Postcard from Bishkek

One of the first tour groups I had to deal with provided me with quite a few challenges.

It was part of a Silk Road trip … a group from New Zealand travelling from China through Kyrgyzstan into Uzbekistan (driving from Bishkek to Tashkent via Kazakhstan).

I had been corresponding with the tour company planning the itinerary.  He had been here the previous year on a familiarization trip and had a good idea of where he wanted to take the group … what to see and what to experience.

Because he had a clear idea of what he wanted to include in the itinerary – the places to visit (and even specific suggestions about where he wanted to stay) and what activities he wanted for the group, my role was really one of being just a facilitator.  This was fine and certainly easier than having to put a together from scratch but it did, however, rob me of some of the pleasure of the creativity of starting with a blank sheet and then planning and putting together the various elements to meet the clients wishes.

I needn’t have worried … as events were going to take a number of interesting turns.

Having gone through all the planning stages, briefed the driver and guide … before dispatching them off to Torugart to meet the group.  All seemed to be going well … except that the following evening I got a phone call from Naryn to say that the group still hadn’t arrived.  It was in the days when cell phone coverage was still fairly limited and it proved impossible to raise either the driver or the guide to ask what had happened.

Shortly afterwards I got another call … the group had been found.  They had finally reached a spot where there was coverage and had called ahead to say that, yes,  they were on the way … but …

Apparently, the vehicle had suffered a flat tyre … well, three actually.  These things happen and the wheel was changed quite quickly … then the second one went.  Fortunately, the vehicle was carrying a second spare wheel … so the second puncture had been replaced just as quickly.  Then the third blew … and there was no spare … there they were stuck in the mountains, miles from the nearest settlement and unable to contact anyone for help.

Whilst the guide grabbed one wheel and started walking towards (what he hoped was) the nearest settlement, the driver stayed with the vehicle and waited to see if he could flag down a passing vehicle in order to take another to the nearest Vulcanizatsiy in order to get it repaired.  Eventually, he was successful … but it all took time, and that was one reason why they were late.

Perhaps the reason the tyres  kept bursting was simply because the vehicle was overloaded.  It’s a bit embarrassing to own up to this now, but it’s true.  The group was quite a big one – some 18 people – 20 with the driver and guide … and we had assumed that a 26 seater vehicle would have been sufficient … but we hadn’t taken into account the sheer of luggage that the group were carrying.  If it had been one bag per person there shouldn’t have been a problem … but these people were on the road for almost two months … and they weren’t travelling light.

There was only one thing to do … we needed another “luggage” vehicle … so, some time after 10 o’clock at night I found myself to try and find a vehicle that was free and available to do the “baggage train” run … up to Naryn and bring the bags down to Bishkek.  In the meantime,  the clients were told to pack a day bag – well, a weekend bag – with what they would need for the next two days … while they traveled up to Lake Son Kul and then the jailoos around Kochkor …  enough to last them until they were reunited with their bag here in Bishkek.  

As a result of this experience, I have tended to make to ask about how much luggage people will have with them.  Perhaps I’ll do postcard later about Traveling Light.

That wasn’t the only reason they were late … the tour leader had managed to persuade the driver and guide to commit one of the cardinal sins for anyone in the industry … divert from the planned itinerary.

(The agreed itinerary is part of a contract … we have promised to deliver … and, in theory, that’s what we have to deliver.  Of course, the terms of a contract can be varied … if the two sides agree.)

Apparently, someone in the group had come across an article in a Swiss magazine about a craftswoman from the At Bashi region, who had even had one of her shyrdaks exhibited in the British Museum … was it possible to try and track her down?  Everyone seemed excited and to want to find her … so, off they went.  They found her and and had a great time as she went over some of the details of her craftwork, showing examples … and selling a few pieces … adding to the growing baggage problem.

In order to do this, they had to cancel a visit to Tash Rabat – which was on the itinerary and therefore a commitment … it is also one of my favourite spots … so, all in all, I wasn’t particularly happy about this.  On top of that … it also made it more difficult to try and find them when they didn’t turn up as expected … we were looking for them in the wrong part of the At Bashi valley.

As it happens, after all this misadventure … the group had turned up safe and sound – and content with their surprise excursion … the tyres were repaired, the baggage train was organized.  Surely I could now breathe easily.

 

Oh … if only, but this was just the start.  There were problems over accommodation and meals; there were problems over visas; the border was closed – but fortunately opened in time.

Here in Bishkek, we had booked the accommodation that they had requested … I even had a confirmation with a stamp on it … so that should have been official.  When I went to hand over the room allocation lists and pay the bill I was told that they didn’t have any record of our booking.  So I whipped out the confirmation and asked “who’s signature is that?, who’s stamp is that?” … but it was to do no good.  There was a big event in town and the hotel had received an instruction from “the powers on high” to allocate rooms for those attending.  ”Tell them that you can’t,” I said, “you have a contractual obligation … ” … Oh, they were sympathetic enough but they kept repeating, “It’s a government order … what could we do?”

Of course, I could have stood there screaming and shouting yet more about contractual obligations, but it was obvious that this would not get our clients rooms.  It was in the days before the Silk Road Lodge was completed and so, it was off in search of alternative accommodation … but all the city center hotels were full … “Don’t you know,” I was asked over and over again, “that there’s a big event in town and the government have taken all the rooms!”

As a result, whenever there is a big event in town, and the government say they want to reserve all the rooms in the hotel, we make a point of asking if they really want to cancel existing bookings and thus breach our contracts with those clients … and, to be fair, they have always said No … an existing booking is a commitment and we should fulfill it as such.  If only the same attitude had prevailed back then!

Eventually, I found somewhere for them … not in the center but on the very outskirts of town … so I had to arrange a ferry service to get them into the city center …. and then safely back to the hotel after a “night on the town”.

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Then came the problem of crossing the border … to Uzbekistan … which was being closed for the Uzbek national holiday.  For once we were told about it beforehand … and it gave us the opportunity to make arrangements to get the group to the border in time to cross.  Even though there were only 18 people in the group … we ordered a 52 seater bus … We filled the baggage space with the bags – but there were still more … and once everyone was seated we stared putting the extra bags on the spare seats … at the end of the exercise there were two spare seats on the bus.

Once they got to the border … they had to dismount from the bus and walk several hundred meters across the border between the two posts … carrying their bags, or pulling the ones that were on wheels.

As I said, I now make a point of asking: “How much luggage will the group have?

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All this came to mind this week when I came across: Tips for first time travelers.  There were four points:

1. Be flexible – basically, don’t over plan, to fill every moment … give yourself time to unwind and recharge;
2. Get the insider’s view – basically, you are away from home … but use the opportunity to take in a new culture, new experiences and adjust your point of view while abroad;
3. It’s all in your head – basically, consider traveling as the ideal opportunity to say “yes” to spontaneous opportunities and step outside your comfort zone … – and,
4. “Finally, remember that you’re traveling to have FUN  … “

But the advice I received from a colleague as I was sweating profusely and pulling what little hair I had left out of my head trying to cope with one problem after another was, I think, perhaps more to the point …

“Learn to go with the flow … Don’t worry too much about it … do what you can and be up front about what is going on … expect the unexpected … and do what you can … but remember that there are things that are out of your control …  and you can’t do everything … look for the adventure – if they weren’t interested in the possibility of adventure then they would have stayed at home.”

 

 

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