I'm flying in to Bishkek in late June and am keen to do a few days treking around Karakol and also to see Tash Rabat before heading down the Pamir Highway. Although Tash Rabat looks pretty close to Osh on a map, the journey looks pretty torturous and slim on traffic. I was looking for any views on whether it may be better to just go via Torugat and Kashgar (I have a Chinese visa) and re-enter Kyzygstan at Irkeshtam or try my luck at the Kulma border crossing near Murghab?
My fall back plan if Kulma isn't open would be to either double back to Kashgar or carry on down the KKH into Pakistan and across to India, where I have to get to eventually (I've currently got a flight booked from Tashkent to Delhi at the end of July). I don't have a Pakistan visa, so if I was to do this I would need to be pretty confident I could get something at the border - does anyone know if this is possible? Also, I am planning to get my Kyzyg visa at Manas airport - does anyone know if they will issue double entry which I would need if I'm going to be hopping back over at Irkeshtam.
The reason that I am looking at this is because I really don't have too much time for this trip (30 days). An alternative plan is to bite the bullet and hire a car and driver all the way from Karakol to Osh via Tash Rabat... Sounds like 3 nights??? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for all your help peeps!
I haven't heard of any foreigners getting across the Qulma yet, so you have to assume that's no go.
The Torugart - Kashgar - Osh option is not straight forward logistically, is quite expensive (anything from $100 to $250 to Kashgar), and will involve getting a double entry visa. So, probably the cheapest and easiest option is to hire a car and driver at either Karakol or Naryn to go to Osh.
My old LP KKH guide says you can get a Pakistani transit Visa at Sost, but it may be for as little as 72 hours, in which case you would have to leg it to Islamabad.
Re. the Pakistani visa, I found this on the Indian Sub Continent branch:
"i want to inform you all that after 9,11 the transit visa was closed, Right now pakistan started again. If any body want to come from china to over Khungrab Pass to North Pakistan. you can get Transit visa in sust Pakistan Border. One week to one month and you can extend your visa in Gilgit District,from 3 day to 6 month."
Thanks for the advice CreamCrakered... I think I'm going to end up just winging this (especially if I can confirm 100% that Pakistan is again issuing transit visas which I'll check up on). My main concern was around making sure if I did cross into China that I wouldn't be forced East in order to fly out, so if Pakistan is a possibility then I might give Qolma a crack as I haven't heard of too many people trying this from China to Tajik (as opposed to the other way round) which might make a difference.
Cheers,
Ian.
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