From Bishkek to Almaty
There is a nice animated video of Kazakhstani rock band Motoroller in Youtube called “From Bishkek to Almaty”. The song is in Russian with English-language subtitles. The band has been playing for 12 years now and the vocalist Ilyas Autov has got “The Best Vocal” award in Ekaterinburg, Russia, on CIS scale “Old-New Rock Festival”.
It takes about 50 US dollars (after some barganing) and only 3.5 hours to reach Bishkek from Almaty by taxi, so I do hope that after you enjoy this video, you will one day get a chance to embark on this interesting trip.
on February 9th, 2007 at 11:55 am
At the time when this song was written, the road to Bishkek was much worse, and it took not less than 5-6 hours - pretty funny hours, most likely
on February 9th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
I guess so. Still, much faster than on a donkey!
on February 11th, 2007 at 3:22 am
Bishkek to Alma-ata reminds me of the drive from Reno Nevada to Las Vegas. I would love to do it again but drive myself, too boring just setting there. In fact I would want to do it several times, once to make all the stops I wanted, to look at things I’m sure the driver would think were stupid and again to see how fast I could do it. With good conditions I bet I could do it under 3 hours!
on February 12th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
I am sure it would be more interesting than just looking out of the window… Maybe it will soon take even less, if the roads are repaired.
on February 12th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Mark, glad to see you here!
Glad the road to Bishkek did not scare you.
Regarding the driver: believe me he would not have been that suprised as you expected him to be. Once we drove 40 km (20 and 20) together with reporters from the Chinese office of the Chicago Tribune just in order to take one picture of a cow staying next to a signpost of pipe line from Kazakhstan to China:)
on February 13th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Hi Irene,
Been busy since I got back, finally getting back to some of the people we met.
Leila, don’t get me wrong. The drive is interesting, I just meant I would have liked to have been driving myself. I found myself wanting to stop and look at birds, graveyards, little towns off the road, etc.
on February 13th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Dear Mark, I understood exactly what you meant, and I sure driving is more interesting (I think so even if I cannot drive myself :)).