Painting!

It is official, I now consider myself psychic!!

Well, well, well, I don't know where to begin, so as it is now Thursday, I will go back to Tuesday...? Well someday around about then. Having only really seen the inside of an internet cafe for an extensive amount of time in Bishkek, it was time to hit the famous bazar! And a bazar day I had indeed! Weaving through the traffic, on foot, I make it sound like I was in a car, but no, my pieds were in fact in charge! We hurried to the coolest buses in Bishkek. There are two types of buses in Bishkek, your usual jump on and off's that you see around most towns and cities, and then, there is the most fabulous invention in the world, a mini bus bus! Yes you may be thinking back to your school days, and thinking, this girl has officially gone nuts, I like to think I was ga ga at birth, so don't waste your time about saneness and me, but these buses, you literally hopped on, there was only room for 10 to sit, and about 4 to stand and you hurried off along the streets for 8 com (pronounced "som" 46 com = $1).

The only way I can think to describe these buses, was by the first few things that poured into my mind, when I first nestled into the seat. I imagine that a 70's commune would probably describe the feel well, it was very dark and chilled inside, cushioned of course, and people just jumped on and off whenever they felt their destination had arrived, they didn't even need a bus stop for the invite to pop off. It just felt so chilled, it was immense! I guess it was the small closed space that created the feel, although, in reading this back it does just sound like your normal bus, anyway enough about these buses, and back to my pieds.

So I entered the hustling bazar, and had stupidly thought that morning - do I NEVER learn- oh these flip flops I have had for over a year should probably snap soon, oh well will look out to buy another pair at some stage. Well 15 mins into this bazar - SNAP!! First my beloved friend the Tommy Hilfigure sungalsses and now the SHOES!!!?! Alas I do now know the people I am with well enough to let them know it is official, all facts now point to me being psychic! I have had an inkling for sometime, plus a fortune teller did in fact allude that I was slightly, with gift! So as I stood there one footed, as my friend whipped my flip flop off, told me she would be right back, she sprang off through the market crowds, as I listened to Rihanna, "Te Amo" - that song is EVERYWHERE here! While trying to stand ever so chic like, while swaying next to a felt hat stall, I had to try to show, with my only sign language of smile, to the stall owner that I was in fact balancing and waiting, and no it wasn't appropriate to buy a hat just at that precise moment. Then boom! (yes Elaine, I apologize, I did just say "boom" Oh there I slipped out with it again)! Appeared wonderful friend (alas not the Tommy Hilfigure sunglasses) with the fixed flip flop (right footed flip flop for those who are wondering) for 10 com! I was in such shock, she apologized for the excessive price, excessive! I LOVE this place!!

Speed walking through the clothes part of the market was phenomenal, the clothes were arranged in meter long stools, with a surround about 2 meters high on three sides, with clothes towering upwards, there where then 60 of these lined up next to one another, in a sq meter of what felt like miles . It was phenomenal running down them and looking around at what felt like cubicles with a through path, the temptation to launch yourself up a wall of clothing, and free fall asleep was heady... yeah, yeah not the time and place I know, but man in my head it was! Damn convention people!! I do, daily!

So there I am powering down this market place, to keep up with flip flop fixer friend, with photo taking friend flagging behind me, and there to the right of me, just up ahead, a Kyrgyz guy looks up, from his stall, looks at me and shouts, "I Love you!" I love you?! I love you?!!! Have I just scored with a local? American picture taker friend behind me laughs, "Ha ha ha that is the only English phrase they seem to know, must be all those rock songs they listen to," Rock songs? Rock songs?!!!! By George it was NOT! I was working those alley ways like a cat walking pro, and strut my stuff... I must have been, I had been noticed, observed..... SPOTTED!!!! Again, I have to keep reminding myself we are in a Bishkek bazar, not NYC on 5th Avenue, and no business card of "Storm Modeling Agency" had been flashed into the palm of my hand, but my word, in my head it had! Ok, I jest! But what a hoot! If he loved me, it got me to thinking, would he allow me to have only a fraction of the clothes on his stall for free, or the whole lot, because in my mind, if a guy loved you, he has to pay for your wardrobe right? Right? hmmm.... maybe that is my problem in guy finding, should probably take that from near the top as a priority when looking for a guy and stack it near the bottom - shame :-(

So, having found superficial love in a market in Bishkek - one way of course, and not reciprocated! I left after depositing a few com, having purchased a bag, gifts for people, and a diary, I left without the two main items I was going for, a felt hat and felt slippers, but there is always the weekend to go find felt slippers that will don me the nickname elf, and my word will they be a hub of florescent colour! Such a hub that they will turn heads in fact, even in a British market, where I will get a Brit shouting one of these days "I Love you!" in which I will reply, "Quite rightly!!"

The day the TKMAXX purchased Tommy Hilfigure sunglasses ... died!

I knew this day would come, as I packed my pelicase in the UK, the thought crossed my mind that my dear old friend, of three years, probably wouldn't make it past the first couple of days of the trip, and alas, my fleeting thought, became an omen.

As I lay the glasses, now in two pieces, into it's newly adapted burial chamber (previously glasses case) I thought back at the times together we had had. The flash backs of the initial ecstatic nature when my eyes first discovered said friend, waiting to que for the till while in line to purchase other products (red dress) in my third year of Uni in the Dundee TXMAXX. Oh how foolish I had been with my first fears as I qued to pay, my mind wandered, how I was dubious to wear them in public! Could I pull them off? Where they too big for my face? Did my nose really look THAT big with glasses perched on top of it ?!? -a fear that I still carry with me to this day. Would people mock me for my thought that I could potentially pull off a legit label and attempt strutting down the street with them on, in daylight too! But oh how all those anxieties disappeared, when those sunglasses stepped up to the plate, and proved, I too could wear a pair of "designer" sunglasses, that albeit the previous season, that a star, a rich investment banker, or a fashion conscious critter had also donned ( for about 200%of the price, so the sale lable informed me)! .... I was on the edge of "the club," hanging on by the skin of my teeth bare knuckled teeth, but I was there! I didn't mind that "the youth" mocked their lopsidedness, as my dear old friend became tired with age and maturity, I could see through the scratches and the dents that had formed on the lens due to the hardy nature of me warring them through sleet, snow and sun - and multi seasonal purpose wear them did I lots- and God damn it that was all that mattered! But as I painted a black panel to be attached to the black Tuk Tuk yesterday for our epic tea tracing trip, the scene of them tumbling to the floor from my face into two pieces, will for ever be ingrained on my memory.

Etched is the reminiscence, as I think of the sturdy UV Factor dear friend had, which will never be replicated, well not soon anyway, smooth was friend's upholstery, but like an old family car I have many a picture of me and my buddy, and in future years I will look back and reminisce at out times when we were together, happy, living.

When I arrive home in my week off in November, I shall find a plot in a tranquil garden somewhere, and lower the burial chamber in to the envelopes that is earth's sacred soil, and bid my friend adieu for the next life, as I place two coins under the lenses to ensure old friend safe passage to the next life.

But one thing is for sure, ohh how we lived!

Dear Old Friend

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

04/2007 - 09/2010

Rest in Peace now,
It's your time for a well deserved rest.

Ode to the Re-hydration Sachet!

On this trip I have brought a total of 35 re-hydration sachets, with 3, so far, ingested. By the end of the trip I feel it will be appropriate to publish my first manuscript, "Re-Hydration Sachets - It's tipple time!" (a must have for all purchases of this product), with yours truly on the cover, as a 1950's housewife, with drink in toe, and an apron around my waist looking angelically at the camera!


So far I have discovered the following about above product;


            1, Solution is preferred in a china tea cup vs. a plastic cup - taste acquired depending...
            2, Always apply a stirrer to said procedure of infusion, in fact anything will do, including a nicely
            nail varnished index finger, or even a chipped one, as gentle ebbing of cup in a circular motion
            will never do justice to  final product.
            3, Do not mix said powder with sparkling soda water as the poor buggar only gets confused as
            to which should be the fizziest, the powder / water, so sin gas it is highly advised!


So please keep yourselves posted for the publishing of said effervescent drink findings, in which I will endeavor to have found the perfect stirrer, container, whether "Sir" prefers it "shaken or stirred" and the most satisfactory mixer. With this quest completed, the first addition will be fresh off the press, and with every first addition I will kindly attach the "perfect stirrer" to the front of the book.

(If you mention this blog when purchasing, "Re-Hydration Sachets - It's tipple time!"  you will receive one free book with every one you buy, for the perfect stocking filler! I am assuming this as like most first time published authors, I will over estimate the amount of copies I will need, for this already over saturated market that is powdered cocktails, and will have a warehouse full of books which will need shifting!!)!!

 One thing that is of concern is that it's been four days since I arrived, that's FOUR DAYS working in a production office, staying in a bedroom, on proper sofa bed, food is substantially similar to the UK, just slightly less fruit and veg, but it can be found - and has been found! and water intake has been out of a bottle and of similar quantity as to the UK. So the concern is, with all these similarities to home... and being in a civilized city with most mod cons... and not being, "out in the field," yet... If I can drop a jean size in two days, and have had three re-hydration sachets, and a few immodiums thrown in for good measure, I can only presume that I am most likely going to drop a vital organ while tracing tea! 

Oh well! "Bottoms up comrades!!"

A Postcard From Bishkek

While washing up today I stuck my head out of the window, and have figured it out. The smell of Bishkek is like the fair ground when it arrives in town, heat, petrol, and a montage of sounds that transports you to being young again.


Looks; Bishkek reminds me of what I think Spanish resort towns looked like 20 yrs ago before it began build up for us Brits.


People; Lovely, I have become really fond of the girls working in the Office, and I intend to send them a few postcards when I am away, as without them this trip wouldn't be running so smoothly.


Transport; Lovely old 70's smelling cars, like the sort your Dad would buy when you are younger as he didn,t want to spend, "an arm and a leg" on the family car! But there are no filters so you feel as though you a trapped in a small room with a petrol engine! - not fun!


Food; Today is making me feel ill, v.fatty meat and carbs galore, but cutting portions down dramatically and sticking to black tea and boiled water will make a traveller of me yet!


My Transport; A sodding auto rickshaw, and boy am I awful! I always had images of me on a Honda motorbike, clad in leather, taking my helmet off like a Bond girl, blonde hair flowing down my back all slowmo like.... scrap that image and think, the clutch control of an over eager kid who has just discovered the keys to the family car while his parents are out. Dusty from all the dust of the road, AND greasy with a face like Toad from, "Wind in the Willow!" I jerked forward so hard over a pot hole that even two sports bra's won't help the lack of my suspension control! 


Hopefully the lack of agreeable food will lessen my, inherited from my Grandmother's, bosom! Control on clutch will eventually be resumed, and just a dusty/ dirty face will be my worries. But oh my ego is showing through now, "Sure I would lovvvvve to accept this job! Driving auto rickshaws from India to UK? No probs!! If I can drive a manual, I can do anything...!" How stunningly sodding British! 


Bacardi Party with the locals tomorrow - Bacardi o'clock anyone? 

Bishkek Beauties

5.30am - The call to prayer.

A friend once said to me, who has spent time in the East, that the call to prayer is a very comforting sound on the air. I tend to agree, but that is probably because we are both Theology graduates!!! One morning I am very tempted to rush down, and be a inconspicuous as possible, as I watch those of faith tipping through the doors of the mosque. Although I am tempted, the subconscious feeling of a spectator in a zoo comes into play, so I will just listen from my bed when it wakes me.

I have decided it is probably best to spend a few days in a new country/town before commenting on it, as like anywhere, there first few days you always feel like a fly trapped in a spiders web as you are trying to figure out which way is up, and which way is down.

Bishkek was described by one of the crew members to be like India, with a hell of a lot less people around, and it is certainly true, Bishkek is very quite. Another crew member who has been living here on and off for 2 years, said she feels as though everyone has gone on holiday since the pre revolution days, so I don;t know if it is in the impending lead up to these elections that everyone appears to be getting on with their day to day work, and keeping their head down.

In Bishkek, the women are fascinating, most women you pass to the right of you are in stilettos, covered head to toe in the latest fashion as they strut down the street. Purchasing their clothes from bazars, where Turkish brands are far superior to The Chinese hand me downs, the girls look like they are waiting for an invitation to swept of to the nearest principality, whereas the men, look as though they have just walked out of a betting shop in the UK!!

Then to the left of you, women are dressed head to foot in Islamic dress, the crew member who has lived here for the past two years, said you would never have seen a burka on the streets of Bishkek, but there is now an emphasis on Islam, with more Mosques in the planning stage to be built.

Ok, I am board of this blogging style, it is to wordy to get through and who wants wordiness when you just want facts, here we go...

Bishkek ahoy!

Speeding to the airport, my mother will hate me for saying that as she always sticks to, and lingers under the speed limit, one spectacular crash appeared on the motorway, so spectacular in fact, that it looked like a perfectly composed stunt. So perfectly composed that with a Mercedes two back wheels on a BMW's roof, everyone felt the need to slow down in admiration, leading to us all missing our flight! 


A blessing in disguise really, looking drawn and sombre from lack of sleep we all crowded around a brunch and then crashed at a Premier Inn for two nights, and wow were those beds comfortable! I am now going to invest in a little hotel savings account, so whenever I need to do a JK Rowling, I shall book into a hotel, do various works (in her case Harry Potter) and crash out for a good 12-14 hours sleep with the "do not disturb sign" on the door!!


The thankful element about flying out on Monday, meant that I didn't take off from earth UK side, with a jar full of butterflies in my stomach. Instead I felt as though I was finally in the right place for this time. I say that, I have felt I have been for a while, but the little occurrences seemed to have lead me to this big trip/job as a stile into the next field, so to speak. 


Ladened with cameras, camera bags and an amalgamation of carry on's (the amount that would have put a family of 10 to shame)! we settled into a flight that took two hours to get going because, the fuel pump wouldn't fit the plane! So far this has been a trip of firsts for me, firstly to Asia, secondly I have never missed a flight, well I have missed many to Edinburgh/Gatwick from the uni days, but that's because I hadn't wanted to go back... yet! And thirdly, my first delayed flight. Sicken but true, I kind of enjoyed the two hours on the tarmac, just chilling.. sadly not having a Bud though!!


Up in the air due to the random daydreamer I am, I decided to think what the possible purposes of all on the plane was (thanks to a conversation with Paul Smith this summer, as he informed me why he liked to see planes up in the air as you didn't know why people where on it, and he liked to think about it) but wasn't prepared to what I might hear. 


The flight to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan stops at Almanty in Kazahkhstan, where those staying on for the 25 min flight to Bishkek, stay on the flight as all Bishkek passengers wait for the concluding leg of the journey. There were four American's on the flight, ranging from 17yrs old to 50, who I had spoken to before we took off, and over heard the nicotine withdrawals of another mid flight, with her nicotine patch glinting and reflecting in the aeroplane light.


In our 40 min lull, they were asking who we were and what we were doing, after filling them in on our quest of Tea they informed us of their trip to Kyrgystan. Krygystan has three army bases, two Russian and one American, these guy were heading to the American one, where they would then be posted to Afghanistan for a year, one having already spent a year there. This really effected me, I was going on a trip where the films/books/news were going to unfold in front of me. I already knew this, as I am certainly a realist, but, I hadn't even put the perspective of this documented war into the picture.


I had to bite my tongue not to ask them their names and details, as I would want to track their progress to see that they returned home safely, crazy, because how in the hell would that help them? It certainly woke me up to the unique nature of man. I would never want to go into the forces, my stint in the school's CCF on the few Wednesday nights that I attended was more than enough for me, but it made me realise why some people don't understand why I took this job on. I guess I am going into a conflict of my own, battling with an unknown that I have only heard the hyped "fear them out" media bang on about, and I really have no clue as to the reality. I have packed as appropriately as I have been told, and will stick to all the common sense and diplomacy that I have assembled in my 24yrs on said planet, but like them, there is no going back, even if I don't like it. I am posted out for the next 4 1/2 months doing a job in areas that may scare me senseless, but I will be surrounded by good comrades, some who have been out before, and learning skills that may or may not come into their own later on in life. 


25mins to Bishkek completed... tarmac sprawled beneath the planes wheels, with the engine now still. In a new country and the only lights you see from the plane, is one line of white street lights, and darkness surrounding it. With open drains, and  pot holes in unlit streets awaiting me, one really is Dorothy, not in Kansas anymore. On the starting line to enter into this new anthropological world, passport tucked away in my pocket, no money on my person, I enter the country in a run up to elections, 5 months after a revolution, with a sense of apprehension, yet clarity of leaving all emotional baggage at a never to be opened locker again, in an airport, near a town, I called home, for my life to date.