National Park adventures and misadventures

8.1.2018
By my 3rd day in Bishkek I had already found the local AIESEC people, Para (my Global Volunteer mate and a former AIESECer from Oulu) and local volunteers from Bishkek. We had an Incoming Preparation Seminar early in the morning because our AIESEC hosts had a mountain trip in store for us for the afternoon.

Albina from AIESEC invited me and Para to visit Ala-Archa national park with some of her friends. The park was only about 1 hour bus ride away from Bishkek.


We did some hiking up the mountains to a place called the Broken Heart to find some really amazing mountain valley views. It was exhilarating to see all the beautiful mountains and forests. I was really amazed. It was only our third day in Bishkek and we were already getting to visit such astonishing places. Albina and her group were filming a project of theirs while me and Para were just looking around, taking photos and smiling like two idiots.

 Definitely one of the most beautiful places I have seen in my life so far!


And then, in our overly happy and tired state of mind, we actually were idiots... I managed to lose all of Paras luggage. Still, to be fair he should not have left all important stuff, camera equipment and a drone (!) with me and Albina in a strange car no matter how decent the family seemed (and actually luckily was).

To start at the beginning, we all could not fit to Albina's friend´s car so Albina asked a family on their way back to city if we could get a ride (a common habit in here). As the other car was so full Para put his thing to the trunk of this family´s car. So far so good.

When we got out of our ride in the city, they had apparently forgot about our luggage in the trunk and just drove away! I had only some clothes in my backpack and all the important stuff on my person. But Para had all of his equipment in there as well as his passport!! Me and Albina were panicking and trying to find the car from a mall parking lot (as the family was going to this mall). We even called the police and went to the police station. Yep, 3rd day in Bishkek and already in the police station...

While we were in the police station Ayana from AIESEC called. A family had contacted her that they gave a ride to some of her friends and they forgot their luggage. I had my AIESEC contacts list in my backpack and the family was calling everyone in there to return the stuff. We got an address and took a taxi there. Actually we were also joined by two police officers just in case there would be any problems. WE GOT ALL THE STUFF BACK NO PROBLEMS. We wrote some paperwork for the police stating we got everything back and had no problems anymore and the got back to my host family. My host mom made some tea and we wondered about our adventure... I am so lucky to have such an amazing and caring host family.

But all is well that ends well. Para got all the equipment back. And from that day forward for some reason Para decided to be more careful with his belongings. After the day we were all physically and mentally exhausted. Lessons learned though.

Beautiful photography by Para, Ala Archa was an amazing experience 😊

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting lost in banya experience vol 1 & 2

Image
21.1.2018, VOL 1 After a long day of sliding it was time to take it easy, rewind and relax. But on the other hand, when volunteering abroad for 7 weeks you don´t want to waste your precious free time by not experiencing the culture of Kyrgyzstan. Para found the perfect solution to this dilemma; banyas. In short banya is like a spa or public bath with different kind of saunas, treatments and pools. It was a completely different experience compared to the spas in Finland. Mission relax and experience something new achieved. We chose a fancy looking banya called Slegkim in Bishkek city center. When we got there the outside did not look much, some construction was going on. Here I have noticed however that a shabby looking building often hides some beautiful indoors spaces. That was also the case with the banya. We had no idea how to use a banya, the staff did not speak English, we do not speak Russian and we did not have anyone from local AIESEC with us today to translate. Para
Read more

Gliding down a hill with a balloon

Image
20.1.2018 This weekend I was invited to a field trip by my awesome host family. First we went to visit my host dads parents in Bishkek suburbs. On arrival I was fed exceedingly well with traditional Kyrgyzstan bread. Luckily I had one more box of Finnish chocolate with me to give for my host grandparents. By lunchtime we were joined by the family of my host dads sister. Suddenly I was in sitting in a table full of new people none of which spoke English. I had to come up with a new communication strategy. Firstly, smiling is really important, you can rarely be impolite if you smile a lot in a family gathering. Also hand gestures and "joong rahmat", thank you very much, help a long way. I am learning to be more solution oriented in new situations as per AIESEC leadership development. After lunch it was time for a family outing to "little mountain". A popular gliding place for families with children and adults as well (gliding is for everyone!). The plac
Read more

Opera experience in Bishkek

Image
28.1.2018 Cold weekend well spent indoors -series continues. Me, Para and Lamees embarked on a journey to find some culture. We went to Kyrgyz National Academic Opera and Ballet theater Maldybaeva to see a classic opera Don Juan. The tickets cost about 5 euros per person for the most expensive seats. Here it would be affordable for me to enjoy some opera or ballet culture every single weekend and they actually have a different show for every weekend; Saturday ballet, Sunday opera. The opera building was quite beautiful but also a bit cold because of the weather. We left our coats with a nice babushka lady (who only spoke Russian) and proceeded to find the entrances. We also got to use some of our newly learned Russian; "I come from Finland/Indonesia/Egypt". We were trying to impress a lady selling programs and wearing a lovely traditional coat to get a picture with her (and succeeded). The hall had a lot of art but my favorite was a blue lady looking like a real opera d
Read more