G’Day Y’all,
A close friend sent me this email last night and I sure felt little guilty reading it from comfort of my plush office chair.
As I reflected on her situation and how it might feel to be way out west whilst up the creek with nary a paddle insight, I was taken by the uniqueness of her plight!
What an extraordinary adventure!
As a close friend and armchair traveler I am truly grateful for the lucidity with which she has managed to communicate her unique circumstances.
I hope you enjoy the read, I sure did.
Hers is a very big life, no doubt!
Speaking of nightmares………………………………..we’re in a bit of one at the moment! Fortunately we are fit and well – phew, but we are stuck in Kyrgyzstan without my passport – nada, zilche, big zero.
The story goes something like this; We were on the overnight bus going to China last Thurs and sometime during the night the bus stopped so we could go to the toilet. I had my bag on me with camera, $US, passport and drivers license. Before getting back on the bus, I tripped and fell, bag was open…………………………….the next morning we got to the border and guess what – nada, zilche, bag empty! I’m not sure if everything fell out when I tripped, or whether some sneaky little demons couldn’t resist the temptation and delved in when I was sleeping.
We ended up spending the next day waiting ALL DAY in the cab of a truck, that was supposedly heading back to town. It wasn’t until 6pm or so that we realised that the driver was still waiting for another delivery – Faaaaaaaaaaaarkkkkkkkk. So at about 8pm we managed to hitch another lift with a truckie and travelled for the next 4hrs on shitty bumpy roads heading back to a dusty old village. We found a floor space and crashed – exhausted!
Next day we notified the police and then thought we’d do a bit of walking through the mountains for 4-5hrs. looking along the side of the road for a miracle to happen. Guess what? No miracle. Not surprised though, as the stretch of road that the bus stopped along was about 180km through mountainous passes, dusty roads, steep drop offs etc. Get the picture, quite beautiful actually, but we were to pre-occupied to take a lot of it in. With every village that we passed through we were met with village kids yelling out “hello”, “what is your name”, and a loverly bunch of women who gave us stale bread and a chunk of meat. Our spirits were lifted for a short time, until it started getting dark, very cold, and still no sign of that miracle that I was totally relying on.
We waved down another passing truck and spent the next 5hrs bumping around in the cab, tired, hungry and definitely not so happy. Soooooooooooooooooooooo, 10hrs later we got dropped off on the outskirts of town – freezing cold! Fortunately we didn’t have to wait long for a taxi and then we were back at the Taj Mahal guesthouse – hot shower and bed.
We got up early on Sun and went straight to the police station to file a report, took the whole day with detectives and the lot involved. They seem to be very efficient.
Mon I rang the NZ Embassy in Russia who said I would have to send off applications to London – arrggghhhhhhhhhhhh. They said it was the quickest way, as they weren’t allowed to send anything over the border from Russia to Kyrg. Meanwhile I’m wafting in and out of daydreaming about home, Christmas, lying on the beach on some deserted island, feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin and so on. Back to reality, stuck in the cold, no identity and having to wait for up to 2wks for a new passport! Aahhhhhhh, the treasures of travelling. DHL couriers informed me yesterday that the package would be flown from Biskek to Almaty (Kazakstan) and finally London – classic. Should arrive there by Mon at the latest. But, who really knows. Will fill you in on my next email.
So, bottom line, don’t ever get too attached to personal possessions, as they very quickly come and go. Also, health and wellbeing is the most important part of our lives. I feel very blessed to have this!
Much love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I am sure that you will join me in extending best wishes to my wise and adventurous friend.
I hope she can find the time and inclination to write a lot more.
After surviving earthquakes and Tsunami’s at close hand, I am sure she will come up smelling like roses and yak soap.
A couple of weeks chilling in Asia Minor as winter descends will be no sweat, literally!
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