Global Wanderer

25/11/23 – 27/11/23

Tashkent Airport’s departures area has been completely overhauled, and it is very much worth mentioning, as it points to Uzbekistan’s development as a tourism destination. After passing through immigration, I hunkered down by the bus gates with my current book (Fairy Tale by Stephen King), and waited for my flight to Bishkek to depart.

About an hour after we took off, we were touching down in Kyrgyzstan. By far and away the cheapest option for getting into the city (about 45 minutes away from the airport) is the #380 marshrutka, which cost me 60 Kyrgyz som. After waiting a few minutes for other passengers, the marshrutka took off, and we headed into Bishkek.

Marshrutka #380

My accommodation for the next few days, Lavitor Hotel, was located in a residential area just to the north of the city centre, and so after arriving, it was an additional 30 minute walk (I stopped off at the supermarket on the way for a bite to eat!).

Walking through residential Bishkek

At this point in time, I was starting to feel a little bit rough, and so once I got to the hotel, I unloaded my things and lay down. I did, however, manage to move that evening to head to a sports bar (Pinta), so that I could watch the Liverpool v Man City EPL game!

Towards the end of the match, as Trent Alexander Arnold equalised, a group of young Kyrgyz blokes watching the game (Liverpool fans!) invited me over to sit with them, and to try their homemade whiskey. According to them, it was ‘soft’. I’m not sure what passes for soft, but it was very hard (and rather tasty!) whiskey for sure! The game finished – a 1-1 draw, which was as pretty decent result – and I walked back to the hotel, stopping for some breakfast supplies along the way. I still wasn’t feeling right, although I certainly took the ability to walk for granted that night!

I wish I’d have had the chance to see Bishkek, but unfortunately I woke up feeling practically unable to move, with a temperature, and feeling like death. Throughout the day I got worse, and was barely able to sit up, with vertigo kicking in the second I moved my head. The best I managed was a walk about 50 metres down the street to the supermarket for water and coke (I couldn’t make it the extra 100m to the pharmacy down the street, as I really could barely walk), and down the stairs to collect a pizza delivery for dinner that evening, as I’d been told I needed to eat no matter how sick I felt. I can’t even begin to describe how horrible this flu was, but I was completely incapacitated. I was able to book a flight to Almaty the next day, so that I was guaranteed to get there in time for my flight to Mongolia on the 30^th. Aside from that though, this was all I was able to do!