Day 15-16: Osh-Bishkek-Dushanbe

We were not at a place where we could update yesterday, so we will catch you up on the last two days. We left Osh (Kyrgyzstan) on Friday and spent the night in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) before leaving for Dushanbe (Tajikistan) this morning. (Big thanks to the family who hosted us in Osh for ten days and to the family who let us stay at their place in Bishkek last night). These flights were some of the most interesting we have ever been on. In the first, the wall dividing the cockpit from the cabin was made of plywood and looked pretty homemade. In the second, we entered the plane from a hatch in the underside - a first for us. Below is a picture of us in the "waiting room" (yes - it's outside!) at the Osh bus stop, er, I mean airport.

The scenery on these flights was spectacular, especially for us flatlanders. Not only are we from northern Indiana, but our previous time in Central Asia was spent in the desert - so this was quite a change. Here is a look out the window on the way to Tajikistan.
For those of you keeping track, we have now been in 3 countries (if you count Uz, where we technically never got in, though we spent 41 hours there) and have been on 7 flights (more than we planned, because the deportation necessitated a couple extra). Ella has been a great traveler.

Anyway, we are now in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. It was good to arrive today and spend the afternoon with an old teammate who shares our experience of deportation from Uz and the dreaded transit terminal.

We will write more later about our impressions of Kyrgyzstan, and our plans in Tajikistan. But for now, it's late and I am off to bed.