Walking back into Kyrgystan - and finally some pics!!

And off we went... yesterday we crossed borders again. This time on foot!! Much cooler than with a plane (and it "felt" safer ;-)

From Tashkent to Osh (Kyrgystan) we got driven through the (supposedly dangerous) Fergana Valley (it was just quiet and beautiful instead) by an Ex Football player of the Uzbekistan national team - I think he is trying for a career in Formular 1 now ;-) - so lots of interesting football talk during the 5hrs journey.
By the way ... finally WITH our luggage ;-)) Although one arrived soaking wet .. never BA again!, but at one point we were just happy to finally having fleeces, sleeping bag, etc!!

After searching for hrs for accomondation in Osh we finally got space at a beautiful guesthouse (Thanks Lisa!) reminding us of a typical B&B in the Alps, so we felt home straight away (no wonder, as it was run by an Austrian as we found out later ;-) They even had Nutella!!! (god, how desperate we were after just 3 weeks for something familiar...) and a slow (56kb) but FREE internet connection.

Staying up until 3am (short backflash from work ;-)) we uploaded finally some pictures on Flicker (just click right). So now you can get a slight impression how amazingly beautiful these countries are.

45 degrees in the shadow ... Bukhara

it is just so hot! unbelievable. Can't believe that one week ago I was sitting in a Shepard's yurt wearing all clothes I had in my backpack and dancing around trying to get my iced toes warm ;-)
The only option we had .. getting up again at 6am and doing all the sightseeing in pleasant 35 degrees and without tourists (nice side-effect for this quite touristy town). Unfortunately also the locals don't seem to be early birds, so it was almost a bit unreal. Nonetheless amazing ... Bukhara seems to be smaller than Samarkand and much more a desert city. Everything evolves around a 16th century "pool" which is the heart of the old city. From there you can walk through small golden streets with Medrassas and Mosques with their turquoise chapel and their deep blue mosaic portals around every corner. Just beautiful (we will upload pictures as soon as the internet cafes have connections over 128 kB ;-).
It still has the glamour of an old silk road city … although also here tourism is growing fast with carpet and handcraft shops around every corner and the typical "come Madam, good price, Italian, German?". And you have to bargain hard (but that I learned in China ;-)!
Definitely Uzbekistan is more touristy than anything we saw in Kyrgyzstan, which doesn’t mean it is easier to travel. For example the currency is just unbelievable! The highest available bank note is 1000 SOM, which is probably around 0,70 EUR, so changing 100 USD can end up in a pile of a few centimeters.. (credit cards are also almost unknown here..). Whenever you want to change money you have to go to the bank early in the morning because by the afternoon they run out of cash … But at least once in our lives we really feel RICH ;-)

Amazing beauty - Samarkand

Everything you saw or read about the Silk Road becomes real as soon as you enter Samarkand. Turquoise chapels and portals with azur blue tiles just everywhere. It is breathtaking!

We sat on the main square staring at the Registan for hours, just not believing what we were seeing. And .. being stared at from the locals ;-) The kids are so sweet, eager to talk and practise the few senctences they know in English. Despite the place being pretty touristic (like all of Uzbekistan) the locals are still friendly and interested in us and not in our money.

Visiting the street of thumbs (see pic) we got to talk to one of the old local men (with the white beard) and he invited us for an icecream. Just like this. Such a pity we only could talk a few words with hand and feet...

Not only the city and its monuments were amazing - also our hotel was really beautiful. Set in a quiet courtyard with huge Mulberry trees and grapes so low that they were quasi hanging into our mouthes (like in "Schlaraffenland"). Thanks god the hotel was good then after 2 days I (Simone) became pretty sick. Fabri was running around to call a Doc and - due to communication problems - they were sending the emergency instead .. how embrassing ;-)) But after 2 days in bed, some strange pills (you don't want to know how they prescribe things here and how the pharmacies look like) and plain rice I was up and running again.

I still blame our - hillarious - visit to a locals restaurant in Shakrizabsz for this little incident. A strange town 2hrs south of Samarkand which was nothing special until we entered - dragged by a local woman - this restaurant where only smartly dressed up women were having lunch. We protested to sit down and eat ... also because I saw where they were taking the water from and after having a glimpse into their "kitchen", but no mercy ;-) When the women found out that we come from Italy she made the band put up Toto Cotugno with "Italiano vero" and we had to stand up and sing (in fact I gave the stage voluntarily to Fabri, as he is the REAL Italian ;-). Hillarious!!! Sweat was running down our legs and arms, and we gave the women there a real good laugh!
And .. we even got a goodbye present (a cloth for the running sweat ;-)) and - as said - I got a little other present, which made us stay a bit longer in Samarkand than planned. Anyway, there are worse places on earth to be stuck...

Looking for the Silk Road ... arrival in Tashkent

After long negotiation with BA we finally got the go ahead to purchase new clothes and backpack as they couldn't figure out when our belongings could have met again with us.... so another day of power shopping in Bishkek (what a vacation!!) If any of you will ever need tips on where to find (non-faked!!) clothes and equipment in Central Asia... just drop us a mail ;-)

Anyway we decided to try Uzbek airways to make up some time and flew on an old Tupulev to Tashkent (che paura!!! .. you could fold the seats..., the whole plane was min. 40 years old). At passport control we met with a nice couple of French guys who were traveling with their little girl of only 20 months (great!!). We checked in at the Gulnara Hotel and arranged for a bed on the floor for the first night, although much more comfortable then the beds we got used in Kyrgyzstan. As we didn't have any Uzbek money, our B&B host just lent us 20 USD in local currency to go out eating .. increadible the hospitality, also in this country!!
Dinner was at the taxi driver's will and we ended up far out off our Lonely planet map in a great place outside town where the waiters were maniacly running up and down to serve everyone in as little time as possible and the menu was russian only. So we pointed to some of the stuff which looked eatable on other's peoples plates and we ended up having just amazing good Shashlyk. The way back was a bit tricky with a driver who could not read the map and with us not speaking a word of Russian beside da and niet... but after more than an hour (for a 5km ride) we eventually found it.
The next two days were spent sightseeing the city with 45 degrees outside and long long long roads to walk by... We were expecting an "arabic-type" New Delhi, a huge mess, people dragging us everywhere selling staff in colorfull bazars ... instead the city is modern, with large streets, ordered traffic, people dressing smartly in western clothes. Big surprise! Especially having this romantic silk road picture inside. Frankly beside the bazar (tidy with numberd stalls!) and the beautiful mosque it didnt impress us too much. So we tried to get the admin things done as quickly as possible - Yes, unfortunately also in a long vacation there is so much tiring stuff to be sorted out, like onward visas, etc. - to go ahead to our next destination ... the longtime awaited Samarkand.

Experiencing the Shepard's life in Kochgor

One of the highlights of the country is the hiking in the mountains and have to say it was really beautiful. We got to Kochgor on a shared taxi with two nice French guys although the car required few pit stops on the way as the steep road was taking us to 2500 m. The city didn't really inspire us at the beginning and the evening thunderstorm was not putting us at ease with the 3 day trek we had booked !!!

After 2 days of shopping we had enough! Even without proper equipment (no sleeping bag, no warm clothes, ..)we decided to go up in the mountains as we planned to do (also giving BA 2 more possibilities to deliver our luggage). The further we got into the mountains the darker the clouds became.. puhh. After a short 3hrs bumpy ride we arrived at Kochgor, the base for the Kyrgyzstan community based tourism program. An organization which organizes wonderful trips into the mountains where you stay in the yurts of Shepards or sleep in private homes. It was a wonderful trip. We had to lovely guides Altynbek and Asim which "pushed" me up and down the high mountains - tough not only for me because I think they hadn't seen such an untrained slow trekker for a while ;-). So we negotiated a speed deal - (very) SLOW up, FAST down. The average satisfied all of us ;-)

After many many meters in hight and several rivers to cross by foot (the bridge was carried away by the strong rainfalls the days before) we finally arrived at the first Shepard's yurt for the night. Great people and a stunning location. The only thing ... it was FREEZING!! But this was sorted quickly with an enormous amount (also in kilos!) of blankets. Then, during the night we got woken up by the Shepard entering our tent an hanging a huge iron block in the middle of our tent. Patiently our guide answered my anxious questions .. it was to keep the tent down during the upcoming thunderstorm. Oh my god!!!! this thing was iron!! but thinking that this guy has much more experience than I how to survive up here in 3000m we finally fell asleep ;-)

The next day we had to climb up a bit higher and finally we arrived at the most beautiful turquoise lake Song-Koel where we spent another night, getting to know the shepards life, helping to cook pasta (Fabri was in his element) and having great discussions with our new Kyrg friends.

Shopping in Bishkek

the city is not what i expected (middle east with a russian taste) but a fairly modern city, with a russian plan and a fairly european atmosphere. Everything works smoothly with no particular noises and smells, where we could happily buy new clothes while BA was safely keeping ours in London... so basically we shared few drinks with the people at the hostel to get an idea of where to go, had a nice breakfast at the expat cafe and wondered around... not much to add on the city beside it is really green with the classic concrete square and marble buildings once home to the soviet and now government houses... nice start would say

Actually we felt pretty "shocked" to get into such a well-organized European-style city. Basically we could not believe it as we were mentally prepared for a kind of adventurous survival trip straight from the beginning!
Better like this, as also our equipment was not yet prepared for the big adventures ;-)

The people are a big mix between Europeans, Russians, Arabs, Chinese and all the Local ethnical groups. European tourists don't immediately stand out as most of the people are white skin. The girls wear shorter skirts and deeper V-necks than you can think of and the guys have mobile phones which are at least 5 generations better than mine!! I was prepared to cover myself up to the nose and hide my belongings - no need for that. It is really incredible what a wrong picture we have in Europe of this region. Obviously there are things which are different to our world - it starts with the fastest internet connection being 256kb and ends with still arranging marriages (maybe not in Bishkek..).

a tough but warm welcome in Kyrgystan

So here we were at Munich airport finally having spent one day maniac shopping to get all the things we needed and sorting the final things out till 4 in the morning...
At the check in we had the first signs. We were not booked on the flight to Bishkek and our luggage started to get pinched with all sort of coloured tags... obviously they were sure everything would have arrived at destination... not so in Bishkek where after a long journey and a funny visa check we were to find a nice lady from British Airways to present us the claim form for the lost luggage... outside the hostel owner had been waiting for 4 hours ... but mostly we had finally got there and ready to shop again !!!
I got mad! After a tiring journey the only thing I wanted to do is to have a shower and creep into my new silk bed inlays to catch up with some sleep. Obviously shouting did not help so we left the airport with 2 little daypacks ... to find our driver standing there almost alone with his little "Welcome Fabrizio & Simone" sign. Incredible - I was really taken by this kind of hospitality. And this is actually what we experience day by day in Central Asia. The people here are just wonderful. Friendly, open, not intrusive at all but helpful and truly interested. Just amazing.

So we arrived in Bishkek - in a Mercedes from the 80ies with a ADAC sticker !!! By the way - I am sure that all cars which got stolen in Germany between 1970-90 arrived here. The mini-buses (actually one of the most efficient public transport systems we have experienced) have stickers like "Baeckerei ABC - taeglich frische Broetchen" etc! In our little hostel we were expected with a good breakfast and a lot of helpful information where we can go and shop for the stuff we needed. So we made our way straight into the soviet-style, but incredibly green city to check out the local department stores, evaluate the quality of the faked North Face gear and try on the latest trends of Tom Tailor and Betty Barclay ;-) (yes - these Germans are really everwhere... ;-)

Good-bye Milan

Fabri: After nearly 4 years of really good fun we left Milan... the day was really hectic as we had packed all our flat and basically our life in 48 boxes and had to pack for the following 5 months traveling around the world. It was not easy to remember in which box the nice shirt was and whether the jumper should have been part of my life for the following weeks or lie in a box... but in the end we made it !!! and in just over 20 minutes the moving company cleared the flat !!! We handed over the house keys to our nice landlady and drove to Modena for the last minute appointment with my dentist, thinking it would have been wise to clear all problems in Europe rather than in Asia... my mum also prepared the best dishes for us as we are going to miss the tortellini for a short while and will have probably to do with rice and veggies !!!!

Simone: ... very tough to leave I have to say. Even if I hated the traffic (especially after coming home from a nice seaside weekend), the inefficient logistics (especially on Monday mornings at 6 am at Malpensa airport!!) and the fact that I am so far from home - I so much loved it!
It is tough to do things for the "last time". having caffe and brioche at our favorite bar, having pizza at la Piccola Ischia with our friends and sleeping in the OWN bed for the last time for 5 months ;-) Thanks god we had to rush so much, that there was hardly any time to think. But as hard as it was to leave - I also felt incredibly excited then for me this meant after 14 years I would go back home .. and travelling!!

Heat and party in Basilicata

We just came back from our 4-day trip to one of the most unspoilt and undiscovered regions of Italy - Basilicata. Great landscape, fantastic food and wonderful people. Everybody seems to be completely at ease.
The old city and the houses are made of stones (partly in caves) which makes the atmosphere at night really emotional, as everything turns yellow with the street lights... Dining was really good, with fresh fish from the seaside and exceptional herbs from the mountains.. After few boiling days at the beach and in the countryside we were also in there for the local festival where a brown-hair marry is celebrated... better celebrated during the day and taken down to pieces at night as the tradition is to bring home a piece of wooden carriage the madonna is carried on!!! We would have also been brave enough to go for a piece, but it didn't make it to the square where we were waiting for ... in the end we had a great weekend and we look forward to go back !!!!

.. I think the guys would have never dared to jump in with the locals to fight for a piece of wood ;-) Better like that , otherwise we had to care about two wounded warriors !!