Apologies for not posting this earlier. I've back-dated the post to create a more logical flow.
T plus 35 - Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) to Almaty (Kazakhstan)
This border crossing was fairly simple, but watch out for the crowds. It's best to go as early as possible, say around 8.00am - 9.00am. Here is the step-by-step process:
1. Head for the West Bus Station on Jibek Jolu, about 500m directly north of Osh Bazaar. There are 3 clusters of buses - Rear (for North Shore of Issy-kul), Right-side (for South Shore of Issy-kul) and Left-side (for international departures e.g. Almaty, Taraz). You want the Left-side stand.
2. Ask for Almaty and be prepared to wait for the minibus to fill-up with passengers before it departs. Usually within one hour or two. Price is 400 Som (USD6.50), all in, including border crossing and drop-off at Sayran bus station in Almaty.
3. The trip to the border (Korday, I believe), only takes an hour. Drop-off is directly in front of the Kyrgyz immigration building. Your bus will wait for you on the other side.
4. It gets pretty packed here. At 1.00pm, there were easily 500 people lining up in the metal cages which lead to the border. Thankfully it's covered because you'll spend 45mins standing outside.
5. Kyrgyz-side passport control is pretty straightforward. Identify yourself as a foreigner and they'll pull you into a separate group to have your passports photocopied.
6. Walk over to the Kazakh-side. More standing outside in covered metal cages.
7. Make sure you pick up a white coloured migration form from the guards sitting outside the Kazakh passport control room. Otherwise you'll have to double back and fight the crowds all the way.
8. Fill in the migration form (see my post on Registration in Kazakhstan for a pic) and hand it over to the Kazakh immigration officer along with your passport. You may or may not be asked for a bribe at this point. Just play the dumb-tourist card here ("no speaking Ruski") and they'll eventually give up.
9. Proceed to customs checkpoint in the next section and again, someone will probably ask to search your bag in hope of soliciting a "go away" bribe. Be confident, start to open-up your bag and they'll wave you on without looking into it. It all seems a bit half-hearted. Maybe they're looking for people who start to panic.
10. Step outside and ignore the army of taxi drivers waiting to pounce on you. Your bus (and the other passengers) will be waiting at the petrol station 30m down the road to your right.
11. Hop on and continue the journey to Almaty, which is another 2-ish hours away. You'll get dropped off at the Sayran bus station which is 5km west of the city centre. You can either take the bus (16, 37 and 126 go to the centre along Tole Bi Road), or look for the new Metro station (I didn't take it, but it's on the (new) Metro map).
T plus 35 - Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) to Almaty (Kazakhstan)
This border crossing was fairly simple, but watch out for the crowds. It's best to go as early as possible, say around 8.00am - 9.00am. Here is the step-by-step process:
1. Head for the West Bus Station on Jibek Jolu, about 500m directly north of Osh Bazaar. There are 3 clusters of buses - Rear (for North Shore of Issy-kul), Right-side (for South Shore of Issy-kul) and Left-side (for international departures e.g. Almaty, Taraz). You want the Left-side stand.
2. Ask for Almaty and be prepared to wait for the minibus to fill-up with passengers before it departs. Usually within one hour or two. Price is 400 Som (USD6.50), all in, including border crossing and drop-off at Sayran bus station in Almaty.
3. The trip to the border (Korday, I believe), only takes an hour. Drop-off is directly in front of the Kyrgyz immigration building. Your bus will wait for you on the other side.
4. It gets pretty packed here. At 1.00pm, there were easily 500 people lining up in the metal cages which lead to the border. Thankfully it's covered because you'll spend 45mins standing outside.
5. Kyrgyz-side passport control is pretty straightforward. Identify yourself as a foreigner and they'll pull you into a separate group to have your passports photocopied.
6. Walk over to the Kazakh-side. More standing outside in covered metal cages.
7. Make sure you pick up a white coloured migration form from the guards sitting outside the Kazakh passport control room. Otherwise you'll have to double back and fight the crowds all the way.
8. Fill in the migration form (see my post on Registration in Kazakhstan for a pic) and hand it over to the Kazakh immigration officer along with your passport. You may or may not be asked for a bribe at this point. Just play the dumb-tourist card here ("no speaking Ruski") and they'll eventually give up.
9. Proceed to customs checkpoint in the next section and again, someone will probably ask to search your bag in hope of soliciting a "go away" bribe. Be confident, start to open-up your bag and they'll wave you on without looking into it. It all seems a bit half-hearted. Maybe they're looking for people who start to panic.
10. Step outside and ignore the army of taxi drivers waiting to pounce on you. Your bus (and the other passengers) will be waiting at the petrol station 30m down the road to your right.
11. Hop on and continue the journey to Almaty, which is another 2-ish hours away. You'll get dropped off at the Sayran bus station which is 5km west of the city centre. You can either take the bus (16, 37 and 126 go to the centre along Tole Bi Road), or look for the new Metro station (I didn't take it, but it's on the (new) Metro map).
