Transport - Central Asia - page 476

From the UK
The best return summer
fares to Tashkent are around
£500 with Uzbekistan Air-
ways (direct), or a bit more
with Turkish Airlines or Air
Baltic.
The cheapest flights to
Bishkek are currently with
the budget Turkish airline
Pegasus Airlines, which has
fares as low £300 return
from London Stansted. Be
aware that Pegasus have
a reputation for losing
travellers luggage and that
transfers at İstanbul's Sabiha
Gökçen can be time-consum-
ing. Check also about cheap
flights to Osh with Turkish
Airlines.
Fares to Almaty are
about £500 return on Turk-
ish Airlines via İstanbul or
Transaero via Moscow. KLM
and Lufthansa are also good
options. British Airways or
Air Astana's direct flights
from London to Almaty can
be good value.
The best flights to Ash-
gabat are with Lufthansa or
Turkish Airlines. A cheaper
but harder-to-book option
is Turkmenistan Airlines
( % Birmingham 0121-558 6363,
London 020-8577 2211; fax 8577
9900) , which flies two times
a week to Ashgabat from
London and also four times
a week from Birmingham.
Most passengers are headed
either to/from Amritsar. For
cheap fares contact Amrit-
sar Travel (www.ashgabat
flights.com) .
The best way to Dushanbe
is on Turkish Airlines via
İstanbul but you'll have to
be lucky to get a discounted
fare.
From USA & Canada
From North America you
generally have the choice of
routing your trip via İstanbul
(Turkish Airlines), Riga (Air
Baltic), Moscow (Aeroflot) or
a major European city (KLM,
British Airways, Lufthansa
etc). Stopovers can be
lengthy. From the west coast
it's possible to fly to Almaty

or Tashkent via Seoul on
Asiana or Korean Air.
From New York, the best
return fares to Central Asia
are with Turkish Airlines
to Almaty/Tashkent for
US$800/1200 return. Fares
are a bit more expensive
to Ashgabat with Turk-
ish Airlines or Lufthansa.
Flights from the west coast
are around US$500 more
expensive.
Uzbekistan Airways
( % 201-489 3954) flies from
New York (JFK airport) to
Tashkent (via Riga) once a
week, an 18-hour flight.
East Site ( % 877-800
6287; www.east-site.com)
sometimes offer discounted
Central Asian fares, including
on Uzbekistan Airways.

(Y440 to Y460, 24 hours,
daily) and Yining (Y250,
12 hours, daily) to Almaty.
Fares from Almaty cost
from US$50/30 to Ürümqi/
Yining. You can also take
local buses and shared taxis
to and from the border at
Khorgos.
There are also direct bus-
es from Ust-Kamenogorsk
(US$60, 28 hours, twice
weekly) and Semey (US$67,
32 hours, three weekly) in
Kazakhstan to Ürümqi.
To/From Russia
On completion in 2015, the
new 'Western Europe-West-
ern China' highway will offer
the easiest driving option
from European Russia into
Central Asia via Kazakhstan.
The route runs from St Pe-
tersburg to Moscow, Kazan
and Orenburg, then across
Kazakhstan to Almaty and
into China at Khorgos. For
details see p135.
Although driving a car or
motorbike is an excellent
way to get around Central
Asia, bringing your own
vehicle is fraught with prac-
tical problems. Fuel supply
is uneven, though modern
petrol stations are springing
up throughout the region.
Prices per litre swing wildly
depending on supply. Petrol
comes in four grades - 76,
93, 95 and 98 octane. In the
countryside you'll see petrol
cowboys selling plastic bot-
tles of fuel from the side of
the road, often of very poor
quality.
The biggest problem is
the traffic police (Russian,
GAI). Tajikistan's roads have
almost as many checkpoints
as potholes. In Uzbekistan
and Kazakhstan there are
police skulking at every cor-
ner, most looking for excuses
to wave their orange baton
and hit drivers (local or oth-
erwise) with a 'fine' (straf) .
There are no motoring asso-
ciations of any kind.
The state insurance of-
fices, splinters of the old
Soviet agency Ingosstrakh,
have no overseas offices

Bus & Car
To/From China
From China there are one or
two sleeper buses a week
(Monday and probably
Thursday) from Kashgar
to Osh (Y580, 21 hours) in
Kyrgyzstan via the Irkesh-
tam Pass. It's also possible
to take a series of minibuses
and taxis, or hire a car.
Kashgar agencies such
as Kashgar Tours (www.
kashgartours.com), Old Road
Tours (www.oldroadtours.
com) and Kashgar Guide
(www.kashgarguide.com) can
arrange transport to the
Torugart and Irkeshtam
passes.
Foreigners are still not
allowed to take the twice-
weekly bus between Kash-
gar and Bishkek, via Naryn
and the Torugart Pass.
Mandatory pre-arranged
vehicle hire and permits for
four people from Kashgar
to Naryn costs around
US$320 from Kashgar to
the border, plus an extra
US$120 from the Torugart
to Naryn. Thus figure on
around US$220/120 per
person in a group of two/
four from Kashgar to Naryn.
Further north, direct
buses also run from Ürümqi