Really kind of a boring day today. We went out for a quick coffee and breakfast. On our way back we stopped at one of these little corner tables where we’ve noticed older women selling some sort of drinks in coolers. They are all branded the same so I assume they are from some centralized supplier.

We did a Google translate and learned that one is Chalap, a fermented milk drink, and the other is Maksym, a fermented drink made with various grains. Reader, we hated them. The chalap was salty, fizzy milk. It just tasted wrong to drink. The Maksym wasn’t much better.

We also picked up some fruit to have on hand for snacks. We haven’t seen a single grocery store on our walks in Bishkek. Instead there are small shops selling fresh produce, butchers, and shops selling shelf stable items.

As we packed up the apartment, Millie kept herself busy by wearing her heels and “washin’ mah jibbitz” as she said.

We took a taxi to the car rental office. Renting a car here has been a a stressor for the last couple of days. It seems to be the only way to get around, but is also so expensive, and there aren’t any “chain” car rental places. We found one with an available car and good reviews, but it still felt like we were entering some sort of deal we’d someday regret. This has been a common feeling when renting cars – every agency has their own set of rules, different deposit systems, different things they seem worried about.

Today we had to leave $500 cash for our deposit so they wouldn’t get taxed on it. Then they gave us a brand new car and spent 15 minutes taking the world’s most detailed photos of it. When we return it we have to wait two hours for them to clean it to make sure there aren’t any issues before we get the cash back. Something tells me we might not see it again.

To make things more stressful, this was all communicated in back and forth google translate screenshots.

Once we finally got the car we left the city and drove to the mountains. It was only a 45 minute drive but the scenery changed quickly. Before we knew it we were driving beside a river and arriving at our mountain resort.

We had promised Millie that we could go swimming and she whined until we were in the pool. Instead of going out anywhere to enjoy the nature, we ended up spending the whole afternoon swimming and then playing in the “kid’s room”.

Her favorite part of the pool? That it was inside and she didn’t need to put on sunscreen. My favorite part of the pool? This sign.

They had kid-sized robes which was pretty cute.

Nick spent some time in the room researching and planning our next couple of months. Between the stress of day-to-day things like not knowing if we’ll get our rental car deposit back and then long term things like “is a month too long to spend in China?” we are both getting some trip planning fatigue. I am starting to see why people use trip planners to make all the decisions and bookings for them. We are debating allowing a rare daytime movie (or two) soon to let us work through some of the big stuff.