Europe?

Yeesh, this was never updated? Way to drop the ball..

So, yes, I was in Europe last fall with my mother. It was a different experience for us both, but one of the most rewarding travel experiences I have ever had. It was more work than simply traveling for me - which I mean in the best way possible (with a tinge of sarcasm, but not really).

What could be lengthy posts detailing our adventure, I will instead sum up here:

We traveled through the north of France visiting important Canadian memorials and heritage areas (Vimy, Beaumont-Hamel, Juno Beach, Passchendaele); we visited dear family friends in the Netherlands and in western Germany; I showed her where I lived in Finland for a year and we met more excellent friends; we VRBO'd and Air BNB'd our way throughout our destinations; we drove in a gutless yet fuel-efficient Chevy across western Europe; and I got the opportunity to show my mother my style of traveling with all its challenges, issues, and problems to solve giving way to the more rewarding victories and an almost zen-like understanding that things, usually, work out in the end, the universe unfolding before you as you thought only moments ago it was just further collapsing around you.

So what has sparked me to write this? Well, I'm off to Europe... again.. shortly.

Probably.

Details will follow, but it is a bit early to discuss at this point. I likely won't have time to meet old friends this time around as the stay will be brief and quite sincere, but I will keep folks who tune in updated as I can.

Til then!

Return to Europe

Well, it's time again.

Time to update this blog as in two weeks I will be bidding farewell to Canada and all things maple syrup for another short, travel-packed month this September-October.

This time around I will be traveling with my mom. That's right - my mom.

We will tour northern France and visit Canadian war heritage locations such as Juno Beach, Dieppe,Vimy Ridge, and Ypres/Ieper - or ‘Wipers’ as it was known to Commonwealth forces back during the war.

We will move east towards Cologne, Germany before flying to Tampere, Finland where I lived for one year during an academic exchange to show her how ERASMUS students live and play in that not-so-forgotten city, at least amongst party-going foreign (and local) students. We will then proceed to Budapest, Hungary and back toward Cologne.

It should be an excellent trip, not just for the sites architecturally- and historically-speaking, but of course to once again visit dear friends I have not seen in years.

I will keep this updated as frequently as posible while traveling, planning, coorindating, and working (yes, that's right as well) during this journey.

Stay along for the ride; but most of all, ride out our misfortune and challenges vicariously alongside us through this blog.

Stay tuned!

Being Back

It's been a little over a month since I've been back in Ottawa. I feel now is as good a time as any to put something up here.

Things returned to normal virtually the second I got off the plane. With the exception of no longer being employed, life has resumed as most predictably as possible – back to university to complete Graduate studies, going to the cottage, riding around on my motorcycle… life quickly returns to what it was three months ago.

One of the sadder things about being home is this blog. Having nothing to post, and seeing no traffic (yes, I can track the pageviews for my eloquent blog!) are reminders that I have no more stories or experiences to share – at least for now.

I’ve included some photos to show life back in Canada. It’s funny having the tables turned; being back home and illustrating normal life here to folks in Kyrgyzstan or other places rather than displaying normal life in Bishkek. At any rate, I just hope the audience who reads these posts receives some enjoyment. 

In the end, I sincerely hope to have more things to post very soon. It was a fantastic summer and I’m glad I could share my time in Bishkek and Central Asia with whoever took a glimpse at this blog. I encourage people to ask any questions if there are any and to get out to this magnificent place in the world. Just make sure to keep some чечил and Арпа around for yours truly.

Thanks for tuning in!

Ken Block taking out tires.

Crazy Leo - Living the Dream

Canada's Snowbirds.

Ош

Ош 22.08.25.08
 

I spent some of this week in the south of Kyrgyzstan in the country’s second-largest city, Ош (‘Osh’), and returned Saturday evening. I also wrapped up my classes last Tuesday, August 21. Monday evening I got some chocolate bars and made my Grammar, Reading, and Conversation teachers some chocolate bark. I also created what turned out to be essentially truffles. I even added a touch of maple syrup. Overall, a successful and well-received small token of appreciation for their hard work.

Wednesday morning on the 22^nd, two friends – Elena and Luther – and I went to the bus station and found a cab to Osh. When I say cab, I’m referring to cars you hire to travel long distances. Otherwise, you get a long-distance marshrutka, which I usually use, but taxis are much more comfortable and faster. We found a driver right quick and met a student from Japan who was heading to Osh as well. While we waited for the car to fill up, we talked to a nice man who had just retired from a career in the Kyrgyz military. Once the car was full, we set off at about 08:30 for Osh; it is a 10-12 hour journey through several mountain passes and valleys and one particularly famous hairpin-laden sector leads you through a 3km-long tunnel and exits the other side.

It was one of those things that you hear is incredible and you know and expect it to be a wondrously scenic drive… but of course, the full realization of what is ahead cannot be envisioned until the landscape changes before you from mountain landscape, through desertified cliff-sides, back to green pastures via jiloos, around the Токтогул (‘Toktogul’) Reservoir, following the Нарын (‘Naryn’) River as it snakes southwest through the country, and past the three large dams which regulate the waterflow of the Naryn.

In short, a most impressive and absurdly beautiful drive. Of course, having a bike to ride to Osh and back would have been ideal..

We arrived at approximately 22:00 Wednesday evening. Our driver was friendly enough, but he stopped randomly and suddenly – including one stop where he simply jumped out of the Honda, shouted for some tea, then laid down for a 20 minute nap beside a table. Of course, a rested driver is better than a tired one.. We jumped in a local taxi after we arrived, and about 3 minutes into the drive to where we were staying, it occurred to me that I had forgotten my point-and-shoot (camera) in the Honda. I had it for four years and it; like my beer-box sandals, it served me well.

The house we stayed at was courtesy of a friend of Elena’s who is doing Ph.D. research in Kyrgyzstan. After some slight difficulty with the keys, we were in the house which sprawled from the entrance to a dining room, to a living area with couches, and included three separate bedrooms. It was bloody perfect.

The city itself is quite small with two main avenues running either side of a river which itself runs north-south through the heart of the city. On Thursday we climbed Сулайман-Тоо (‘Sulayman-Too’) which allegedly marks the grave of Sulayman, a prophet in the Qur’an. It also has a small mosque at the peak which was built by Babur, the man who founded the Mughal Dynasty in the 15^th century. The top provides a panoramic view of most of the city and is about the only thing to actually do in Osh besides chill out or visit the main bazaar.

We also met a local girl, Aizada, through a mutual friend who works at the bazaar at a stand selling traditional Kyrgyz hats and attire – namely, kalpaks. Aizada showed us around the bazaar and how she closes up before leading us to a park where she, Luther, and I went for a ride on a Soviet-era ferris wheel. We had another great view of the city and a nice evening chatting with her until we parted ways.

Friday was another day of relaxation for Luther and I; Elena had meetings being the important Ph.D. researcher in the group. Luther and I met with Aizada and hung out for the day, going to two museums or relaxing in the shade otherwise. We had a nice dinner in the evening and said our goodbyes.

We headed back Saturday morning and embarked on the same drive, arriving in Bishkek at about 21:30. We headed to our dorms and I went out to meet another friend to talk about the trip.

Osh is a nice city and I had a positive experience there. As an academic – and simply as another traveler – I’m aware of the past calamities in the city and am not ignorant to the subtleties of the geo- and ethno-political nuances of Osh, most recently amplified during the events in April 2010, and how these still lurk under the surface of an otherwise peaceful, small city and Kyrgyzstan’s second largest. The people were friendly towards us, we were not harassed by police, and were generally well-received by everyone we talked to from taxi drivers, new friends, and the landlord we rudely awoke on Wednesday evening after roaming the neighbourhood looking for our house.

I see no point in not recommending going to this city; another’s experience may differ quite greatly, but as we must all recognize, you may have the best or worst of experiences at any time in any place.

As I have forgotten my camera and obviously cannot display my own pictures, I have borrowed from friends. All credits for photos in this post go to Elena and Luther.

 

Our driver..

We sat down for some delicious bread with кымыз ('kymyz') - fermented mare's milk.

Think what you want; it's a hell of a view.

Toktogul Reservoir.

Driver napping..

Accommodation in Osh.

Aizada.

Lunch on Saturday in Jalal-Abad.

After finishing the 3km tunnel towards Bishkek.

Technical Difficulties..

I arrived back in Ottawa yesterday, Saturday September 1 at about 01:00 in the morning.

My laptop went quits on me the day before I left Bishkek and I had prepared my Osh post, but I can't access it at the moment.. So once I retrieve the data, I'll update the blog with this post.

I also just got a call from United baggage delivery - they found my bag and will deliver it to my home in a few hours. Gotta say, North American service is nice to come home to.

Иссык-Куль - Кадже-Сай

Кадже-Сай  Kadzhe-Say 17.08-19.08

This particular weekend would be my last time for fun in the sun and beer on the beach. I left the Friday evening with friends and some couchsurfers staying with my friend Adinai for Кадже-Сай (‘Kadzhe-Say’), a small town on the southern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul. Adinai had organized the accommodation already and we stayed for two nights in a quiet house. We spent the days on the beach chatting or swimming far enough out in the lake to make every Kyrgyz person wonder if we would return alive.

We all had a good time and at the end one couchsurfer departed to travel on to Каракол (‘Karakol’), a city on the far eastern side of Issyk-Kul. The rest of us caught a marshrutka back to Bishkek with the exception of Adinai who got off at her village to visit family for a few days. It was a nice, quiet weekend and I can successfully impress the locals having been to Issyk-Kul three times this summer.

Couchsurfing becomes beachsurfing.

Adinai cleaning up the beach. What a dear.

Wedding's on the beach..

...camels, too.

Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan You Very Nice Place III

Шымкент до Алматы  Skymkent to Almaty 06.08-07.08

As mentioned, everything went swimmingly up until about 40 minutes before the train back to Almaty. I had been in contact with Aleks and knew he was on the way back from Turkistan in the afternoon, but I guess there was some heavy police presence on the highway which made driving very slow. So, it became obvious he wouldn’t make it in time for the train. We tried planning out the next few stops and schedule so he could try to hire a taxi to race out to one of them, but that didn’t really pan out or simply seem reasonable. Instead, he hopped on a bus and took it back to Almaty.

Now, if a platzkart can be uncomfortable, a bus for 15 hours without having showered for a full day or so and having spent that day in Turkistan where the average daily summer temperature is about 45-50 degrees Centigrade… I suppose you get the point. However, he dutifully made it to Almaty and met us at Tam’s flat where we had time to shower and he did not.

The train ride itself went smoothly and I slept for most of it while holding onto a bar so I wouldn’t roll off my bunk. It worked and I was well rested. We arrived in Almaty around 08:00 on August 7^th before heading to Tam’s place where we rendezvoused with Aleks. From there, we headed to the bus station, said our goodbyes to the girls, thanked them for their wonderful hospitality, and headed to a café for a final lunch of lagman noodles in Almaty. Afterwards, Aleks and I grabbed a marshrutka back to Bishkek.

On the markshrutka, we made friends with a Russian from the Sochi region who was heading to Kyrgyzstan for mountain climbing with friends. We also met two Uighur women heading home to Bishkek and others on the marshrutka – as I said, everyone wants to know you and why you are in this part of the world. When they find out you speak Russia, this only encourages them to converse with you and usually leads to memorable conversations and meetings.

The border process took about 15 minutes without any issues except for the confused Kazakh border officer who asked us why we didn’t have another Kazakh visa. We told her we would not be coming back…. Her reply: why don’t we want to come back? It was a good laugh in a place known for tension and stress and others in line shared in it. Good fortune is bestowed upon Canadians in the most foreign of places…

We arrived in Bishkek in the afternoon and our Russian friend accompanied us home for a short visit before heading off to meet his hiking companions. I went out to dinner with another friend and wrapped up the evening overlooking the sunset in the mountains on a balcony at a pizza restaurant.

Our time in Kazakhstan was relaxing, rewarding, insightful, full of generosity; and of course, checkered with uncountable new friends, encounters, and conversations with people you will likely never see again.

On the whole, Kazakhstan…. You very nice place.

My bunk.

Platzkart bunks.

Border.