Too Many Chiefs and No Enough Seats

Well I made it to Osh Kyrgyzstan early this morning. While I almost immediately went to the vehicle bazaar I was unable to locate it early in the morning. Upon returning to the hotel I slept most the day away. My lack of Kyrgyz language and Russian is a real barrier.

I have been traveling since Thursday, making this the beginning of day four with only a few hours of sleep caught on buses and planes. I was very relieved to spend some good quality time in a bed today.

Around 5 PM I returned to search again for the vehicle bazaar. It is rather tucked away and while many vehicles are heading to Bishkek only one was interested in going to Murghab.

After about an hour of waiting it became clear that they would not have room for me. I had sensed this earlier while looking at the vehicle but I usually feel that way in Central Asia. Some more people showed up and then I realized that there were too many chiefs and not enough seats.

Osh is a nice town of 500,000 people. The poverty is showing that there are a number of new businesses and indicators that things are improving. I was able to find a nice restaurant right on the main road. They served Coca-Cola and that is always a good sign.

I can't say that I was really disappointed that I could not get a car tonight. Hopefully I will be able to get one tomorrow though. 18 hours on the road coming up and that is always hard to brace for.

Below is a picture of the sacred mountain in downtown Osh.