Antalya, Turkey

Had a chance to visit a friend from Ouagadougou on my way home from the conference in Johannesburg. We met in Antalya on the mediterranean coast - it is a one hour flight out of Istanbul. I was picked up from the airport sleep deprived and whisked into the mountains to 2000 year old ruins at a place called Termossos. it was to cool to describe. not very developed in a touristy way, so we were able to just wander around for hours and enjoy. It was obviously a very advanced society - water ways, sewage system, solid walls/construction. Much has fallen down, but because of an earthquake a long time ago. We had a knowledgeable guide.

one of the many tombs in the Necropolis

writing on one of the tombs

the stadium - the scale was impressive

elaborately carved column bases or tops...just laying around

my friend Kateri - thanks for a great trip!!

South Africa trip

We had our annual medical conference in Johannesburg this year. Not such an interesting place, and there is a lot of crime, so we were pretty restricted with what we could do. But, it was wonderful as always to see my colleagues and catch up with people, hear about other posts and spend 5 intense days learning. it was a really good conference this year - we recertified in BLS, ACLS and CALS (medical stuff). Lots of hands on practice.

The highlight of our stay in Sandton (a suburb of Johannesburg) was a shopping mall (barf!!). But the food was good with many different restaurants and the weather was perfect.

The mall was part of Mandela Square. Gave me goose bumps on a number of occasions to be in the land of Nelson Mandela.

The highlight of the trip so far south was a few days in Capetown with some friends. What a gorgeous place. Reminded me a bit of SoCal - oceanside walkway, cafes and restaurants, lots of people exercising. loved it!

The view North, just outside our hotel. Lion's head mountain. We stayed along the waterfront at Bantry bay.

The waterfront...just a block from our hotel.

Old town with a fortress in the foreground.

Hiking to the top of table mountain. Yes, we climbed to the top through this gulley. It was a strenuous hike, but beautiful.

Almost to the top (pant, pant).

Made it. Here I stand at the edge of the continent where 2 oceans meet.

Evening on the main beach.

Statues of the 4 nobel laureates (all peace prizes...) from SA. This was in a really great part of town called the V&A Waterfront. It had shops, great restaurants, pubs, etc. Nothing was that expensive, which was unexpected being in such a beautiful and touristy place.

One thing I didn't get photos of was our bicycling wine tour in Stellenbosch. Of course trying to take photos while biking and drinking wine just didn't seem like such a great idea. but suffice to say, we had fun!

More to come soon. on my way home to Bishkek from South Africa, i stopped for 24 hours in Antalya, Turkey where a friend of mine was staying. too many photos for one post, so i will add them separately.

Arashan Valley Trek

Dave arrived a week ago and we immediately took off for a 2 day trek into the mountains. We started the Trek in Karakol which is about 5 hours from Bishkek and on the far East side of the lake (Issy-Kul). After the trek, we drove home on the south side of the lake which is much less developed and just amazing. We stopped at Jeti-Oguz for a mid-morning hike and stayed the night in Bokonbaeva. It was a great trip.

10 mile hike in with 3000ft elevation gain. It was hard for Otto, but he did a good job. We were all tired when we arrived.

Arashan Valley. If  you continue on through the valley past this area, the trek potential is endless.

Palatka Peak (in Russian means Tent). It seemed so close. It is climbable, but technical. Dave and I were drooling.

This is the little dorm we stayed in. A former Soviet mountaineering camp.

The bonus was a natural hot springs that had has been 'developed' these are a couple of rooms with concrete or tile baths. it was heaven to soak after the hike in. the temp was hot - just above 100F we figure.

Otto and Jackson taking  a break. Jackson did such an amazing job. he probably did 20 miles the first day because he would be walking with the group up front and then every 5 minutes he would back track to make sure we were all there. i figured he would be exhausted that first night...not at all. but after the hike out the next day, he was definitely more tired.

Our guide, Azamat and porter, Nurbek. They are with CBT (Community Based Travel). they did an awesome job. Very knowledgeable and good at ping pong (there was a table at the mountain camp).

The homestay guest house in Karakol. Gulnara's Guesthouse.

Interesting rock formations at Jeti-Oguz. Dumpy town though - we had planned to stay the night here, but there wasn't anything going on here. So instead we did a hike from here into another Valley.

The trusty Element.

 I should have taken some pictures of the south side of the lake...but you can just look that up on google. I am sure i will do plenty of camping there this summer, so photos will appear. we also thought about camping, but when we got to the beach spot, it was windy and cool. good thing we didnt because it rained that night.

I am headed off to South Africa (Johannesburg for my annual medical conference, Capetown for a few days with friends) and then a short overnight in Antalya Turkey on my way home in 2 weeks. will have plenty more photos to share!!

It's Here!

I love having 4 seasons. I only just realized how much i missed it when i watched the spring bulbs come up and i watch my mood soar with the warm, sunny days. i do not miss the heat of Ouaga!!

More people are out and about. The city is coming to life.

We did get one more day of snowboarding in a couple of weekends ago. We finally made it to Too-Ashu one of the better places. still with a 2-seater slow chair, but it was beautiful and deeper into the mountains. we had a fresh dumping of snow, the only problem was the fog. it lifted intermittently for most of the morning and early afternoon, but we ended up leaving an hour early because it really rolled in. Otto took a friend with him - it is nice he is at that age now. we went with a group from the Embassy. i am already looking forward to next ski season since i know the areas i like.

I didnt get a chance to take photos of the ski area before the fog rolled in - i was too busy enjoying the boarding. but i got a couple of shots on the way back. There is a tunnel in the side of the mountain that is noted to be a Russian engineering feat. it was long, dark, dank and you wouldn't to get stuck in it. Once again, we were surrounded by amazing peaks (and these are really just the hills at the foot of the big mountains), but hard to see with all the fog.

Dave just arrived, so we are off on a little adventure for a week - trekking and camping. Should have some great photos for the next post!

Spring is trying

Earlier this week it seemed like spring was here to stay. My bulbs are up and the daffodils ready to open. Day before yesterday it was 70F and actually felt like summer. Otto and I pulled out some shorts we were so warm. Then it all changed yesterday. as the morning went on it got cooler and by mid day it was snowing again!! Last night I went to a reception for the new Japanese Ambassador and when I left it was a blizzard. This morning it is sunny, clear, cold and we have almost an inch of snow on the ground.

A side note on the reception. i never get invited to these events as the medical officer. We hear all about these type of events in our initial training in DC and we are taught how to act and present ourselves as representatives of the US Government. There is a Japanese medical officer stationed here in Bishkek, Dr. Sato. He came to visit me at our clinic a few months back and we have kept in touch, so he invited me. It was fun to go - they are pretty short and a good opportunity to meet people.

Although I was feeling ready for spring, we have a 3 day weekend now, so i will take advantage of this likely last snow and head out for one last ski day on Saturday. Will go to Too-Ashu, which is supposed to be one of the nicest ski areas close to Bishkek. now i just need to remember my camera. Otto will take a friend of his and we are going with another family.

Work has been busy. I have been teaching a lot of classes. Finished training medical first responders and next week we start CPR classes for our community. People really appreciate getting the CPR certification. I do have some photos for this post of a class I taught in Kant (about 40 minutes from Bishkek) at the American Corners Library (a US Embassy supported space).  This month is black history month, so the Public Affairs section of the Embassy asked volunteers to go to different places all through out the country to discuss items related to diversity in the US and tie it to our experiences. I gave a talk in diversity in the US Medical System. It was a good day and well received. We were told it would be attended by medical students, but it turned out to be all women who were somehow in the medical field (nurses, doctors, administrators). They had a lot of good questions, but not really about diversity in the US.

The one thing they couldn't believe is that our government doesn't pay women to have babies. It is the custom here (from former Soviet times) to pay the mother for about a year after delivery. One of the women in the group asked doesn't our government want babies? It was hard to explain that this just isn't our custom in the US. They also wanted to know how much doctors and nurses make in the US. Sorry, the photos are not great, i didn't take them, the librarian at the center did, but it gives you and idea of the event. Standing next to me is Dr. Magazova. She is one of the local doctors I work with at the Embassy. She was translating for me. People rarely speak English here.

Trips: Orlovka and Chong-Kemin Valley

We have been busy traveling over the past few weekends. We have had some Monday holidays, so the perfect 3 day opportunities to get out of town. Not a lot to say, other than the photos will tell the story and man-oh-man this is a beautiful country. and we have only scratched the surface.

First trip was to the ski 'resort' of Orlovka. it is about 1.5 hours E from Bishkek. we decided to go for the weekend even though it is close. it was a nice ski area (relative speaking) with 2 chairs and lots of area and some potential for back country. the unfortunate thing is that it was super foggy - to the point where you could hardly see 10ft in front of you. but we had a blast. started drinking Vodka early since we all decided to call it for the day. An interesting thing about Vodka here...the national drink. it is so cheap. a bottle (liter or so) costs about 3 dollars. my vodka days are over - there is a reason i stick to beer.

The main chair lift at the base

nice/fun ski hill...you just can't see it...

The rooms we stayed in. pretty basic, but they had heated floors (very common here) and a bathroom.

Otto and Jackson napping since we couldn't snowboard in the afternoon. The beds were comfortable which is always a bonus.

This weekend we went to the Ashu Guesthouse - it is in a very small village in the Chong-Kemin Valley. it is surrounded by 2 mountain ranges. one of the ranges is the border with Kazakhstan. the other range is the N part of Issy-Kul lake. it was spectacular. of course the photos cannot even come close to the beauty, but i tried. we went with some friends who have a son Maximus who is just a little younger than Otto, but they both play the same video games, so they are very happy to hang out together. we did a little hike/walk the first day there and then the second day the boys when horse back riding. super reasonably priced. the rooms were so nice, rustic, the food all home cooked and fresh. we all can't wait to go back again. it is about 2 hours from Bishkek, so a great overnight retreat.

Typical house in the village. It is a poor farming community, so even cooler that this one family has made such a nice retreat for people to come to.

View of the village from a nearby hill.

A very small section of the mountain range to the North. The ranges on both sides of this valley each stretch nearly 180 degrees. wish there was some way i could photograph that. to the South the fore mountains are huge, but rolling, and peaking out just behind them are jagged, glaciated peaks.

Jackson and I went on a hike Sunday morning because there were not enough horses for me to do the ride. He LOVES the snow and was just racing around all over the place. he is such a great hiking dog. He was growling at a horse that was wandering on our path, so must not have come across many in his time in Africa.

Otto on his horse. he had a blast and got to ride 'fast'. Tons of beautiful horses in this country. The guest house offers day rides for $15/horse (for the full day) plus $25 for a guide (for the full day...not by the hour!!)

The porch on the upper level of the main building. in the basement there is a conference room and up top (inside to the Left) is the restaurant. it was lovely.

Our room for the night. quite cozy. the place cost $62/night which included our 3 meals a day. a steal! The south house where we stayed had 5 similar rooms, a common area and a kitchen we could use.

I reject bad music

In support of all the good music being made in the world and all the musicians working hard with little financial support and payoff for doing what they love. i am adding a section to the blog to highlight some of the music i am currently listening to.  I didn't feel as strongly in Ouaga, because we were surrounded by a lot of W African music. but here it is all techno, electronic, overly engineered crap. it all sounds the same. every station play the same songs...and EVERYONE listens to it. even the older people. i think it will taint the memory of my time here. so i am making an effort to fill my brain with music worth listening to. please feel free to send me recommendations you might have for me. granted, i am from the PNW and KEXP is the holy grail, but i am open to most music.

you probably won't hear most of this music on the radio, but take a chance, buy or download one of these fine albums and support a talented musician.