It’s about 2 AM in Almaty. At 11:30 I’m taking a car back to the border with Kyrgyzstan and into Bishkek. Last month was just a couple of days in a nice little hotel to reset my tourist status here in Kazakhstan. This time I have a small studio apartment in a residential neighborhood for a month. I plan on spending most of the time writing and reading. Nearest coffee shop is a 10 minute walk, grocery store about the same so I should get some air a few times a week at least. My Air BnB has a nice backyard as well.
Now it’s one last sleep in Kazakhstan, a Red Bull to wake up, a final check to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything, and a long hug goodbye–just for a while.