B - reporting
Visa Day! We got to the Uzbek consulate, clutching all our print-outs, by 9:30, plenty of time for our 9:50 appointment...only to find a mass of other people with 9:50 appointments. The doors opened at 10am, and a uniformed man read out names in the manner of a school roll call. We were about 4th on the list. We were all told we had to wait in the street, outside the gates, until it was our turn. So we didn't mess up their lovely courtyard with our presence?
When we were finally allowed in the little mustachioed man behind the counter refused to give us our visa, as it said on our Letter of Invitation (LOI) we'd pick it up in Almaty. Argh!!!! We even asked 'is there anything we can do to get one here?' but whenever you need a corrupt official there aren't any!
After a furious walk round Bishkek, consulting travel agencies, we came up with Plans B and C: obtain a new LOI with Dushanbe on it, and get another Kyrgyz visa in case we are refused the Uzbek one. We rolled up at the Kyrgyz office just before noon, only to discover it is closed on Wednesdays!! Argh again.
And more argh, as in the afternoon G felt very unwell. And any more 'i' would definitely be 'tm'.
Visa Day! We got to the Uzbek consulate, clutching all our print-outs, by 9:30, plenty of time for our 9:50 appointment...only to find a mass of other people with 9:50 appointments. The doors opened at 10am, and a uniformed man read out names in the manner of a school roll call. We were about 4th on the list. We were all told we had to wait in the street, outside the gates, until it was our turn. So we didn't mess up their lovely courtyard with our presence?
When we were finally allowed in the little mustachioed man behind the counter refused to give us our visa, as it said on our Letter of Invitation (LOI) we'd pick it up in Almaty. Argh!!!! We even asked 'is there anything we can do to get one here?' but whenever you need a corrupt official there aren't any!
After a furious walk round Bishkek, consulting travel agencies, we came up with Plans B and C: obtain a new LOI with Dushanbe on it, and get another Kyrgyz visa in case we are refused the Uzbek one. We rolled up at the Kyrgyz office just before noon, only to discover it is closed on Wednesdays!! Argh again.
And more argh, as in the afternoon G felt very unwell. And any more 'i' would definitely be 'tm'.
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