Poking Around in Central Asia: October 25, 2014

Trip 2 - Part 4

Isfara, Tajikistan to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

by Craig Mains

Poking Around in Central Asia: October 25, 2014
Trip 2 - Part 4
Isfara, Tajikistan to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

by Craig Mains


Photo by Craig Mains

October 25, 2014 - Isfara, Tajikistan to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
We were up early as today was the day we were to leave Isfara to travel to Bishkek. The original plan was to cross the border and have lunch with the Kyrgyz members of the Isfara River Small Basin Council, then travel on to the city of Osh by car to catch a late afternoon flight to Bishkek. We would not fly out of Batken City as Jerry and I had in July because there were no flights between Batken and Bishkek on Saturdays. As it turned out, the plans for the day got almost upended.

After breakfast at the WUA office we drove to the border crossing. This was the same small border crossing where Jerry and I had crossed in July. We said our goodbyes to Makmoud and Rustam. I had been carrying around a bottle of West Virginia moonshine to give as a gift. I hadn't decided ahead of time who to give it to but decided to give it to Rustam on behalf of Sandra and me for hosting us and arranging the day trip to the headwater spring, which I told him would always be memorable for me. Rustam seemed touched and delighted by the gift, although he said we should have brought it out yesterday so we could have drank it. Given the ending of the day I found that a little surprising.

We said our goodbyes and went on to the Tajik Border Control office, which was inside a modified metal shipping container. They collected the passports from our travel party. After what seemed like a long time they notified us that there was a problem for Sergei, Sandra, and me.

Some of the Central Asian countries, including Tajikistan, have a requirement that foreign visitors who are in the country must register with a local official in whatever area they are located within three days of entry. We had failed to register and now that created a problem for us leaving the country.


Photo by Craig Mains

This is a photo of the border crossing on the road leading from Isfara to Batken. I took this photo on the previous trip in July. Considering the current situation it didn't seem like a good time to be taking photos.

Jerry and I did not have to register during the first trip because we were only in Tajikistan for one day. There was no registration requirement for such a short stay. Why no one thought about the registration requirement this time I have no idea. Tais, Sergei, Sasha, Rustam--all were aware of the requirement but they simply forgot.

The Border Control people took Sergei into the office and talked with him for a long time. Presumably he was speaking for Sandra and me as well. Rustam, who had been hanging around until we cleared Border Control, found out what had happened. He apologized profusely because he said as the local host he should have paid attention. He told us not to worry though, that he would make some phone calls and everything would quickly be straightened out.

Meanwhile, Tais had also made some phone calls to CAREC headquarters. She said they had some people on staff, who were very good at fixing these types of situations. Part of the problem though was that it was a Saturday and some people were hard to reach. The Border Control people told Sergei they might have to detain us until Monday.


Photo by Craig Mains

This is the picture of the little duck pond at the border crossing. This was also taken during the previous trip. I include this because we spent at least three hours standing around right here waiting to sort out the mess, so it is imprinted on my memory.

Because it was looking less and less like we were going to have time to stop for lunch with the Kyrgyz delegation, some of whom were waiting nearby to pick us up, they decided to go back to Batken and put together some food for us to eat on the drive to Osh. They asked Sandra what kind of food she liked and she told them that she was a vegetarian. They then asked me: "Are you a vegetarian also or are you normal?" I told them that I did eat meat although I couldn't claim to be normal otherwise.

Aladdin, who was waiting for us with the Kyrgyz group, had brought out some apples to tide us over. Sandra handed me one of the apples. I told her it had a weird chemical aftertaste. She said she was pretty sure that Aladdin had washed the apples off in the duck pond so she had wiped them off with disinfectant wipes she had packed.

Meanwhile, Tais had been on the phone off and on with the CAREC person, who told her that Rustam's involvement was making things worse rather than better. The CAREC fixer said the local official (who had the authority to decide what to do about us) had seemed inclined to just let us go until he found out we were connected to Rustam--of which he would have been unaware had Rustam not made some phone calls. The fixer had somehow pieced together that the local official had known Rustam since grade school--and was harboring some decades-old grievance. So, it was no longer about our missing documentation so much as about an official getting even with Rustam for something that happened years ago. Tais said she was of the opinion that more than half of all problems in Central Asia arose because of the male ego.

In the end, after hours of standing around, the Border Control officials told us we needed to drive back into Isfara and meet with the local official. Once back in Isfara, the three of us--Sergei, Sandra, and me--were ushered into his office where he scolded us for 15 or 20 minutes, intermittently shaking his finger at us. I felt like I had been called into the principal's office, except I didn't understand a word he was saying. He didn't give Sergei time to translate so Sergei gave us a very much abbreviated summary later--that not registering was a serious matter, that we could have been jailed over the weekend, and that we were being released only because he was a nice person who was willing to interrupt his weekend to deal with us. He let us go after we individually apologized and thanked him for not detaining us.

I asked Tais why weren't we notified about the registration requirement at the airport when we met with the customs officials there. The customs officials there issued each of us a one-week visa, which seemed like an opportune time for them to tell us to be sure to register. Tais said that Central Asian countries have many regulations that aren't well publicized so that it was almost certain that you would eventually do something illegal at one time or another without being aware of it. This could be used against you when convenient, for a bribe, if nothing else. She said that in our case no money had changed hands, as far as she knew. Neither Tais nor Sasha needed to register because Tajikistan and Kazakhstan have some reciprocal agreements for their citizens making it unneccessary.

This time we made it through Border Control with no problems. Aladdin met us on the other side. Tais was starting to worry about making it to Osh in time for our flight so we stopped in Batken only long enough to take a bathroom break and to say a brief hello and goodbye to our Kyrgyz friends. One of the Kyrgyz representatives presented me with a large plastic shopping bag full of meat and told me it was for me to enjoy on the way to the airport.


Photo by Craig Mains

Counting the driver we had seven people in the car, the five of us plus Aladdin and everyone's luggage. That's Aladdin in the kalpak. Up until then I had just assumed that Aladdin lived in Batken because when Jerry and I visited in July he seemed to know everyone there. He actually lived in a village about 50 or 60 miles east of Batken. Since we were going through his village he had arranged for us to drop him off on the way. I was now even more impressed with the number of people he seemed to know since he didn't even live in Batken.

It looks like Sasha was driving in this picture but, fortunately, he was not since he was drinking. This was another car with the steering wheel on the right so Sasha is sitting on the passenger's side. Tais was upset with Sasha's drinking over the last few days and had banished him from the up-coming training in Bishkek.

Anna and Tais has both told us that Sasha was very good at what he did but would occasionally go on a multi-day bender. They were keeping it from their supervisor and asked Sandra and me not to mention anything about it to her. Tais was especially distressed about Sasha's drinking because she had a history of alcoholism in her own family. Sasha hated to fly and I think at least part of his drinking on the way to Osh was to fortify himself for the flight.

The following photos for this day are some examples of the scenery from Batken to Osh. I found it difficult to get a decent photo. The road was bumpy and our driver was pushing it to get us to the airport on time. This was one ride where it was better to not watch what was happening on the road ahead. A couple times I looked up while we were passing to see another car barreling towards us in the two-way, shared passing lane. It was a small station wagon and Sandra and I were all the way in the back sitting over the rear axle so it seemed especially bumpy. I mostly just gave up on taking photos but Sandra persevered and got some nice photos. Because of the speed there is some blurriness in the foreground.


Photo by Sandra

Photo: Sandra

Apricot orchards outside of Batken.


Photo by Sandra

Photo: Sandra

A view towards the south.


Photo by Craig Mains

One stretch looked particularly desolate, yet there were houses here and there. I had to wonder what people who lived there did.


Photo by Saandra

Photo: Sandra

Sandra and I both found something interesting about Central Asian gas stations.


Photo by Craig Mains

The name translates as Asman Oil. I noticed that many gas stations had a tank truck parked onsite. It seemed like some operators had to go get their own gasoline instead of having it delivered.


Photo by Craig Mains

Somewhere east of Batken.


Photo by Sandra

Photo: Sandra

One of the many houses that seemed to be in a state of suspended construction.


Photo by Sandra

Photo: Sandra

I had not make much progress on the lunch that had been packed for me. There must have been eight or 10 pounds of meat in the bag. Much of it was still on the bone. There looked to be some organ meat, including what was probably a sheep's or goat's liver. I offered to share with my travel companions but they all seemed to get some glee out of telling me, "No, they specifically said the meat was for you to enjoy." Our friends in Batken did pack some food for the others, but I was the only person who got 10 pounds of meat. I suppose it was some form of honor for being a foreign guest. I did eat some of it. It at least got the chemical taste of the apple out of my mouth.


Photo by Sandra

Photo: Sandra

The air was not as clear as it had been yesterday. In this area I don't think it would have been due to pollution or humidity but more likely from suspended dust.


Photo by Sandra

Photo: Sandra

We went through a number of small villages but the only place that would qualify as a city was Kyzyl Kiya, which was about midway between Batken and Osh. Kyzyl Kiya has about 32,000 people and is in a coal-mining region.


Photo by Sandra

Photo: Sandra

The lettering translates as Prosecutor's Office.


Photo by Snadra

Photo: Sandra

The person on the banner is Almazbek Atambayev, who at the time was president of Kyrgyzstan, popularly elected in December 2011. He was the fifth president since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the third popularly elected president. The other two popularly elected presidents were both eventually ousted and replaced by interim presidents until a new election could be held. The pattern so far:

* president elected
* president ousted
* interim president selected
* president elected
* president ousted
* interim president selected
* president elected.

It will be interesting to see if Atambayev can break the cycle and serve a full five-year term. [1]


Photo by Sandra

Photo: Sandra

These colorfully banded hills were somewhere between Kyzyl Kiya and Osh.


Photo by Craig Mains

A village somewhere in the same general area.


Photo by Sandra

Photo: Sandra

There was an area of red hills that looked to be some kind of a mining area


Photo by Sandra

Photo: Sandra

I had noticed that although you see plenty of mosques in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, there rerely seemed to be many people coming and going from them, unlike the mosques in Tajikistan. I had heard Kazakhs and Kyrgyz described as "half-hearted Muslims" so perhaps there is something to that.

Prior to the spread of Islam, the religion of the nomadic Turkic and Mongol people of Central Asia was Tengriism. Tengriism includes elements of nature worship, shamanism, and ancestor worship. Tengri is the "God of the Eternal Blue Sky," who sustains human existence.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union there has reportedly been something of a revival of Tengriism in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Because some proponents of Tengriism consider it the natural religion of those countries it has also become connected with national politics. Muslims consider Tengriists to be infidels.


Photo by Sandra

Photo: Sandra

A small village as we approached Osh.


Photo by Craig Mains

A statue of Manas as we were nearing the city of Osh. Osh is the second largest city in Kyrgyzstan with a population of about 260,000 people. We saw only the outskirts of the city since we drove directly to the airport.

Osh is known for having one of the largest outdoor bazaars in Central Asia. The bazaar is famous for selling and trading livestock and for pickpockets.

Osh was the site of some horrific interethnic violence in 2010. Osh sits very close to the Uzbekistan border and has a large Uzbek community. There have been simmering tensions between the two groups for sometime. It boiled over in 2010 after the ouster of one of the presidents who was favored by the local Kyrgyz. The Uzbeks, who have traditionally been more settled compared to the historically nomadic Kyrgyz, own many of the local businesses. Some Kyrgyz feel the Uzbek merchants have one price for Uzbeks and another for Kyrgyz and have gotten rich at their expense.

Officially, 426 people died during the several days of violence. However, that number only included documented deaths, such as those who died in hospitals. Many of the dead were believed to have been buried quickly without documentation due to religious tradition and also to conceal the extent of the brutality. The actual number of dead is estimated to be in the thousands.


Photo: WikiPedia

Photo: Wikipeda

Shown above is the entrance to the Osh airport terminal. I still had probably eight or nine pounds of meat with me. I wondered if people in Central Asia commonly carried big bags of meat through airport security. I tried to get everyone (except Sandra) to take one or two pieces of meat each but they continued to politely decline. I eventually ditched the meat but not without feeling guilty about wasting it. We made it to our gate on time, but just barely.

Once we arrived in Bishkek we took a taxi to the Asia Mountains 2 hotel, the same place where Jerry and I stayed on the previous trip. We were all exhausted by this point. We had dinner at the hotel but no one felt like going out. The second round of training started tomorrow with the Aspara River Small Basin Council. There was a meeting room downstairs in the hotel so everything was conveniently all in one place.


Photo by Sandra

Photo: Sandra

October 26, 2014 - Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Even though it was Sunday we had a full day of training scheduled for the Aspara Small Basin Council. Here is Tais writing down the agenda for the day. Surprisingly, we pretty much stuck to it. Our lunch was just upstairs in the hotel restaurant and the chef was preparing it for 12:30, so changing the agenda was not an option. Since the lunch was in the same building Tais was less worried about losing people.

I don't think the Aspara Small Basin Council had ever had a joint meeting for the Kazakh and Kyrgyz delegations before. However, unlike the Isfara meeting, it did not seem to be a big deal. There is much less tension between the two groups, mostly because they consider themselves to be part of the same ethnic group. I read that Kazakhs had traditionally organized themselves into five large clans (or hordes) and that the Kyrgyz were one of those five.


Photo by Sandra

Photo: Sandra

I was giving the same presentations that I had given to the Isfara group so things went smoothly, I thought. The group was respectively attentive to me, if not among themselves. At least twice someone asked a question and the person just to the right of center told him to shut up, that it was a stupid question. I didn't think either of the questions were that stupid so I answered them anyway. The person with the purple shirt was the same person who picked Jerry and me up at the border crossing on the last trip and drove us to the hotel in Merke. He obviously was a big shot in the Kazakh delegation but I never found out exactly what his role was.


Photo by Craig Mains

The man on the right is Rauf. He was a member of the group that came to the US the previous April. On his right is his friend Elena, who is an environmental reporter for a newspaper in the Kazakh city of Taraz. She was the only woman in attendance. A lot of the people that Jerry and I met with in July were not present, especially those from the Kyrgyz group we met with in Chaldovar. They seemed to be replaced with an equal number of people we had not met with in July.

As in Isfara, I told the group that the US also struggled with water management issues. It was odd but there was almost a collective sigh of relief. I think some of the attendees expected Sandra and me to be critical of how water was managed in their countries. It seemed to me that once I acknowledged that the US manages water in ways that aren't sustainable, they felt freer to talk about water issues in their countries.


Photo by Craig Mains

The exterior of the Asia Mountains 2 hotel. This was the same place where Jerry and I stayed. It only has about 20 rooms or so. CAREC was paying for some of the Aspara attendees to stay in the hotel. They were also, I found out later, getting a stipend to attend. I had to wonder how many people would have attended without the stipend.


Photo by Sandra

Photo: Sandra

Two of the hotel staff people. The hotel had a small staff and they seemed to go out of their way for us. The woman on the left worked in the restaurant dining area. I only ever saw her wearing fluffy pink bedroom slippers on her feet. The woman on the right worked behind the reception desk and spoke very good English.

The kitchen staff saved all the leftovers from lunch and warmed them up for us for a free dinner. Technically, CAREC had already paid for the food but they seemed to go out of their way to make sure that the food did not get wasted. The receptionist even called us in our rooms to let us know when the food was ready.


Photo by Sandra

October 27, 2014. Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
I awoke to find that it had snowed about three inches overnight. It had started out as a very hard, windy rain but must have switched over to snow in the early morning. This was the early morning view from my room.


Photo by Craig Mains

It was Sandra's turn to present today. As with the Isfara group, people seemed to pay less attention today than they did yesterday. I'm sure this is related to cultural values and traditional gender roles. I thought Sandra did as good of a job of presenting as I did.


Photo by Craig Mains

Sergei appeared to be coming down with a cold and was tired and irritable. Sandra mentioned to me at lunchtime that he was impatient with her. She had one presentation to do in the afternoon on onsite wastewater treatment that she had presented in Isfara, which all three of us agreed was too long. She asked me if I would look it over and suggest slides that could be cut. I told her that I would just give the presentation as well since this was a topic for which I felt very familiar. I eliminated some of the slides and changed the sequence around a little. Sergei seemed appreciative because it speeded things up and Sandra, I think, was happy to have one less presentation to give to a bunch of guys who weren't paying that much attention.

Sergei, I have to say, was probably working harder than any of us. Sandra and I had, for the most part, split the presentations into one day each. Sergei, however, had to work both days. And, when the presentations were over, he wasn't done. Translations were still sometimes needed during breaks and meals, etc. although Tais could help out sometimes. It was really too much work for just one translator but Sergei had insisted he could do it.


Photo by Craig Mains

I had dinner that evening with Rauf and his family, who had accompanied him for the sessions. Rauf was one of the group of people who visited the US in April. He explained that he is an ethnic Tatar, his adopted daughter is an ethnic Korean, his wife is an ethnic Russian, and they are all Kazakh citizens. He and his wife have some other older children, also adopted.

The different ethnic groups got quite confusing for me. The Tatars, like the Kazakhs and the Kyrgyz, are considered a Turkic people. There have been so many waves of conquest in various directions in Central Asia that it seems everyone is related to everyone, yet everyone is somehow different. The Tatars were absorbed by and became a major part of the Mongol invasion of Eastern Europe in the 1200s. There are now remnant pockets of Tatars scattered in different parts of Europe and Asia, including the Crimean peninsula and a republic in Russia called Tatarstan. There are about a million Tatars in Central Asia.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Koreans started migrating to far-eastern Russia, where Russia shares an 11-mile border with Korea. Just prior to World War II, the Russians believed the Koreans were being infiltrated by Japanese and labeled them as "unreliable people." Many were forcibly removed to other parts of the Soviet Union, including Kazakhstan. Ethnic Koreans in the former Soviet republics sometimes refer to themselves as the Koryo-saram, which means Korean person. There are about 330,000 people of Korean descent in Central Asia, mostly in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Only about 20 percent of them now consider Korean their first language.

I took four or five pictures of Rauf and his family. His daughter asked me if she could see them. I handed her the camera and she promptly deleted all of the ones she didn't like, including the one or two that I took using a flash.


Photo by Craig Mains

A snowy Bishkek street scene. Tais, Sandra, Sergei, and I got out for a while after dinner. Tais said that it wasn't unusual for Bishkek to get some snow in October but it usually didn't last long.

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Footnotes

[1] Atambayev did indeed serve a full term as president. In August 2019, however, he was imprisoned and charged with corruption and manslaughter. Election protestors freed him from prison on October 5, 2020 but he was re-imprisoned five days later. He was acquitted of all criminal charges in February, 2023. (Note added 8-4-2023.)


Next: Bishkek to Zhigergen to Almaty to Morgantown

 

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