Almaty, Kazakhstan

The "migrational card," which is my permission to be in Kazakhstan that I must carry at all times, says on the back: "Foreign citizens have to be registrated in five days from the arrival to the Republic of Kazakhstan. Foreigners who broke the period of staying will be punished according the Law." Now we got some real snow. It's very deep and I'm glad I have the heavy hiking boots that I've been wearing since Egypt. For the first time on the trip they make sense. Almaty is beautiful because of the scenery. There are pine trees everywhere and with the snow it just looks really pretty. BUT the buildings are ugly since this is basically an extension of Eastern Europe. Remember the scene in Euro Trip where they get out of the crazy German guy's truck, realize where they are and say "dear sweet mother of God we're in Eastern Europe." Then the guy says "enjoy Bratislava! It's good you came in the summer because in the winter it can get very depressing." Yeah, it looks exactly like that, and it's winter. Every fifth person looks like they want to kick your ass. But what makes up for that is the women, who despite the snow are all wearing miniskirts. What can I say, the Svetlanas have it goin on and even though I'm not usually attracted to Asian women, I have to say that Kazakh women are gorgeous. Oh yeah, I recommend Kazakhstan to anyone looking for vazheen. Everyone is pretty much drunk here any time, any place. On every street corner there is a stand selling alcohol, and it's laughably cheap. Everywhere you look there are people just standing out in the snow drinking beer and having a good time, or drinking vodka and looking miserable. I've walked by many cafes, but when I look in the window I don't see anyone drinking coffee, just vodka. Even the old ladies are sitting there, reading a novel with a big bottle and several shots poured out ready to go. So whereas Americans may sit around in Starbucks conversing over coffee, Kazakhstanis sit around in cafes and lament over vodka. Forgive me, but I really don't feel like seeing the rest of the Stans. If it were easy it'd be one thing, but my desire has declined to a point where I don't feel up to accept the challenge. Eating for survival is hard enough when I can't read the menu at a restaurant, I don't even want to think of how I could manage to find the right bus to get to another town. Plus, if I wanted to go to another country, that would mean another visa. I would have to find another embassy in a city where I don't speak the language and can't read the street signs, wait in line, be yelled at by officials, fill out a form I don't understand, pay more money, and wait without having access to my passport. Come on, I went to freakin Kazakhstan, isn't that crazy enough? All other countries have inferior potassium anyway. So I hope the good (or otherwise) people of Kyrgyzstan understand. I'm trying to book a flight to Moscow to get the Russia leg over, then I'll probably head into Europe. I'm really eager to get to a place where I can communicate (or at least just read the alphabet), and to visit countries whose people I have met in hostels and found to be the most wonderful people in the world, rather than whose people I have found to be "vile, foul and all around awful" as I described in a previous post. Before booking the flight I need to make sure I'll be able to print out the e-ticket, and I have no idea how to say printer in Russian. So I don't know where to begin.