Tuesday 15 Jun 2010 18:02

Visas. Done. Kind of.

by Tony Edgar of Steppe By Steppe

I picked up my Russian visa today from the application centre in central London! Unfortunately, my amazing levels of organisation let me down yet again, as I forgot the receipt proving I was entitled to pick up Justyna's passport as well. It currently remains, nestled in a part of EC2 that shall remain forever Russia, until she can leave work early enough to pick it up. Sorry team mate. 

Once that's sorted, we can relax in the knowledge that we can at least make it to Mongolia - we (will) have documentation for Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, the 3 key countries which make up the majority of our trip. We still have the Uzbekistan visa to sort, our Letters of Invitation having been delayed until the end of the month, but that gives us time to keep an eye on the deteriorating situation in that part of the world. As much as it is a dream to visit Samarqand and Bukhara, we have to be sensitive to the situation and display a bit of common sense into the bargain. Here's hoping - obviously not just for our sake - that the bloodshed of recent days in Kyrgyzstan comes to an end quickly and peacefully.

The Russian visa application centre is a bit of a let down. It reminded me of Lambeth council customer centre. Go in, take a ticket, wait for your number to be called. No mystique at all. Compare that to the Uzbekistan Embassy in Holland Park, where you're met with the expected surly bloke behind a hatch who refuses to return your passport unless you've brought the correct bank giro counterfoil (there are two. Both identical. Don't even think about trying to fob him off with counterfoil 1 though. He will notice and send you away to come back tomorrow with counterfoil 2). The Russians, by contrast, even contrived to be helpful when faced with my flustered reaction to the news I couldn't pick up Justyna's passport. They were reasonable. They tried their best, offered suggestions, but we couldn't find a way round it. That's not what I signed up for. Where was the surly bureaucracy? Anyway, J managed to collect her passport the following day, and any potential crisis was averted.

The situation in Kyrgyzstan was more concerning for us at that point. Anti-government demonstrations had turned ugly and there was something approaching civil war between ethnic groups kicking off, which seemed to be spreading to Uzbekistan as well. Our original route saw us travelling down through Kazakhstan, into Uzbekistan, across to Kyrgyzstan and then back out into Kazakhstan. Bishkek was a guaranteed no no due to the violence and the fact that the neighbouring countries had closed their borders, but we still hoped to make it down to Uzbekistan for a flying visit to the Silk Road cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. The whole endeavour was scary enough without putting ourselves knowingly into danger though.