Guest house Elita, Karakol

I stayed at Elita from 19/06/2013 till 22/06/2013. Pros: not far from the University, friendly staff, internet access. Cons: very slow internet, no facilities for disabled, very high steps on the staircase at the entrance, no hair dryer in the bathroom, weird changes in the floor level, unexpected threshold in the bathroom, need to order the breakfast one day in advance - no buffer breakfast available.

Delfin de Lux (Отель Дельфин Де Люкс), Issyk kul

I stayed at the Hotel "Dolphin de Luxe", Bosteri, Issyk kul district, Kyrgyz Republic, from 22/06/2013 till 23/06/2013. Pros: swimming pool outside, sitting bath in the bathroom, easy access to the beach, internet access. Cons: internet works in the lobby only, no lift, no facilities for disabled, small doses at the canteen; very high steps at the staircases, including those giving access to the lobby, canteen and residential building, probably violating the construction regulations; hot water in the room coming from an electric heater and therefore available in a very limited amount. There are no limitations on smoking in Kyrgyzstan, which became quite irritating at the G-Club and disco belonging to the hotel. My room also had a faint smell of tobacco, as already happened in some hotels in Russia ... I did not go bathing, but the sand on the beach was full of cigarette filters with some broken glass and other debris to match. I and some of my colleagues had difficulties in working the locks of our rooms. No phone in your room - if you need something, walk down to the reception and ask. It also looks they haven't decided how to write their name in Latin alphabet.

Ashgabat International Airport

On our flight from Ashgabat to Frankfurt at around 1 am on May 29 we got our passports checked and our luggage scanned multiple times even before we got to the registration desk, and aditional times after that. It seemed that they had a passport check point in every corridor that connected one zone of the airpot to another. The waiting zone was full of cigarette smoke, as it was allowed to smoke and ventialtion was insufficient, therefore, we went to wait to another hall that served 4 more boarding gates. We almost missed our flight sitting there -- there was no billboard to announce boarding anywhere in view, and they boarded all of the passengers that were in the correct (smoke-filled) waiting hall without making any radio announcements. The Airport does not have a tax-free shop; the only existing shop sells Turkmen carpets, but we did not check if it was open.

Hotel Ak Altyn Plaza, Ashgabat

I stayed in this hotel from May 26 to May 29, 2013. Pros: a good view from the 8th floor on the city and the nearby hills, air-conditioning, continental breakfast. Cons: the hotel has no rooms for non-smokers, as it is allowed to smoke in every room; no ventilation in the rooms -- air conditioning only recirculates the air, and there is no way you can open a window; the plug in the bathtub was absent - taken away because its mechanism was broken; after multiple consultations with the reception and the technicians and some 20h of waiting I finally got a simple rubber plug in substitution of the fancy original; unexpectedly fancy lighting on the ceiling -- I had  to switch it on and off at least 3 times before I got what I wanted -- namely, light on to the maximum brightness, on the first attempt you only get some blue LEDs and stay wondering whether that is all you will ever get; and finally, beware of the teabags in plain view on the table -- contrary to every other hotel I know, here they will charge you US$ 2,00 for each bag. They don't recommend to drink tap water in Turkmenistan, therefore hotel provides electric jugs in each room -- notwithstanding my technical background, I also had problems with that, which were not solved by their technician either -- sometimes the jug would not come on. In such cases, their restaurant provides you with hot water -- free of charge.

Are Russians desperately lacking airport security?

I am still waiting for the explanation of why are the passengers arriving to Germany from Moscow subject to a second security check in Germany? Is it because the Russian airport security is doing a bad job, or because Russians sell terrorist equipment in their tax-free airport shops? Why is the Russian security check adequate for a Lufthansa flight from Moscow to Germany, but not adequate for a subsequent Lufthansa flight from Germany to Lisbon? I am sure the brusselcrats have a perfectly logical explanation for this idiocy.

German Security Lingusts

Beware that the definition of "liquid" as per German airport security staff includes caviare - by extension. They made me to drop off my cabin luggage not allowing to take on the plane the product I bought back in Moscow ... Do Germans habitually drink caviare?

Free Coffee Kaputt

On March 3, 2013 I found no more free hot drinks provided by Lufthansa to its clients at the Frankfurt airport. Gone. Kaputt. I guess the debt crisis got it.

The toilet I used was quite dirty and smelly too. Is this a general degradation of the service standards?

Last time I also got free WIFI internet access from my computer for 30 minutes - not any more ...