It's been a long day. I worked this morning, we went to the Rayon center (like a county) government office where my director talked to them about biometric passports. I understood almost none of it. But I've seen a few handwritten passports (they can't be legal anymore, right?) and I guess they were talking about how to make the switch.
My journey to Istanbul began with a walk to the Tyup bus stop, fortunately I packed light. I was lucky and a Mashrutka was pulling out just as I got there so after a brief discussion with the driver about the price (apparently it's gone up since benzene is эн кымбат) we headed out. It was one of the more pleasant Mashrutka rides. There was a young girl up front who spent a good portion of the time vomiting into plastic bags that her very prepared mother had ready for her. This is totally normal. I'm not sure if it's the bad roads, the sugary food and drinks the kids are always eating, the fact that there are no seat belts and the kids are always moving around while we're driving or some combination thereof but they get car sick all the time. So often in fact that if the parents don't have a plastic bag and ask the driver to stop he will chastise them and tell them that they should know better. The ride from Tyup to Bishkek takes about 6 hours plus a half hour stop at chai-eech-stan (a rest stop, no gas but they do have pay toilets, a restaurant, and an amazing view). While this is the longest part of my journey, it's also the cheapest. I met a friend in Bishkek for dinner and then took a taxi to the airport. The taxi was 480 com for a 30 km trip compared to my mashrutka ride which at almost 400 km only cost 345 com.
I haven't been to the airport since I first arrived in country. I didn't get a very good look then as it was the middle of the night, I was at the end of a 30 hour trip, and we were being shepherded into buses right away. I didn't have high hopes, but it's actually a lot better than I expected. Since the airport is small, and Kyrgyzstan is small, it pretty much gets the last pick of departure and arrival times, which means international flights leave in the middle of the night. Although since we're only allowed to travel in country during the day that works out fine for me. The international terminal only has three gates, but it has an Adriano Coffee (which is as good as it gets in terms of Western style coffee shops in country, no Starbucks here!) a Beeline store (that's our phone service provider) and they were both open at 2 am. The toilets are free and have both toilet paper and soap and did I mention the free wifi? 24 hour coffee shops and free wifi, I know a couple airports in America that don't even have that.
