Tag: Travel

Day Tripping to Chong-Alay

Published on by Mark Jahnke

Today was one of those days that reminds me why I absolutely love where I am and what I’m doing. I’ve mentioned a few times before that I do some work on the side at the Osh American Corner, including talking clubs, movie clubs, an art club, and even a talk about Alaska Native art from my hometown. All of this works towards the second goal of the Peace Corps, which is to share American culture with the people of Kyrgyzstan.

Well, the American Corner program has a really cool even that’s happening right now called American Corner Book Caravan. Basically, the American Corner hires out a marshrutka (making it a literal caravan), and fills it with toys, games, books, and performers (and the occasional wayward Peace Corps Volunteer) and brings them out to regional centers and villages to set up mini-carnivals to share American culture and to share information about the resources available at our library in Osh.

Today, we went to the most distant rayon centre in Osh Oblast: Daroot-Korgon. Continue reading “Day Tripping to Chong-Alay” →

May 2016 Photo Roundup

Published on 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 “May 2016 Photo Roundup” →

Thinking In Som

Published on by Mark Jahnke

Last time, I talked about the purchasing power of a dollar in Kyrgyzstan versus in America. Rather, I complained about how much money my friends spend (sorry guys, I’m just jealous of your boogie). This week, let’s dive in a little deeper on the history of Kyrgyz money, what it looks like, and what it gets you!

Continue reading “Thinking In Som” →

That Marshrutka Life

Published on by Mark Jahnke

Any blog about life in the former Soviet Union is incomplete without a post discussing the omnipresent marshrutka, the transportation of choice in most cities of the former USSR. I wrote a little about the shared taxi system of Dushanbe in a post a few years back called Managing Marshrutkas, but now that I spend about an hour every day inside the real deal, I think it’s a subject that bears revisiting.

First of all, what is a marshrutka?  Continue reading “That Marshrutka Life” →

Medeo ice rink in Almaty, Kazakhstan

72 Hours In Almaty, Kazakhstan

Published on by Mark Jahnke

At the end of a recent trip to Bishkek for training, I decided to hop across the border to Almaty, Kazakhstan, to explore the city, do some sightseeing, and of course, eat me some Burger King.

Almaty was the capital of the Kazakh SSR and of Kazakhstan until 1997, and is still more than double the size of the next largest city.  With air connections to most of Europe and Asia on a variety of major airlines, it’s a great first stop for most on their Central Asian adventures. Continue reading “72 Hours In Almaty, Kazakhstan” →

My Favorite Photos Of 2015

Published on by Mark Jahnke

This year, some website somewhere decided to spy on us all to check and see which of our photos were our most liked on Instagram this past year.  But, since the number of likes doesn’t always correlate to the best photos, I’ve decided to curate a list of what I think were by best shots that went up on my Instagram this year. Continue reading “My Favorite Photos Of 2015” →

72 Hours In Macedonia

Published on by Mark Jahnke

Macedonia is not someplace I anticipated visiting until a dear friend of mine, Gwen, became a Peace Corps Volunteer there.  She sent me pictures and told me stories, and after looking up some potential plane tickets, stumbled upon a ticket that allowed me to add 4 days in Macedonia onto my strange open-jaw from Kyrgyzstan to Germany and back for – get this – only 20 Euros.

Now, we’re going to ignore the fact that Turkish Airlines cancelled my flight twice and then left me marooned overnight without food or shelter in Munich on New Year’s Eve, and cut straight to Skopje. Continue reading “72 Hours In Macedonia” →

Winter Trip Part 3: Christmas in Kitzbühel

Published on by Mark Jahnke

This post is Part 3 of my series about my 2015-6 winter trip.  Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

14 years ago, while I was living in Europe, my parents and I took what I think we all agree was one of the best family vacations we’d ever taken.  We took the slow train from Geneva to Vienna, traversing the Austrian Alps in late December at sunset.  A year ago, when we began planning this trip, I suggested that we do the same.  And this is how I came to be in in Kitzbühel.

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Kitzbühel is a famous ski town in Tyrol, about halfway between Innsbruck and Salzburg.  Its famous Hahnenkahmm downhill run is one of the most celebrated and challenging races in skiing.  Its snow, most years, is some of the best in the world.  This time, I learned that its artificial snow is also some of the greatest.

My first stop, though, wasn’t the ski hill.  It was the ice rink. Continue reading “Winter Trip Part 3: Christmas in Kitzbühel” →

Winter Trip Part 2: Prague and Munich

Published on by Mark Jahnke

This is a continuation of my series about my Christmas vacation.  You can read Part 1 here and Part 3 here.

Waking up in Prague after 8 months uninterrupted in Kyrgyzstan was a bit surreal.  Although I was able to joke that problems with the shower head meant that I was living a cushier life in Kyrgyzstan than in my AirBNB in Prague, so many little things kept appearing, reminding me that I was back on a continent that I used to call home.

Our day, as it usually does when I’m with my dad, started at Starbucks. Continue reading “Winter Trip Part 2: Prague and Munich” →

Winter Trip Part 1: Getting To Prague

Published on by Mark Jahnke

So, as you probably deduced by the combination of my absence, the holidays, and my most recent post, The Way Home, I went on a bit of a winter vacation! I planned this just under a year ago when my Peace Corps assignment became finalized in order to give myself something to look forward to over the first eight months of my service, and it was a great way to stay positive and motivated. I saw a fair bit more than I can cover in just a single post, so I’ll be breaking this up across a couple of days. Part 1: Getting To Prague Continue reading “Winter Trip Part 1: Getting To Prague” →