Caroline's 50th Birthday. June 29.

I figured this event merited its own entry :)

Never in my 50 years had I envisioned being in Kyrgyzstan on this day! Let alone in 'Hotel Turist' in Kara-Köl,  halfway between Bishkek and Osh, on the Eve of my 50th Birthday.

The drive from Bishkek to Osh is 660 odd kms, crossing 2 mountain passes, on good but not necesserily fast roads. It usually takes between 9 and 10 hours, so we decided to stop for the night somewhere in the middle. Hence Kara-Köl.
Our Garmin directed us to its only entry under 'lodgings' for the area and so we arrived at 'Hotel Turist', a tired looking left-over from the Soviet Era.

Hotel Turist.

Corridor in Hotel Turist.

But you know what? It wasn't half bad.

Even though the building had definitely seen (much, I hope) better days, the room was functional (hot water, working fridge, tv with one channel and it didn't show soccer), and more importantly bed linens and towels were clean.

Panorama shot to make our room look bigger... or not.

Believe me: it was clean. Provided towels
were a tad on the small side though.

View from our balcony - yes we had a balcony.

The lady at reception quickly warmed to us (in a Russian/Kyrgyz kind of way...) and when I showed her our intended dinner, pot noodles, she let us borrow what I think was the only kettle in the place as she wanted it back afterwards.
Dinner consisted of: pot noodles, Wasa crackers, canned luncheon meat, tea, and, a quarter of a bottle of wine left over from the night before (enjoyed by moi straight from the bottle as the provided glasses weren't that appealing).

Pot noodles for dinner on the eve of my 50th.

Pot noodles accompanied by..... wait for it....
spam on Wasa crackers!

After dinner we went for a stroll and then spent the evening reading while watching some Russian version of a talent show in the background. No internet.

Waking up the next morning I noticed the picture on the wall above my bed was of one of my favorite places in California: Yosemite. Not a bad sight to wake up to on one's 50th birthday.

Waking up to Yosemite.

Out of our supplies Stephen prepared me a wonderful birthday breakfast of cornflakes (the real stuff), yoghurt, nescafe coffee with real milk and orange juice.

Breakfast.

I turned 50 overnight!

We checked out around 9am and continued to Osh, where we arrived around 2:30pm.
At 4pm we were settled in our nice deluxe hotel room, a nice birthday treat for both of us to enjoy.
The last time we met up with Jennifer and Justin, in Karakol (Lake Issyk-Köl), they gave me a (long-life) cake they'd bought in anticipation of possibly meeting us again around my birthday. I enjoyed that chocolate-raspberry cake in the afternoon of June 29th, on my birthday, in our nice room, in Osh. Naturally I shared the cake with Stephen :)

Enjoying my Globatrol Birthday Cake.

We relaxed and stayed out of the heat and in our room for the rest of the late afternoon. At about 7:30pm we ventured out in search of a place for dinner and we found 'Izyum', within easy walking distance of our hotel. Interesting place: big 'restaurant' area, with a bar beside it, outside dining and a patio at the front. We didn't expect too much but and had a wonderful dinner accompanied with some beers.

50th Birthday Dinner.. no matter where.. 'Tough and Together'. 

Izyum's restaurant space.

Just before 10pm I noticed a reflection of a big screen and sure enough, they showed soccer on a big screen on the patio. So we moved over there to watch Netherlands beat Mexico 2-1 over a few more beers.
All in all not a bad way to spend one's 50th birthday.
Now let's hope Belgium will make it through to the next round as well!!

Last but certainly not least: I want to thank my family and my friends for the lovely birthday wishes, sentiments, notes, messages (email, facebook, skype,...).
It was a very good and warm feeling to read all of them and they made my day extra special!!!