Remaining Updates

Time Flies.
Out from Kazakhstan and into Kyrgyzstan. Finally we are in a country that we can spend more than one week in, which was the case for our time in both Russia and Kazakhstan.

Russia is beautiful. We spent most of our time camping on the shores of Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world. Russians take pride in the fact that the water is clean enough to drink, however the garbage that lines the shores is not pretty. We still haven't figured out why it is that Russian Tourists leave every concievable piece of trash behind from their lunch picnics out on Baikal-tin cans, bottles, maxi pads, bones. It's a shame because it's such a beautiful place.
The rest of my time spent in the Mother Ship of Communism was learning how to read Cyrillic and riding the Trans-Siberian Railway with Vodka loving locals. So much of the country seems untapped by tourists because of how difficult the government makes it to see the place. People stay on the trains, stop in a few well know tourist hubs and then exit. I can see myself returning to Siberia for longer, in the summer of course.

When I think Kazakhstan I no longer think BORAT. I now think EXPENSIVE.
Maybe not as expensive as Paris or London, but on an Asian scale it's up there.
In the former capital Almaty, we stayed at the cheapest place we could fine.
10$ each. 50 cents to take a shower. 50 cents to borrow the hot water kettle for an hour. Also the cleaning lady hated us, possibly because I kept borrowing her supplies to clean our room, but more likely because of how little we were impressed with her cleaning abilities. A small cup of coffee and two small croissants cost us 5 dollars which felt like a lot seeing as that's half of my sleeping rent.
BMW's and Mercedes are the order of the day when it comes to cars there, or rather SUV'S as the bigger seems to be the better. They are quite civilized drivers which was a welcoming change from Mongolia. Although we spent all our time in Almaty, we were able to get out of the city for a couple day trips.

Trip A was spent hiking up to the ever-expanding Ski Resort just out of town which was a real eye opener. The last thing I ever thought I'd find in Central Asia was a modern Ski Haven, but it's there and the people of Almaty have the money to use it.

Trip B was spent hitching up a mountain range with a Japanese Tourist who invited us for tea at a remote Radio Station he was residing in. Random Russian holiday seekers gave us rides to and from our location and we learned as much as we could from them about the current financial state of the country.

New oil-driven projects are making people rich and they are quite happy to spend their new wealth on as many fun toys as possible. I wouldn't say that the whole country is benefiting equally from the oil drilling and mining. Simply taking a bus to the edge of town reveals people of a more working class level rather than the haute couture types in the city center. I'm sure that living conditions only get harder the further out you go. However, of the five countries that make up Central Asia, Kazakhstan seems to be the Promised Land where everyone wants to live and work. Wages are higher and there are more opportunities, or so we've been told.

And so finally, here we are here in Kyrgyzstan.
m.