You weren't there and I'm not you

I ran into a friend-of-a-friend at the climbing gym last week; we discussed a possible climbing trip. And, at this point, our only path of communication (or so I thought) was through my flickr account. So, the other night I headed over to the site - it had been over a month since my last visit - and, while there, started looking through photos from my sabbatical time this past summer.

I click though 20 pictures, then 30 to 50 and more; I finally just look at the overview thumbnails of each of the main sets (BOSS Field Course J-65, Russian Massive, Traveling Kyrgyzstan) and choose several favorites (or forgotten memories) to meditate on. And while I always start the procedure with a smile - at least, one internal - it always ends with butterflies in my stomach and maybe some misty eyes. What's going on here?

And here you thought - if you've heard me tell some stories from those places en vivo - that maybe any glassy eyes (mine!) was just the beer leaking through, but I can assure you that that unflattering look comes from something much deeper (and natural), no chemicals needed. Still, the feelings - good and bad - are not always something I can tap into off-the-cuff; that is, I'm very likely to give you a one or two line summary if you ask me "how was the trip?". But if we get to talking, if we have the time to let me ramble a bit (and you have the patience), stories will flow.. and - what the hey - a good drink helps them to do so. I will admit, however, that they may not all be entertaining, per se, or at least in a given retelling, but I guess that's the case with anyone's travelogues; the proper words - or words at all - are hard for me to come by sometimes. I mean, the phrasing and framework of the scene I'd like to recreate doesn't always have to be perfect for you to get the gist, but sometimes it feels that way - or, rather, I'd like you to find yourself with more than a fuzzy understanding of what I'm talking about.. which leads me to the real question(s) of the day:

How can you know what I'm talking about at all; how can we share the experience (if you weren't there, and I'm not you)?

In any case, I keep *meaning* to post some random stories from Utah or Russia or Kyrgyzstan.. just some funny slice-of-life sorts of things (ex. rocking shitty camping gear in Kyrgyzstan), if not some more heavy-hitting material (ex. like my first time slaughtering an animal). But, again, tonight's not the night; the to-do list perseveres unscathed (and mocking its owner, over and over).

A universal color scheme in Kyrgyzstan

Before I forget, let me post a slight update to the Russia + Kyrgyzstan trip I mentioned before - a direct result of the inverse relationship between days-to-trip and airline ticket prices. In short, we decided a last minute booking wasn't going to work in our favor, so we went and did something like this:

Leave Moscow July 4th, arrive in Bishkek July 4th
Dep: SVO 7/4 10:05am, Aeroflot #181
Arr: FRU 7/4 4:15pm

So that gives us a few more days in Russia, a few less in Kyrgyzstan:

Tue, 19/06/07 - Arrive Tallinn, Estonia
Thu, 21/06/07 - Bus/train from Tallinn to St. Petersburg
Tue, 27/06/07 - Bus/train from St. Petersburg to Moscow
Wed, 04/07/07 - Fly from Moscow to Bishkek (flight info above)
Fri, 06/07/07 - Bus/taxi from Bishkek to Kara-Too for Felt Festival on Sat
Sun, 08/07/07 - Bus/taxi from Kara-Too (or nearby Kochkor) to Osh
Tue, 10/07/07 - Start a couple day "trek" out of Arslanbob or Kyzyl Unkur
Sat, 14/07/07 - Bus/taxi back to Bishkek (from wherever "trek" ends)
Mon, 16/07/07 - Fly back to NYC from Bishkek

That's all. In any case, I'm looking forward to my red, white and blue peanuts on the flight to Kyrgyzstan - a universal color scheme for the 4th (right?), so patriotic and delicious..

Two Handsome Libertarians, Nice to Meet You

So you know where to find me over the next couple of weeks:

May 26th: SF to Utah for BOSS course J-65
June 10th: Utah to Alabama to visit parents
June 13th: Alabama to NYC to "hang" and BBQ
June 18th: NYC to Estonia to start Soviet adventure
June 22nd: Estonia to Russia (St. Petersburg + Moscow)
July 1st: Russia to Kyrgyzstan (will fly, but no ticket yet)
July 16th: Kyrgyzstan to NYC (through Georgia - the country!)
July 20th: NYC to SF!! (and finish apt hunt for August 1st!!)

Quite a lot of travel, I know; carbon footprint be damned, I guess..

As for the Russia/Kyrgyzstan time, here is a finer-grained itinerary:

Tue, 19/06/07 - Arrive Tallinn, Estonia
Fri, 22/06/07 - Bus/train from Tallinn to St. Petersburg
Tue, 27/06/07 - Bus/train from St. Petersburg to Moscow
Sun, 01/07/07 - Fly from Moscow to Bishkek (Kyrgyz Republic)
Tue, 03/07/07 - Start a couple day "trek" around Lake Issyk-Kul via CBT
Fri, 06/07/07 - Bus/taxi from Bishkek (or whereever our "trek" is) to Kara-Too for Felt Festival on Sat (that's right: a felt FESTIVAL!)
Sun, 08/07/07 - Bus/taxi from Kara-Too (or nearby Kochkor) to Osh
Tue, 10/07/07 - Another "trek" out of nearby Arslanbob or Kyzyl Unkur
Sat, 14/07/07 - Bus/taxi back to Bishkek (or from wherever we are - near Arslanbob probably)
Mon, 16/07/07 - Fly back to NYC from Bishkek

Note that the dates above are definitely not set in stone, but we (ChrisL and I) will follow this itinerary as a rough guide. We did reserve a hostel in Tallinn and are planning to do so soon for St. Petersburg (due to the White Nights festivities), but most everything else will be decided on the ground, trading a bit of emotional security for freedom!

We do what we want - yo! - including crying when we're cold and alone in a Russian prison, or fresh from another mugging on the backstreets of Osh. haha. But, really, there will be some real opportunity for some beautiful (and beutifully-serendipitous) happenings and many, many opportunities to think on our feet and get shizz done extemporaneously (where shizz includes many things, including surveying the scene at a cafe bar while getting caffeinated and/or blitzed); we travel with massively good humors and fully-functional roll-with-the-punch-ness.

Sounds like you just met two handsome libertarians!

By the way, CBT = Community Based Tourism in Kyrgyzstan. Check their website (http://www.cbtkyrgyzstan.kg/) as well as this (non-related) travelogue of one Tim Barnes. He seems to have used CBT while cycling through Kyrgyzstan last year and has some great practical advice on the country; check it: Adventures in the back of beyond - Kyrgyzstan. Cool stuff!