Jill Will Go...

The last country on this five country extravaganza. Kyrgyzstan. Odd that the minute I crossed the border, I could tell that there was a difference here. It felt a few years behind the other countries that we had been too, although it has a fascinating political history. "Come hug  This their White House, which faces a square where many demonstrations have taken place. The White House is behind a fence, and has a monument next to it. The monument represents the people who were shot by snipers from the rooftop of this place in

The hotel in Almaty is a communist-style block of cement - and just as warm. I feel the oppression in the dark hallways and worn fixtures. However, the big upside is the view. Each morning, I get to watch the sunrise and shimmer over Zenkov Cathedral. The hotel is directly across the street from Panfilov Park, so the faint cigarette smell and the lack of water in the shower can be overlooked. Downtown Almaty is a combination of cement concrete blocks, with Western touches here and there. As long as you don't look up, you might think you were in any other bustling downtown retail corridor. Panfilov Park is a good place for strolling and playing...or lending libraries. The park is named for the Panfilov Heroes, 28 soldiers who died fighting off Nazi tanks outside of Moscow in 1941. The war memorial commemorates them, while the eternal flame includes the fallen of 1917-20 as well as those from WWII.