Kyrgyzstan ! Has anyone been?

[robbielewinski]

Hi everyone.

Just planning a life miles redemption from BKK into Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (with routing through FRA and IST) in J. Was going to ditch the final IST-Bishkek flight but, am thinking of maybe having a couple of days there. Has anyone been to Bishkek, or Kyrgyzstan in general? Its one of the only countries in that region visa free for Australians ... I dont think i could pick a more random country than Kyrgyzstan.....

Cheers

Robbie

 

[casanovawa]

I haven't, but the other day i was looking at LM redemptions to Europe and had read about ending it in Kazahkstan (sp) or somewhere and so only be charged Oz-Central Asia rates but getting off at IST, but when i read the thread title and clicked through to here it did make me ponder about perhaps flying to somewhere out that way and actually continuing on and then seeing if i could get a cheap flight back to Europe... So not the worst idea if you could get a cheapy back to civilisation for about $200 or less, something to tell people about...

 

[robbielewinski]

I found DPS to Bishkek for a mere 20,000 points ! (at $15 per 1000 it works out to be only $300). Thats including SQ DPS - SIN, SQ SIN-FRA on a380!!!!! Yes this is all in J... I think Kyrgyzstan is classed as a North Asian country?

 

[casanovawa]

Its Central Asia according to the chart... And wow, that does sounds like a good deal!!! So what did it end up costing you?

 

[robbielewinski]

$300 worth of points, $120 of tax and booking fees. A decent chunk of that tax is because im going through Germany unfortunately...

 

[casanovawa]

Probably be inclined to stop in either IST or FRA on the way to Europe and start out at one of those places to get the cheap return, but a quick search looks like a moderate pain in the neck to find a cheap flight back to those Central Asian Republics...

 

[clifford]

Tell me again, how do you get a visa for Kyrgyzstan (or Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan, etc, etc)?

 

[robbielewinski]

Its visa free for Australians to Kyrgyzstan! There is great availability into Ashgabat, but Australians need to prearrange visas for Turkmenistan. So even though i wouldnt get the final connecting flight to Ashgabat, would they ask to see my visa for Turkmenistan at check in in SIN/BKK/wherever? Thoughts?

 

[cgichard]

I do not recommend Turkmenistan. It is a truly scary country run by a total control freak of a dictator. People are frightened to talk to tourists in case someone reports them. Things may have changed but when I went through by land from Uzbekistan en route to Iran only a few years ago, the minimum transit time was a stay of three nights. Border control was horrendous.

 

[adam15]

I recently was denied check in at Singapore because my itinerary did not meet the requirements for the Chinese 72 hour Visa, (SQ). I was flying with SQ to HKG then CA to PEK. SQ stopped me at Singapore despite the fact that I would have entered mainland China on CA. I suspect there is a duty of care from the ticket issuer which in my case was SQ. I would say SQ would want to see your Turkmenistani(?) visa. But hey, with the sweet spot you have found it may still represent a good overall deal.

 

[robbielewinski]

Just going to stick with Kyrgyzstan then! Might be nice to visit somewhere random!

 

[tuapekastar]

My mining engineer mate went there a couple of years ago for work and his only comments were "they were Russians we dealt with, and they all loved drinking pi55". He liked Kyrgyzstan.