Tong 14/07/26

And the kindness of strangers

I start the day needing to solve an urgent visa issue relating to my trip to Tajikistan (I don’t have one) so try and find a place in Bishkek to get my passport scanned.

Throughout the whole day I’m helped by the local Kyrgz people as I bumble around, and not one of them spoke English.

One guy walks me to the translation office when I stumble down the wrong street. When I find the building, another lady calls the office for me and points the way. The ladies in the translation office can’t speak English but spend 20 mins helping me get my passport scan in the right format and then refused payment.

When I get a Matruska to Bokonbayevo, the blokes in the bus all offer me cigs when I stop. Most men offer to shame your hand as you walk past. When I try and hitchhike from Bokonbayevo to Tong, the first car I flag stops and refuses payment.

When I rock up at the guesthouse recommended to me by this random German from the hostel, the old lady who runs it takes me in, feeds me endless bowls of goulash (I’m the only guest), and spends the evening trying to talk to me over Google translate with her daughter. Whatever I seem to write seems to be nonsensical and hilarious to them.

Despite her hospitality The next day I wake up with my first significant bout of the shits and hop on another matruska to Karakol.