Dec 4th

Woke up from the taxi

Since today is Friday, getting a Kazakhstan visa is top priority for me. Took a taxi to Kazakhstan embassy located at Mira street first thing in the morning.

I tried to get a transit visa but the embassy won’t give out transit visa unless I have a prove of onward travel arrangement. They required photocopies of visa, passports and bank vouchers. After getting all the required documents, returned back to the consulate and the person in charged asked me to come back on Monday evening to collect my passport. The consulate doesn’t provide express service and a 30 days tourist visa cost USD$30.

The embassy is located at the south of the city so took a marshrutka to the city center and got a room at Hotel Semetei (900 Som~USD$20).

There weren’t many options for accommodation in Bishkek, most of the places recommended in lonely planet were out of date.

City pics

Night View

Went to Golden Bull recommended in the guide book and met some Kyrgyz friends.

2 Responses to “Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan”

1. Kim says:

   April 28, 2011 at 7:15 am

   Hi there, I have read your trip journey through Central Asia and I found it very helpful for our trip. Thank you for that!!
   However, can you tell me how can you travel overland without the package tour or guide from Central Asia. Now I got stuck with the process of LOI to get the visa because the tour agent require us to buy their package tour which is expensive. If you dont mind can you please give me some advice?
   Thank you : )

2. journey26 says:

   July 29, 2011 at 4:34 pm

   Hello! Sorry for the delay in replying. Depending on which Central Asian countries you are going, they have different rules regarding LOI. Turkmenistan has the strictest visa rule so I just got a transit visa for 5 days. Besides Turkmenistan, other Central Asian countries might require LOI depending on your nationality. Sometimes you don’t need to buy the whole tour package to get a LOI, if they ask you to do that, then you should go to a different tour agency. The best thing is to call up the embassy or try to get transit visa if you can. Good luck!