Can an American visit friends in Kyrgyzstan safely?
I had a friend from home serve a term in the Peace Corps in Kyrgyzstan; her parents went out to visit her without any problems. It’s apparently doable, and beautiful, but expect to spent a loooooooong time traveling if your friends aren’t in Bishkek or some other suitably major city. From her emails and letters, I get the impression that the country is fairly safe. I’ll browse through and see if I can find some more germane tips. As for letters, she recommended writing the address in red ink and/or placing a religious symbol on the outside, to improve the chances of getting through untouched. Heck if I know why–sounds sort of like a rumor-twice-removed, but there you go.
A salient quote from the emails home from my Peace Corps friend, on travel in Kyrgyzstan: I’m not sure what I’ve said about the cars in Kyrgyzstan, but they’re all thirty year old Ladas held together with newspaper, string, glue, and spirit. It’s always both exciting and death-defying to travel anywhere in Kyrgyzstan, as the drivers push these cars beyond there limits as they hurtle down one and a half lane roads, narrowly avoiding pedestrians, cows, and horses. My latest move has been to take Marshutkas whenever possible. The Marshutka is a mini-bus ranging in size, shape, and color from a small, low-roofed six-seater (equipped with wooden stools for extra passengers) to a large white vehicle with handlebars on the ceiling so people can stand comfortably. I guess comfortable isn’t the best word to associate with a Marshutka, as there is no limit on the number of people you can squash inside, but I have discovered that I much prefer this to the crazed speed and attitude of taxi drivers
They’ll be fine. Its a beautiful country with amazing mountains and lakes and kind people. Go in the summer though. Going over the pass into Western China is especially beautiful. I’d encourage you to go visit if you have friends there. However, tourist and travel infrastructure is rudimentary at best and speaking Russian would be a great help. Its not any more or less dangerous – in terms of crime and health – than travel in any other developing country. The biggest risk factor may be crazy driving on the mountain roads. The marschrutki (from the Russian marschrut, meaning route, especially a military one, from the German Marschrut, one of many words in Russian absorbed from German) recommended above are a good way to meet people, though not necessarily safer. Political situation is unstable, but that shouldn’t affect development work at all. I bet something sent through the postal system would arrive, though I probably wouldn’t trust them with anything of great value or timely import
