Trip to Central Asia – 4 countries, 16 days and 3600+ km

The Pamir highway trip was on my radar for a long time. This epic “silk route” winds through some of the world’s most rugged and remote terrain. My friend Subbu was also interested, and he suggested why not we cover all four “stan”s with the focus on the Pamir highway. It started the process of planning our Central Asia trip.

 

 

About Central Asia

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are the Central Asian countries. These were part of erstwhile Soviet union with Muslim majority population.

Visas and entry requirements

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the independent countries of Central Asia went through a period of turbulence. They inherited many Soviet-style policies like complicated visa process. An invitation letter from a local travel agency, registering at Police stations, and exit visas were some of those stringent requirements. Who would like to travel with such restrictions?

Gradually, these countries realised that these outdated policies did not work. They simplified entry requirements, though the remnants of the Soviet era still exist.

When it comes to Indian citizens, following are the current policies of those countries.

• Kazakhstan: Visa-free travel for 14 days. A maximum stay of 42 days is granted within 180 days.
• Kyrgyz Republic: Single entry e-visa (But a Letter of Invitation is needed) for 30 days.
• Uzbekistan: Single/Double/Multiple entry e-visa.
• Tajikistan: Single entry e-visa + GBAO permit for Pamir highway.

These policies make it easier for Indians to get visas online without sending the passport to the embassy. The need for a Letter of Invitation is a pain for Kyrgyzstan.

By the way, Turkmenistan is still a “closed” country with a complicated visa process. We did not bother to include it in our itinerary.

Flights to Central Asia

There are very few flights from India to Central Asian countries. Flights are available only from New Delhi. Here are some options (in 2023):

• Almaty (Kazakhstan): Two daily flights by Air Astana.
• Shymkent (Kazakhstan): A few weekly flights by Air Astana and FlyArystan.
• Tashkent (Uzbekistan): A few weekly flights by Uzbek Airlines.
• Dushanbe (Tajikistan): One flight per week by Somon Air.

Indigo is starting flights from New Delhi to Almaty and Tashkent shortly.

Our travel

Our original plan was to start the Pamir highway trip from Tajikistan and crossover to Kyrgyzstan. But Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan had serious border clashes in 2021 and 2022, resulting in land border crossing complications. So, we had to modify our plan to include Pamir Highway as a roundtrip from Dushanbe.

Our modified plan was:

Almaty –> Bishkek –> Tashkent –> Samarkand –> Dushanbe –> Pamir Highway trip –> Dushanbe

In this way, we covered all four countries.

We booked the Air Arabia flight from Bengaluru to Almaty via Sharjah. The return flight from Dushanbe was via Almaty and New Delhi by Air Astana.

Executing plan

We booked flight tickets three months before the trip. Subsequently, I booked a 4WD drive vehicle for Pamir Highway. It was economical if there were four people. Hence, we published the slots, and two Hungarians joined us.

Hotel booking was done two months before using booking.com.

The journey from Tashkent to Samarkand was by speed train. The seats of the speed trains are filled well in advance. Hence, I waited for the slot to open and reserved it immediately. (Online site link here)

 

Almaty to Bishkek was by bus. We arrived 30 minutes before departure and could get tickets. Bishkek to Tashkent was on an overnight bus, which we booked a day before when we arrived at Bishkek. Samarkand to Dushanbe was using a shared taxi.

We started applying for visas a month before the travel. There were a few hurdles, but we were able to sort everything before our trip.

 

Safety in Central Asia

A few of my friends expressed concerns about travelling to these countries. We, as Indians, have very little understanding of Central Asia. Due to the notorious Paki “stan” and Afghani ”stan”, we tend to put these Central Asian “stans” in the same bucket. But the reality is different.

Under Soviet rule, the religious fanatism was firmly under control. While this curbed religious freedom, it also prevented these countries from meeting the fate of Pakistan or Afghanistan. Things changed post-independence, but all four countries are secular by constitution. These are Muslim-majority countries but, we did not see an overt display of religion. While a few people were traditional, there was no imposition of dress code on people. The traditional countryside coexists with cosmopolitan cities.

For example, the Pamir highway passed next to the Afghanistan border for about 750 km. While people were walking freely without any dress code in Tajikistan, a hundred meters away in Afghanistan, women were forced to cover from head to toe, not to mention about other restrictions. What a contrast!!

 

We felt very safe in Central Asia. People were always helpful. We walked and took taxis in the night and never felt scared. I felt safer walking on the streets of Central Asia than in some areas of Bengaluru! Just don’t do stupid things!!

Note that these countries have gone through various stages of political instability and ethnic tensions. It is always better to check the current situation before travelling.

People know very little about India. Almost everyone we met did not know about “Bangalore”!! People associate India with Raj Kapoor and Mithun Chakraborty due to the movies released in the Soviet era. Things will change as more Indian students are studying in these countries, especially for Medical degrees!!

Language

Language is a big problem in Central Asia for English-speaking people. It is hard to find people speaking English. Each country has its language, but Russian is understood by many people. Learning Russian helps in Central Asia. We used Google Translate extensively to communicate!

Food

It is a main concern for vegetarians. The concept of Vegan or Vegetarian does not exist. Meat is added to all dishes. The best options for Vegetarians are Indian restaurants and global food chains like Papa John’s. I survived on rice, mashed potatoes and bread for many days!

Currency

Each country has its own currency. Credit cards worked in a few hotels, restaurants and shops. On Pamir highways, we had to pay using cash. Many hotels accept US dollars, but it is good to have local currency.

Network and data

I enabled Airtel International roaming, and it worked beautifully. The only exception was that I could not make outgoing calls in Tajikistan but could send SMS and get incoming calls.

Local transport

Since we did not know the local language, using public transport inside cities was a challenge. We used the Metro in Almaty and Tashkent and explored shared vans (Marshrutka) in Bishkek.

Taxis are cheap in Central Asia. Yandex Go, similar to Uber, works very well in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. We used it extensively. Yandex does not work in Tajikistan, and we relied on our hotel to book taxis or take the ones on the road. No issues in spite of language challenges.

Summary

Overall, the Central Asia exceeded all our expectations. Many of our misconceptions were busted, and we returned with a lot of positive experiences. We can expect many Indians to travel to these countries in the coming years. Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan look well suited for families, while Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are great for adventure travel.