The next 16 days in Biskek

That makes a total of 4 weeks in Bishkek. While I certainly never had planned to stay that long with hindsight I have to say that I enjoyed the time although that was purely due to my hosts of the guesthouse called Crocus (  http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-16429575-crocus-i   ) who went out of their way to please and help me wherever they could. To sum it up: they took me three days skiing and provided boots (fitting very nicely, luckily)  and very good skis and quite good first snow including splendid sun. Through them I was able to get my motorcycle carrier bent straight again after having it bent it in China on top of the pass when I tried to turn and again in front of the house here when the snow let me slip again. And I also had to refill one of my gas bottles again as I had to let the heater run when it was almost -15 C, this time for about half of what I paid last time… (apparently I must have been a victim of the 'foreigners' tax' that is often levied by local businesses upon people who don't speak the local language…)

When on Monday I started to develop a nasty cold with cough they accompanied me to a doctor and with her and some antibiotics' help I think I'll be fully recovered soon, hopefully.    

It was a relaxing time reading the 'Gulag A.' and surfing the net about all kind of themes and I even found a car (in Poland of all places about 300 kms from Vienna) to replace our ageing Golf which recently barely made it through inspection in Vienna and organized everything so Steffi could look at it and finally bought it.

A few trips I made to the markets, some to buy (e.g. skiing clothes for altogether less than Eur 60 incl. everything that you could imagine) but mostly just to enjoy the atmosphere.

My invitation letter for the Russian visa, which was the reason for my stay had been promised for today, Friday, a week ago. Then the ministry told RBRU that they should come and pick it up on Monday afternoon when they said they won't sign it because I'm traveling by car. Back to square one! Lera from RBRU, however, I don't know how (and don't really need to) finally managed to get an invitation from our most favorite hotel which was accepted by the ministry as compromise and, oh wonder, I had it on Wednesday afternoon and was able to apply for my visa on Thursday afternoon to receive it today, one day later. Quite amazing in the end but I have to admit that they tested my patience yesterday again when the Consulate told me to come at 1430 and then, after my arrival said: come back in an hour, the vice-consul isn't there yet…

Anyway, this afternoon I picked up my passport and tomorrow I'll carry on to Almaty and onwards. The route I'll decide spontaneously depending on weather and road conditions…

Stay well till next time…