So, this is absolutely amazing! Day 2 of the trip and we aren’t even behind on the blog! Yet…..

Today we were left to our own devices and had no pre-made plans. Our “old people bus tour” doesn’t start until the welcome dinner at 5:30 pm. So, what to do, what to do…. Our tour guide nicely suggested on the tour board to walk to the Philharmonic building. We thought, well, why not? Just because we saw it yesterday is no reason to not go today! After carefully studying the map, we charged out of the hotel at 9:44 am. We turned to the right and started walking and walking and walking. It was supposed to be about a 10-minute walk. You all do know that I am directionally challenged, right? Well, after about 20 minutes of walking, we decided that maybe we weren’t headed in the right direction after all… So, we turned around and headed back towards the hotel (which was a great plan because I needed to use the facilities….). It sure did look like it was to the right on the Google maps. I heard Google maps does not work so great in Kyrgyzstan, so it probably was faulty Google directions.

Once we were headed in the correct direction, we made it to the Philharmonic in record time. And, you know what? It looks exactly like it did yesterday. We wandered around. Snapped some pictures. Took some selfies. Nothing too exciting. The sun was fierce today, so unfortunately, most of my selfies feature a fierce scowl as I was clenching my eyes tight to avoid getting blinded by the blazing sun.

After all this excitement, we headed for the mall. Again, nothing too exciting. But it is walking distance from the hotel and the Philharmonic. It is interesting to me the stores that are there–Levi’s, Crocs, Skechers… And a lot of cafes and places to eat. And the place was packed! On a Tuesday morning! We wandered around for a while and then realized we were starving.  We decided to eat ate at a popular local restaurant there at the mall because 1. it was another branch of the restaurant where we had our yummy smorgasbord of dessert last night and 2. they had beautiful high-backed benches with local textiles that are just begging for Instagram photos. It was great! Someone amongst us got beet salad. (That wasn’t me.) I went for Shorpo, which the menu declared to be “one of the most favorite first dishes in Central Asia!” Who am I to argue with Central Asia? It was a rich amber broth with lamb, potatoes, and carrots. (The menu description left out the Oxford comma in that description, so I have kindly added it back in for all of you grammatical purists out there!) Anyways, we can talk grammar later. Let’s talk soup! Once I fished the lamb out of the soup, cut it into bite-sized pieces, peeled the layers of fat off, and added it back to my soup, it was really quite delicious! Look at me–eating like a local! Well, kind of. I did have Coca-Cola instead of tea. But I am an avid Coca-Cola travel drinker. Interesting tidbit here, we had little glass bottles of Coke ,33 liters (yes I put a comma instead of a period because that is the way the rest of the world, including Kyrgyzstan, does it.) The little bottles were 125 som, which is about $1.47 at the current rate. Then I broke my own personal rule and ordered a second Coke. This time, he brought me a ,5 liter plastic bottle, and it was only 95 som or $1.12.   The big Coke is a lot cheaper!

Now, I am just sitting in the park right next to my hotel, writing out my heart for you to read. Somehow, not going anywhere or doing anything, I managed to get 16,000 steps in today! That’s more steps than I get in on a good treadmill work day! But, my butt is starting to go numb, and my legs are losing feeling. This is really not a comfortable bench. So, that is all ya’ll are getting from the depths of my soul today.

Thetwinsontour in Kyrgyzstan

Ps. Follow up to yesterday’s post, actual taxis do exist. We saw a taxi stand outside the mall and a handful on the streets.