The taxi driver asks: "What was your first impression of Almaty?" I answer: "A nasty rip off by a taxi driver." In the morning, I took the Mashrutka from Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) to Almaty (Kazakhstan): Cost: 500 Som (10 USD) one-way Driving time: approximately five hours Border post: Korday Reason: visa extension [...]
The driver and I look at each other. "4000 and we leave right now," he says in Russian. I take a deep breath. Now I have to make a decision. Just this morning I crossed the border from Uzbekistan. "Feels good to be back," I thought, when I got the Kyrgyz stamp in the passport. [...]
"The shower is over there" , my couchsurfing host, Erdem, shows me his apartment. " A bathroom!? INSIDE the house?" I have not seen this for a long time. Erdem takes a beer from the fridge and puts it in front of me. Then he shows me the WiFi access. I 'm in seventh heaven. [...]