Fly2Connect

Well that's it! I have more, but I think this post is far to long as it is so thank you if you made it this far!

The flights back to America were relatively uneventful. The check-in agents at FRU refused to interline my bags from TK to UA (two tickets) so I ended up upgrading myself for IAD-CMH as for $99 I could fly in 1st and get 2 bags instead of paying the $100 2nd bag fee on United. I also opted to pay to select my seat as even in full fare, A class tickets, Turkish does not allow free seat selection until <24hrs out (I think 6hrs). Here are some pictures of FRU-IST 32N TK347, IST-IAD 789 TK187, and IAD-CMH E175 UA6024. TK's catering was outstanding for Y and I found the 789 far nicer than the 77W on the outbound. The IGA lounge at IST is nice, but I wouldn't go out of your way for it. The Turkish lounge at IAD is also quite nice and had some excellent hummus.

The Priority Pass lounge at FRU

Goodbye Kyrgyzstan

FRU-IST

IST-IAD

IST-IAD

TK Lounge at IAD

At least I got a PDB for my $99

Fly2Connect

I feel I should mention that cash is generally preferred in Kyrgyzstan. In Bishkek Visa and MasterCard are generally accepted, but it is by no means universal and outside the city cash is king. Visa is by far the most accepted followed by MasterCard and I think there is one bank, KyrgyzKommerts that accepts AMEX. As for getting cash, Visa, MasterCard and Maestro are all accepted, but there are some Visa only machines DemirBank is a pretty good go to option. I also recommend installing 2Gis for maps as Google Maps isn't always the best and use Yandex Taxi for ride share. You can add a Western Visa/MC to Yandex Taxi despite them being based out of Russia, but if that fails the drivers accept cash (all taxi rides will be pretty cheap - think $2-$4 max). There are also trolleybuses that cost 11som per ride as well as busses and minibuses (marshrutkas) that cost 15som. 2Gis will show these as options, but while cheap they are often very slow and crowded.

I hope you found this interesting and learned something about Kyrgyzstan. I know this was quite (very) long, but there really is a ton to do in Kyrgyzstan and I just scratched the surface of it. I liked it so much that already have flights booked as a part of an ANA round the world trip for next summer where I will be visiting Kyrgyzstan as well as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan (along with Poland, Thailand and Taiwan), but this time with my family. Also, Turkey should pay the restaurant Usta as they are the sole reason for my upcoming trip to Turkey haha.


Please let me know if you have any questions--I'm happy to try and answer them. And again I hope this was a somewhat good read!

wutlol

Great TR! Love the арбус!

RK23

Awesome write up! How easy do you think it would have been getting around if you didn't speak any Russian? I've always wanted to visit countries in Central Asia but have no working knowledge of Russian besides a few curse words/phrases

I tried to to NSLI back in the day to go to China and was unfortunately not selected but some of my friends have done the program and said great things about it.

dat4life

Fantastic report, doc4science! It’s always fun to read about less “popular” destinations, and of course some delicious looking eats!

chuck1

Nice!

Asuskibum

Great trip report!

​​​​​​The Korean fried chicken place (chicken star) didn't make the photos? It really was good!

​​​​​​For those asking about Russian, pick up the basics using duo lingo. Use bolt or Yandex for taxis. Outside of the city I used a guide. On the way back to the states - leave extra time for the additional Homeland screening (and get water and use the bathroom before going through border control.)

1P

Terrific TR, Doc!

ffI

terrific views - great report
I have always wanted to write a repoort but have never got around to it

Fly2Connect

Thanks!
You should be fine with minimal to no Russian. Most people outside of the tourism industry won't speak English and it isn't like Moscow or SPb where you can almost always find an English speaker at restaurants and shops, but it is certainly doable with only English. If you learn a few phrases and learn the alphabet (very easy to pick up in an hour or two) I think you'll have quite a good time.

chollie

Great TR! Thanks so much for posting!

Fly2Connect

I never made it out to Chicken Star, but thanks for the recommendation--I'll try and visit it on my next trip out there.

As for customs, no one in our group had a problem. I had Global Entry so I had no problems at all and cleared in under a minute, but I think that those who went through normal immigration did get asked a few more questions than you'd get from say Western Europe. I have heard stories of people getting questioned for hours though, particularly if you are spending a lot of time in the region.

theshaun

Great report!

What was the ant crossing sign meant to represent in your hiking photo?

Storizontal Habilizer

Well, this TR certainly sparked my interest into exploring options for visiting Central Asia.

Cheers!

halfcape

What an interesting trip report, thank you for sharing. And, you didn't post too many photos, but you did make me very hungry looking at that amazing food.
Thanks again.