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Kyrgyzstan

Mar
2004-09-14 15:23:35

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has finished "The diceman", we have cut the book in halves to be able to read parallel. Raymond has just ordered "The great game" by Peter Hopkirk and another Ludlum via the internet and it will be send to the post office in China via post restante

Once a week on Sunday morning, Karakols animal market is the place where the Kyrgyz buy and sell... as the name suggests... horses, cows and sheep. While we are there we watch how two just bought sheep fits ‘easy’ in the back of a Lada.

Somewhere hidden in a corner of the city where we pass by, a pool-billiard table promises us a nice evening. With Karsten from Germany we try to finish one game in one hour, but that is quite hard. The table has two speed reducing nerves, each ball has at least 20 small holes and the stick weights at least 3 kilos. The table itself is unstable with a slight effect to the left. Another two vodka drunks try to explain the local technique. Germany wins, this time.

Karakol Yak tours guesthouse isn’t at all like the other former soviet hotels. The hotels we have visited so far all had a wooden reception desk with glass above the counter, like you’re in a post office. If the hair (it’s the only thing you can see since they sit on a chair) hesitates to book you in it’s not about the fact that most people don’t read another alphabet than Cyrillic. Everything is wood and concrete, you are lucky if you have a warm shower and some descent springs in your mattress.

Yak tours hotel is more like home. In fact it is a house, which looks a bit colonial with a wooden front like a Swiss chalet. Dinner is in the basement and the second floor is divided into several sleeping places. It looks a bit like you have a lot of people sleeping at your house when you had a party, a sleeping couch next to the fireplace, two beds next to the dining table etc.

The painted flowers on the wallpaper makes it complete. Valentin the owner ...