Travel Info : Before Getting to Uzbekistan

This has been one of the most expensive travel visa I have ever applied for. As with most Central Asia Countries, they require a letter of invitation from a tour agent prior to applying for a tourist visa. A little hassle, tons of emails and quotes from all the travel agents later, I got my visa and air-ticket.

Here’s all the information

1. You need a Letter of Invitation (LOI) or Visa Support from an Uzbekistan Travel Agent
2. The agent will supply you with a LOI number required to apply the travel Visa with your respective Uzbekistan embassy. Took me 1 week to get the LOI.

Getting the Uzbekistan Letter of Invitation (LOI)

Many Uzbekistan travel agents require you to buy their travel products before giving you the visa support for letter of invitation either for a price or for free. It is up to you whether you want to take up this offer, some tour companies require you to book all your accommodations with them, such as orexca.com. Their travel website gives pretty good info on Uzbekistan as well as the different Stans.

There’s the popular Stantours.com whose main business is basically selling Letter of Invitation (LOI) to travellers going to Uzbekistan, Azbebaijan, Kaakhstan, Kyrqyzstan, Turkmenistan.

The Uzbekistan LOI visa support from Stantours cost us$35 + bank charges.

Don’t pay them through Telegraphic Bank Transfers, it ended up costing me more than us$45 (sg$63), Stan tours require you to pay the bank charges over at their bank of us$20 per transaction. Pay them through Moneybookers which charges a commission of 5%.

The other alternative, a little more hassle is to go direct, StanTours gets their LOI from www.arostr.uz

Arostr Travels require you to pay them through Western Union, although you might be able to negotiate by paying them upon arrival at the airport if you employ their other travel services. Free LOI if you spend us$500 or more on their services. Be prepared for some slow email response, they take some time to reply. Updated : Contact Alex of Arostr Travel, he may be able to meet up with you personally for the LOI. I got my train tickets from Tashkent to Bukhara from Arostr. us$21 + us$4 booking fee.

AROSTR travel agency,
Afrosiab street, 66 flat, 13 house, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Tel: +998 71 256-40-67. Contact: Mr Airat Yuldashev mob.: +998 (90) 186 86 48
email : arostr@mail.ru

Getting the Travel Visa from the Uzbekistan Embassy

You can get a list of Uzbekistan Embassy offices in your respective countries here

I got my travel visa from the Singapore office.

Uzbekistan Embassy in Singapore
20 Kramat Lane, #04-01/02 United House, 228773, Singapore
(Behind Le Meriden Hotel at Orchard Road)
Tel: +65 67343942 , +65 67343943
Operation hours : 10am – 5pm, Mon-Fri
http://www.uzbekistan.org.sg/

As of September 2008, according to the consulate, submission and collection of travel visa is as above. They have yet to update their website as the time of this post.

It will take 2-3 working days to process the travel tourist visa, call them up prior to check if they have received the LOI application before going over.

You would need :

• Printed copy of the LOI
• Two Passport photo
• Your current passport
• Two computer printed visa application form, no hand filled form accepted.

You also need to pay them via bank deposit at
HSBC Bank
USD Account: 260-581954-178
They don’t accept cash payment.

I paid us$65 + rate charges (ard SG$95) for a 15 days travel tourist visa.

It is possible to send a courier down to the embassy, make phone arrangements with the friendly Uzbek consulate at the Singapore Office.

Flying to Uzbekistan
If you are departing from Singapore, best is to fly direct from either Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Other alternatives would be the more expensive Korean Airlines (fly via Seoul), Turkish Airlines (via Istanbul)

Uzbekistan Airways is annoyingly inefficient and does not email you on the flight schedules. Their website is outdated and has faulty info. The Bangkok Branch does not reply any of my email enquires, the Kuala Lumpur fails to provide any helpful information except by referring me to their similarly inefficient and incredibly slow Singapore agent.

Should you need to communicate with them and their Singapore agent, you need an incredible amount of patience and persistency, somehow they are still locked into the old world of thermal paper faxes and telephones. They will take at least 1 week to response to your emails, or a few days over the phone. There is only one person handling all their operations in Singapore , getting that person’s attention is rather frustrating at times. Keep calling them for flight schedules. They seem to change all the time so be prepared for it.

Uzbekistan Airways Agent in Singapore
Golden World Travel
60 Eu Tong Seng #03-28, Furama Hotel Shopping Center
tel: +65 6323332

Uzbekistan Winter Flight Schedule 2008 : Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok to Tashkent flies only Tues, Wed

Airticket cost us$870(sg$1240) with taxes included.
Internal Flight from Nukus to Tashkent : Sg$115.00 one way.

Taking the Train in Uzbekistan

You can avoid the hassle of booking the train online by emailing www.arostr.uz and pay them the commission. Especially if you are buying the LOI from them

Otherwise here is the train schedules

Uzbekistan Railway – http://www.uzrailway.uz/uzb.html
Only in Uzbek and Cyrillic, you can use google translator to figure around the website

Trains in Uzbekistan Blog http://uzbekistan-railway.blogspot.com/
Some kind soul actually post the train schedules, somewhat up to date, but its good and great to plan your schedule.

My Itnerary

Here’s what i did

Arrive to Tashkent
Overnight train to Bukhara
Bukhara to Khiva via Urgench (train)
Khiva to Nynus (car)
Nykus to Moynak (car)
Nykus to Tashkent (flight)
Tashkent to Feragana valley (flight)

As much as I wanted to, I could not visit more of the Karakalpakstan state and visit the nomads which surrounds this quite desolate place. Maybe if I ever visit again, this would be the place I would focus on.

Baraaza : A new travel review community site

There’s a new travel community based site call Baraaza.com, I received an invitation to join them. You are suppose to contribute your travel experiences, reviews and create destination guides for others.

Have yet to do a proper look around, the setup and the look of the website seems pretty useful. Once you have sign up, you are provide with some blog like feature, a place to upload your photos, share your travel ideas and destinations. There’s the community forum which you can post all your travel questions, reviews or any activities.

It looks promising but only if they could attract a large mass who would contribute, at the moment there are only a few contributors, its a little quiet. With so many other travel sites out there such as the popular travelblog to compete with, not sure if it is worth a second visit just yet.

Here is what it says at their website :

baraaza.com is a travel network that connects people who love to travel with inside information about any destination on the globe. Members connect with other travelers and natives from around the world to discover unique, direct-from-the-source information about amazing spots and travel activities. We hope the information exchanged on our site will quickly inform baraaza travelers and enhance their overall travel experience.

United States Visa Waiver Changes from 12th January 2009

U.S once again changed their travel visa requirements. Singaporeans and other Visa Waiver Nations who use to be able to travel to U.S.A without a travel visa would need to apply for online waiver authorization prior travelling.

Got this email via my frequent flyer program.

Department of Homeland Security Introduces Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) for Visa Waiver Program Travelers

Effective January 12, 2009, for travel to or connecting through the U.S., the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will require all Visa Waiver Program (VWP) nationals to obtain an electronic travel authorization prior to boarding. This new authorization is known as the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA.

Nationals of the following countries are currently eligible to travel under the VWP:

Australia	Ireland	Portugal
Austria	Italy	San Marino
Belgium	Japan	Singapore
Brunei	Liechtenstein	Slovenia
Denmark	Luxembourg	Spain
Finland	Monaco	Sweden
France	The Netherlands	Switzerland
Germany	New Zealand	United Kingdom
Iceland	Norway

Exempt from the ESTA requirement are:

• * VWP nationals who are U.S. residents
• * VWP nationals who hold a visa for a specific trip to the U.S.

The DHS is now accepting voluntary ESTA applications through the ESTA Web site https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov. Currently, the site is available in English only, but additional languages will be available in October 2008.

VWP travelers are not required to have specific plans to travel to the United States before they apply for an ESTA authorization, but it is recommended that an ESTA approval be obtained as soon as a VWP traveler begins to plan a trip to visit the United States, and no later than 72 hours before departure to the United States.

There is no cost for the application and once the application is submitted online, in most cases, ESTA will respond with an almost immediate determination of eligibility for travel. If approval is not granted prior to check-in, boarding may be denied. Passengers may experience delayed processing, or denied admission at a U.S. port of entry. At this time it is not fully known what role carriers will play in ensuring the customer has obtained ESTA approval.

• Approval will be valid for two years or until the passport expires, whichever is earlier
• Once ESTA approval has been granted, it is not necessary for the VWP national to obtain approval before each trip within the two years (unless a new passport is obtained)
• An ESTA is not required for Guam or Saipan
• An ESTA may be denied due to: overstays, previous criminal history, issues associated with a prior visa
• Receipt of ESTA is not valid for travel

More information may be found in http://www.CBP.GOV/ESTA.

ESTA applications are available at the ESTA Website https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov.

Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light

Image taken from my high rise apartment

It has been one of those sundays. Met a bunch of new people for lunch. Some interesting, some not, some just a little aggro for my liking. Almost all are ferven vegetarians, I know too many carnivores, would be nice to add a few of these folks into my to-know list. Maybe, maybe not. I am having one of those moody, unfriendly, socially ackward days.

Here’s one of my favorite poems by Dylan Thomas, it always settles me whenever I am feeling a little existential and depressive. Hope it does the same for you.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

-Dylan thomas, poet, died 1953.

Event : Spiritual Guru Siva Baba in Singapore 20th Sept 2008

This seems like an interesting event, Dattatreya Siva Baba (Dr. Baskaran Pillai) is the spiritual guru, who seem to be a popular guru on youtube videos, disseminating his teachings through internet channels. That is according to his self-proclaimation and his many press releases. I first heard of him through one of those internet press releases on AP and slate.

Presently living in the United States, he has been travelling around Asia giving talks and teaching healing techniques to the spiritually inclined…

I received this event through a recent email. The write up below is a little cheesy, however don’t let it deter you from participating. I shan’t give you any comments as yet, however I’ll be attending his session in the upcoming Singapore event.

Event : Advanced Intensive with Baba
Dattatreya Siva Baba will be in person to transmit profound Grace Light empowerment thorough an Advance immersion process for physical , emotional, spiritual healing. The strongest trasmission are possible in the presence of a fully enlightened master.

Date : Saturday, September 20th
Time : 4.00 – 8.00 pm
Place : RELC, 30 Orange Grove Road
Cost : $88 (exact cash please)
Email : sivababa108@gmail.com
Tel: 816 20731
Space Limited.

During the seminar, Baba will enpower you with :

• Advanced intiation into the Grace Light, the light of God
• Special teachings in Soul Genetics with a group ritual to gain blessings of ancestors.
• Karma removal techniques to remove blockages in manifestation
• Direct access to the Divine with special mantras to attract money and loving relationship into your life.

The deepest level of Grace Light empowerment is called the 9-Gates process, which opens 9 vital centers in the energy body and brain. The 9-Gates Process is based on esoteric knowledge from antiquity. During this process, passwords will be revealed to open up the 9-gates within the energy body. For centuries this wisdom was kept secret by yogic masters and passed on to only their closest disciples. Once this process is completed and channels are open, you will learn how to transmit the Grace Light to others so you can carry it to family, friends and others in your life.

Grace Light Empowerment is a layering process. The Grace Light enters you more deeply and completely with each empowerment, with the strongest transmissions taking place in the presence of a Master. This is why Dattatreya Siva Baba is traveling to over 20+ cities worldwide to facilitate Grace Light transmissions.

Dattatreya Siva Baba belongs to the Tamil Siddha tradition of Southern India, an esoteric order whose origins can be traced to the eighth century. An Indian mystic and teacher who counts among his students the best-selling author Wayne Dyer, is known to many followers as the “YouTube Guru” because of his frequent video transmissions on everything from yogic meditation practices to quantum mechanics.

Dattatreya Siva Baba will be in Singapore speaking about Mind Sound Technology™ (MST) on the Television CHANNEL NEWS ASIA on the Program “Prime Time Morning” at 8:50 am – 9:00 am (SGT) on 22nd Sept 2008.

For more info, visit http://www.sivababa.org/

–
Update : 24 Sept 2008

Siva Baba will be in Singapore again in Nov

Thought Manifestation with Baba

As you know, Baba will be returning to Singapore soon to give more blessings and share more teachings so everyone can learn to create whatever they want. He will be teaching a seminar on Thought Manifestation on Saturday, November 8^th from 4-8 PM at RELC with a cost of $88. Baba will share secrets of thought manifestation from classical yoga texts, including how to compress time to bring a thought more quickly into material reality, how to emotionalize our thoughts so they are empowered to manifest, how to enhance our ability to desire and how to experience subtle thought forms that carry the atomic power of manifestation.

Please visit http://www.sivababa.org/Events/calendar.asp for additional details.

Advanced Intensive with Baba- Money, Relationships and Enlightenment

For people who want to study advanced teachings with Baba and experience a more focused transmission of shaktipat, we will again hold a special seminar that will have limited attendance. The seminar, Sounds for Money, Relationship and Enlightenment, will be held on Sunday, November 9^th from 3-7 PM. We will give location details upon registration. In this special program, Baba will teach us techniques to create different states of consciousness according to our life goals. Specific sound waves create various states of consciousness. The mind also needs to be cleared of negative programming and be empowered with positive thoughts. Baba will give a group initiation into advanced mantras that have the ability to restructure consciousness. As this seminar has limited seats available, it is important to reserve a space by contacting sivababa108@gmail.com. The cost of the Advanced Seminar is $200. A portion of the proceeds of these advanced programs go to Tripura Foundation, our non-profit organization that serves very poor children and orphaned, destitute and mentally ill children and adults.

Please visit http://www.tripurafoundation.org/ for more information on Tripura Foundation.