too pricey so we decided to just wing it and do as the locals do. The aim was to get to Kochkor by noon so there is enough time to get to Song Kul.
Step 1: Get to West Bus Station (Zapadniy Avtovokzal) by marshrutka.
Step 2: Look for minivans, mashrutkas or minibuses going to Kochkor at West Bus Station.
Sounds easy eh?
The issue was we forgot to jot down the word "Zapadniy Avtovokzal" and had some issues when trying to ask the marshrutka driver or any other passengers when to get off the bus. The driver dropped us off at Osh Bazaar because there were taxis and could take us to Kochkor thinking that was our intention. We stopped and asked quite a few passerby before we found an elderly woman who understood what we meant. The lovely woman flagged down a marshrutka and told the driver we wanted to go to the West Bus Station to get to Kochkor. Bonus was there were also a couple of passengers going to Kochkor! We have found travelling buddies to for our shared taxi! They happened to be a family of 4 travelling to Kochkor. One of the women motioned for sis to follow them while the marshrutka driver was telling me where he will drop us off.
We followed them after getting off marshrutka. They found a shared taxi (in this case we were in a van) driver, negotiated for a price and we hopped on the van. There were six of us and we only have to wait for a couple of minutes for the driver to find another passenger to have a full case and off we went. We paid KGS250 per person. The drive too about 3 hours. We brought out some of the chocolates to share with the rest and glad that our little mishap turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
*Note: photos below by sis
Halfway to Kochkor the driver pulled over and stopped by the road side as the family bought some corns. What we didn't expect was they got us an ear of corn each as well. We tried to pay and when they refuse to accept, we thought we would just share a corn between the two of us but they would hear no such thing. Hospitality from a Kyrgyz family. :)
Upon reaching Kochkor, they made sure we were at the correct destination - CBT Kochkor before they get back into the van and continued their journey.
Side note: Best news of the week - I'm exempted to take an assessment as I am qualified by points system ^^
We followed them after getting off marshrutka. They found a shared taxi (in this case we were in a van) driver, negotiated for a price and we hopped on the van. There were six of us and we only have to wait for a couple of minutes for the driver to find another passenger to have a full case and off we went. We paid KGS250 per person. The drive too about 3 hours. We brought out some of the chocolates to share with the rest and glad that our little mishap turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
*Note: photos below by sis
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| On the way to Kochkor |
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| Yummy corns on sale |
Halfway to Kochkor the driver pulled over and stopped by the road side as the family bought some corns. What we didn't expect was they got us an ear of corn each as well. We tried to pay and when they refuse to accept, we thought we would just share a corn between the two of us but they would hear no such thing. Hospitality from a Kyrgyz family. :)
Upon reaching Kochkor, they made sure we were at the correct destination - CBT Kochkor before they get back into the van and continued their journey.
Side note: Best news of the week - I'm exempted to take an assessment as I am qualified by points system ^^
Bishkek's main square, Ala-Too Square is right in the center of the city. In Kyrgyz language, it is said to mean "Snow Mountain". If you are in Bishkek, it would be hard pressed to miss this square.
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| Lenin monument that was moved... |
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| Manas monument that is in Ala-Too now... |
Since we are talking about Lenin and Manas, the next one up would be Frunze. After all, the city was once named Frunze. Frunze has his own museum named Frunze House-Museum. The highlight was a thatched cottage inside the museum that allegedly the birthplace of Frunze. We were a little cheapskate and didn't enter the museum but simply peep through the windows as we walked past.
Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze was born in the 1885 in Bishkek. Frunze sided Lenin over an ideological split with another main party leaders. In 1907 Frunze was arrested following the 1905 Revolution. He was sentenced to death but was reprieved and his sentence was commuted to hard labour in Siberian prisons. Frunze managed to escape and rose to military importance. He had been considered as a potential succesor to Lenin.
However Frunze was hospitalised in 1925 following a severe episode of chronic ulceration. At this time, Stalin visited him and was instrumental in influencing Frunze to undergo an operation. There were speculations in regards to Frunze's demise as he was found to have been administered a chloroform dose that many times exceeded the normal dose.
In 1926, Bishkek was renamed Frunze in his honour. It reverted to its former name in 1991.
We actually walked across Panfilov Park prior to reaching Frunze House-Museum. It seem to have some carnival going on.
We decided to finish up early that day, sis did not get any sleep for at least 24 hours and we both had walked a fair bit with our fatty backpack the morning to get to the hostel. We checked out the Ak-Emmir market, across from the hostel before dinner.
Dinner was a simple affair, we had a takeaway burger and wrap. While we tried to decipher the Cyrillic menu, a student who was working there poke his head out and spoke to us. Naturally, we tried to ask him. He gave us a blank look and said, "You can't read?" Er..hahaha.. well, if we could, we won't be stump! Well, he did help us to place our order in the end.
This place is popular though, we wanted chicken wrap but it was sold out. We went back another time and it was sold out too. Of course, we had to have a little dessert too.
Side note: Yay, it's finally public holidays in Victoria! ^^
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| Airspace from Urumqi to Bishkek |
There's a reason why when I'm in a foreign land, I prefer trains or metro anytime compared to buses. Simply because I never know when to get off a bus. Same case here, we have no clue even when it reached the junction near Osh Bazaar. Lady Luck was on our side that morning. As I was talking to sis in Mandarin, a young Kyrgyz teacher overheard us and approached us as we were booted off the marshrutka as that was the last stop. After finding out where were are heading, she spoke to a couple of taxi drivers. So we thought she is helping us to haggle with the taxi driver. It turned out that she was willing to bring us to the hostel by another marshrutka. Yay!
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| We almost missed the sign to the hostel! |
We had lunch at a nearby restaurant serving national food (just a block away) as recommended by the hostel reception. We actually ended up having a meal there a few times too. We were given a menu in Cyrillic and I could recognised compote and manti, many thanks to my ex-workmate T who introduced me to Russian food so that was what we ordered and another random dish. :P
Side note: I could do with some manti right now..!
I had a long layover in Urumqi, about 16 hours in total including an overnight stay. There are a few flight options, giving choices of duration you want in Guangzhou vs Urumqi. I decided to have a longer layover in Urumqi with a short one in Guangzhou. I opted for a 4 hours transit in Guangzhou and a 16 hours in Urumqi.
I have initially planned a couple of things I wanted to see in Urumqi or at least hope to see the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum and Grand Bazaar. That, was the plan but one can only plan eh. I ended up only walking around near the hotel I was put up.
Ok - back to the transit hotel story. I approached the China Southern transit desk and was given a hotel slip and the staff in charge stuck a sticker on my backpack so that the driver can identify me. On my way there, there was only one other person and me on the same flight that was transiting to Bishkek. She wanted a room to herself and paid. I wasn't keen on sharing and have someone coming in to the room when I was sleeping (even though I am game to stay in dorm, don't ask me what logic is that..). So I paid ¥150.00 for the other bed as well.
I had every intention to get my own room on my return trip as well but as I reached Urumqi past midnight, there were not enough rooms even if I paid. :( I shared a room but all turned out OK though I did not have a good sleep.
The girl works in Bishkek and passed me her phone number if I needed help in Bishkek. Very kind of her. Even the van driver was nice, he helped me carry my fat backpack!
On my way there, I was put up in Yuyuan Hotel and Golden Beach Hotel on my return trip. The rooms were nothing to shout about, in fact the bathroom in Golden Beach Hotel was quite bad! It was those bathroom without door, only a shower curtain to cover the bath area. Serious, why do people make that kind of bathroom! = ="
Umm, I dont have any photographic evidence though because I was rooming with another person and it was right in the middle of the night.
I had half a day in Urumqi and an overnight sleep on a proper bed. Can't beat that! Though the lady at the counter in both hotels are a little strange. Both times when I asked what time does the bus leave, they responded as,"We will call you." Well, they did call but all they say would be "pack your bags and come down." No time to do anything because well, nobody is going to risk missing the bus or rather, flight.
There was a street full of restaurants and eating places near the hotel. However it reminded me of Petaling Street in KL and I much prefer a small, home style eating place so I didn't have my dinner there. I did however walk around the neighbourhood.
As it was an eating street, there were many cute statues along the street.
The other thing I wanted to do in Urumqi was to eat dapanji (大盘鸡). I settled for a small family run eatery near the hotel (not in along the food street). However as per it's name - big plate chicken, the smaller portion still use half a chicken and there is absolutely no way I can finish the dish by myself. How I wish I can find another person to share it with me so that I could eat dapanji in Xinjiang. Not wanting to waste the food, I chose to have something else. The lady boss suggested stir fry noodles and I went with it. I can't even finish this stir fry noodles and it was for one person's portion. So it was lucky that I didn't order dapanji.
Despite my best effort, I could only finish half of this. Taste wise it was ok but the noodles were a little too al-dente to my liking.
So that was my rest and relax layover in Urumqi.
Side note: I think I'm coming down with a cold.. Noooooo
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| From Urumqi to Bishkek |
After confirming our fly-in and out destinations, the two 'contending' flight carriers for me was China Southern and Emirates*. I've only flown with China Southern once before this trip to China and the flight was delayed so I have not had great experience with them. I have not flown with Emirates before but of course reviews were excellent. Most of my friends urged me to go with Emirates especially when it only involved one transit (but I was later told by the customer service when I rang that the flight I was looking at had 2 transits - a very short one in KL and the other in Dubai).
Anyway after considering that both flights needs two transits and China Southern was much cheaper even after visa cost, I decided to give China Southern another try. There were a few flights options and I opted for a longer transit in Urumqi (approximately 17 hours and 11 hours respectively). Transit in Guangzhou was 4 hours on my way there and 3 hours 15 minutes on return flight.
I have heard of complimentary overnight stay if one transits in Guangzhou and wondered if there is one on offer for a long transit in Urumqi. I found that from China Southern's US-English website, under "free accommodation service" that they do with following criteria.
There are three criteria for the free accommodation service:
1. Travelers transiting from domestic to domestic flights: If a traveler has purchased an overnight China Southern Airlines-connected flight ticket and the transit time is less than 24 hours, China Southern Airlines Transit Services will provide the traveler with free accommodation for one night (each traveler will be provided with one standard room with one bed, checkout by 2:00 PM the following day, no meals included), and will provide a shuttle service between the hotel and the airport.
2. Travelers connecting to international flights: If a traveler has purchased China Southern Airlines-connected flight tickets connecting to an international flight and the transit time is longer than 6 hours, China Southern Airlines Transit Services will provide the traveler with free accommodation for one night (each traveler will be provided with one standard room with one bed, checkout by 2:00 PM the following day, no meals included), and will provide a shuttle service between the hotel and the airport.
3. Accommodation service for travelers that miss connections: This applies if the late arrival of the departure flight taken by the traveler makes it impossible to connect with the original connecting flight (for China Southern Airlines flights connecting to China Southern Airlines flights). If such a situation occurs, China Southern Airlines transfer services in Ürümqi will provide the traveler with free accommodation and free shuttle services between the hotel and the airport.
Notes: Travelers arriving on domestic flights are asked to proceed to the China Southern Airlines transit accommodation desk next to Luggage Carousel No. 4 in the Domestic Arrivals Hall to complete accommodation procedures. Travelers arriving on international flights are asked to proceed to the China Southern Airlines transit desk at the entrance to the International Arrivals Hall to complete accommodation procedures.I fulfilled criteria number 2 and if you read word by word, the free accommodation is only one bed in a standard room meaning I would be sharing the room with a random stranger. One could pay extra to secure the other bed though. I rang the China Southern customer service to confirm the free accommodation. I was assured that a booking had been placed and a bed would be ready for me subject to valid entry requirements (i.e. visa) on my part. However, they were not able to confirm on the hotel beforehand. I applied for a double entry visa to China. I'll write about the hotel in another post ;)
*Edit:
I had a query from a friend on Emirates flight to Central Asia. Thought I'll be clearer, it was Emirates from Melbourne to Dubai, followed by flydubai from Dubai to Bishkek. Flydubai is not an entity owned by Emirates so there is no information of this "connecting" flight. However if you ring up Emirates, they will assist on booking the whole journey.
However if you run a search on flight search engine (e.g. Webjet), the results will show connecting flight via flydubai.
Side note: I got to exercise better self control over food :(