Bishkek International Airport

The announcements made by radio at the departure hall are completely unintelligible, due to bad acoustics and insufficient number / bad placement of loudspeakers. Against all logic, you are obliged to walk up the stairs to get to the tax-free shops. Even more against logic, you are obliged to walk down the stairs to get to the first-class lounge, carrying your bags with you -- no lifts available. I had to pass my luggage 3 times through the security check, and my own self -- twice, first before check-in, and then after it.

Holiday Inn Frankfurt Airport - North Hotel

I stayed at this hotel from June 24 to June 25, on my way from Moscow to Faro. They forgot my wakeup call. Luckily, I had a backup plan that worked ... I got an impression that the front desk personnel who checked me in had difficulties in expressing themselves in English, or else much overworked.

Hotel Rich, Bishkek

I stayed in this hotel from June 23 to June 24, 2013. The installations seem very recent, some of the packing plastics not yet removed from the window frames. I would define the style as Chinese, mostly because of dull red and gold colours predominating in the hall and in the bar. They also use a lot of Chinese hardware, sometimes out of place, such as the threshold creating an unnecessary obstacle at the entry of the bathroom. My single room had a shower, water is heated by a gas heater located in the corridor. You need to order you breakfast in advance - no buffet breakfast available, similar to the other places I visited in Kyrgyzstan. Ho lift, not suited for disabled persons. Hair dryer. Free WiFi internet, which was not working in my room on day 24 - I had to go to the lobby instead. The electricity went down in the city on day 23 for some time, although the personnel said this has become a rare (once-a-month) event as of recently. The personnel was friendly and helpful.

Hotel Visit, Bishkek

I stayed at the hotel Visit, Bishkek, from June 15, 2013 to June 19, 2013. Pros: close to the city centre and the university. Cons: unexpected and non-indicated half-steps all over the place - I had at least 4 chances to break my neck going from the entrance to my bed, one on these already inside my room; no facilities for disabled, no lift, no hair dryer, weird TV facilities - they called me at about 12 at night, because the satellite receiver in my room was providing the signal for other rooms, and was off ...

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.