Travel – Monday Bazaar: A Travel Blog

Mile 26: Reflections From My COS Flight

Published on 5 June, 2018 by Mark Jahnke2 Comments

Most of this post was written one year ago as I left Kyrgyzstan.

We touched down in Istanbul at about 9:30, and we all moved quickly to security, visas, and customs. One by one, as we cleared, each person, without realizing it, left our group, and I watched over my shoulder as the old man in the kalpak got his passport stamped and went off to his next destination. I was alone, without anyone from Kyrgyzstan, for the first time in months, surrounded by travelers from all seven continents. Continue reading “Mile 26: Reflections From My COS Flight” →

Kazakhstan: A Journey Across The Steppe

Published on 20 March, 201724 April, 2017 by Mark Jahnke

Kazakhstan is fascinating to me. It is the most developed of the Central Asian countries in the cities, with prosperous jobs, one of the world’s top-rated airlines, and even several Starbucks. And yet, the rural areas hang on to beautiful manifestations of Central Asian history and culture. More than any other place in Central Asia, this push and pull is visible in Kazakhstan. And we got to see it first-hand. Continue reading “Kazakhstan: A Journey Across The Steppe” →

Mile 22: A Whole Lotta Kazakhstan (and a little bit of Osh)

Published on 6 March, 201724 April, 2017 by Mark Jahnke

February is the shortest month of the year, so that might be why it seems like I spent half of it in Kazakhstan with a few stops in Osh along the way. See, after the office rejected my plans to visit my friends and host family in Tajikistan last summer, I wound up with just shy of two weeks of vacation time with no way to use it but to burn it up before our COS conference, so I saved some of my local money (yes, I am able to save a little bit on an income of $250 a month living in the big city) and went on some adventures. Continue reading “Mile 22: A Whole Lotta Kazakhstan (and a little bit of Osh)” →

Midnight At A Central Asian Airport

Published on 6 February, 2017 by Mark Jahnke

The cafeteria is lively and buzzing. Kyrgyz music videos blare out of a nearby television as a few ofitsantkas run back and forth to the kitchen carrying plates overflowing with lagman, mastava, samsa, and pirozhki. I sigh heavily as I pour another cupful of green tea into the small bowl called a piala that is used as a teacup here in Osh. People come and go as nearly every table remains full, people wrapped in faux fur coats and hats, with several pieces of luggage by their side, each carefully wrapped several times in plastic wrap.

It’s 2am, and I’ve learned a very important lesson about flying in Central Asia: your flights are scheduled at the airline’s convenience, not yours. Continue reading “Midnight At A Central Asian Airport” →

Getting To Osh

Published on 26 January, 2017 by Mark Jahnke

A lot of people I know have done some really cool posts on how they get from their country’s Peace Corps office to their town or village. So, given that I’m one of only a handful of volunteers in the world who actually flies to site, I thought it would be fun to do my spin on this trope. So, here goes. Continue reading “Getting To Osh” →

Uzbekistan: A Silk Road Adventure

Published on 26 September, 201621 April, 2017 by Mark Jahnke

Sometime over a year ago, my parents and I decided that we wanted to do some additional travel when they came to visit me. Thus was born our plan to travel across Uzbekistan. Well, we actually had come up with the idea in 2013, but it wasn’t until now that we finally managed to get visas and hop on a plane into the capital, Tashkent to start our adventure. Continue reading “Uzbekistan: A Silk Road Adventure” →

My Week At The 2016 World Nomad Games

Published on 9 September, 201620 April, 2017 by Mark Jahnke

Hey friends! In case you hadn’t already noticed on Instagram, Facebook, or by my talking about it in some of my other recent posts, I had the incredible fortune to compete earlier this month in the 2016 World Nomad Games representing the United States. It was, to say the least, probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my entire life. As the announcer in the opening ceremony said, “If Ghengis Khan were alive, he would want to be here.” Continue reading “My Week At The 2016 World Nomad Games” →

Sary-Chelek: The Other Other Pearl of Kyrgyzstan

Published on 8 August, 2016 by Mark Jahnke

June 2016 Photo Roundup

Published on 30 June, 2016 by Mark Jahnke

It’s the end of the month, and as a part of a new blogging and photography goal I’ve set for myself with BloggingAbroad, I’ve been taking photos based on prompts (and just from life in general), and I wanted to share a few with you! Take a look, read about it, and click to enlarge if you want to see more closely. Continue reading “June 2016 Photo Roundup” →

24 Hours In Arslanbob: A Weekend In The Walnut Forest

Published on 7 June, 2016 by Mark Jahnke

One of the biggest pieces of advice I’ve been given as a Peace Corps Volunteer is to accept the invitation. My colleague Colleen wrote a really good post about this, so when two of my site-mates and I got the invite last Friday to go to Arslanbob for the weekend with a local friend of ours and stay with his aunt, we didn’t hesitate to say yes. Continue reading “24 Hours In Arslanbob: A Weekend In The Walnut Forest” →