“The Stans of Central Asia–for thousands of years, these lands were sought after and conquered by some of the world’s greatest leaders from Alexander, Attila, Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Babur, Cyrus, and Darius of ancient Persia. Today it is the world’s greatest adventure seekers who are drawn to these exotic lands of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Lands filled with harsh deserts, towering snow-capped peaks, ancient cities and fortresses with exotic cultures.” (We took the main part of our tour with ElderTreks, this description is from their website.)
As this is such a long trip report, we were gone for a month, I’ve broken it into sections, by country. Just click on the next page, or jump to another: Kazakhstan, page 2; Kyrgyzstan, page 3; Tajikistan, page 4; Uzbekistan, page 5; Turkmenistan, page 6; Notes after returning home, page 7. Also take a look at Comments, Questions & Answers.
In transit – Sept. 12-14
The “Real Adventure” won’t start until the 18th, so feel free so skip reading until then–I’ll just be filling up the next few days with chat. Leroy and I are flying into Almaty a few days early. On the 17th we’ll meet up with my sister Trish, friend Elaine, and the ElderTreks’ folks who’ll be traveling with us across this part of the ancient Silk Road.
Flying United/Lufthansa Denver to Frankfurt, Germany, then changing planes and on to Almaty, Kazakhstan.
I’m now eight weeks and one day from my left knee total replacement and, even though I’ve recovered fabulously (0 degrees extension, 140 degrees flexion, and little to no pain), I’m really glad we had enough Award Miles to book seats in Business Class where I can put my legs up. I would’ve been miserable with my knee bent for so many hours in a cramped Economy seat.
We watched the first three episodes of the final season of Game of Thrones on the flight from DIA to Frankfurt before getting a few hours of sleep.
Denver to Frankfurt, United’s ice cream sundae
We came in at Terminal 1 Hall A and our flight leaves from Hall C. It was a little over 2200 steps on my Fitbit–glad I’d checked my bag and only had my backpack to haul! Took just a little under an hour from getting off the plane, being bused to the terminal, waiting to get through Security, talking the train from A to C, and so on, until arriving at Gate C17. We didn’t hurry as we had close to five hours before our flight.
Writing this in the Lounge and feeling very alert. Hope to sleep for no more than an hour on the flight to Almaty so we can sleep as soon as we get to the hotel room.
It was a ten minute drive in the shuttle bus from the terminal to the back eighty where our Lufthansa plane was parked out on the tarmac. During the journey, we stopped to let a jumbo jet roll past in front of us–no argument about who had the right of way!
Leaving Frankfurt
Food was blah. Great cabin staff. There was a nice adjustment on the seat controls to allow for a firmer or softer seat. Another nice feature was a mouse to work the controls on the setback screen instead of the usual wheel to click that’s usually difficult to use. Slept a little over an hour.
On arriving at Almaty, short walk to Immigration but puzzled which lane to use. One we knew for sure wasn’t for us as it was marked for Residents Only but all the other lanes said for Other Residents, a couple of them marked for Fast Track. Other people were milling about confused, too. Finally just picked one and had no problem, quick and easy.
There is a small, passport size form given out on the plane which has to be kept with a visitor and surrendered when leaving. We didn’t fill in the box that asked who was the “inviting person (organization)”. The immigration officer stamped them, two stamps on each, without asking for that box to be completed. Waited a while for luggage. There were two carousels, I waited at one and Leroy at the other and, of course, both our bags arrived together on mine.
The hotel’s driver was waiting for us in the airport’s Arrival Hall and we got to the hotel around 1:30 a.m.
From what I’ve read, we aren’t supposed to drink or clean our teeth with the tap water. There were a couple of complimentary bottles of water in our room and we carried an unopened bottle off the plane, so we’ve got plenty.
Next page: Kazakhstan
All pages: In Transit : Kazakhstan : Kyrgyzstan : Tajikistan : Uzbekistan : Turkmenistan : Notes after returning home : Q&A, Comments