Bishkek Day 3

Another beautiful day in Central Asia. A much cooler and drizzly start did not deter us from packing up Darwin, piling him in the stroller and braving the frozen back streets to head towards the main downtown shopping district. By most peoples standards this is a very walkable city for the most part, although much of the city sidewalks are in varying stages of disrepair. One must always be concerned of what is under foot,what little walkways that are left change from loose gravel to pavers to mud to ice to pavement to puddles of slush. What is funny to note are the very high fashion ladies continually wiping off there shoes at the end of every block after having navigated 30 meters of muck and mud.
Many of these photos taken today are inside of what we might consider a grocery/department store. Take special note of the baked goods, hot out of the oven. I was scolded by a store employee for snapping these pictures.

Legal tender in Bishkek is the som. Currently 47.5 som equals one dollar. The price tag on everything seems ridiculously high but do the math. A tea cup that sell for 170 som is about $3.25. All the weights are in kilograms, 2.2 kilos =1pound. Many consumables that we can purchase at a very reasonable cost are extremely expensive here. Clothing,shoes, cookware, appliances and just about everything we buy and use on an everyday basis is relatively high priced compared to this countries cost of living. Some of the things that i have noticed to be very inexpensive are rent, restaurants and utilities. I asked Farrell what it costs to heat the compound?  about $50.00 U.S. Taxis are very cheap as well. When travelling further away or spending an extended weekend somewhere  they are expected to hire the driver with his car for the entire time, including paying for his meals and lodging. A far cry from the U.S. for sure. This is the absolute least expensive way to travel inside the country. More tomorrow