We lost an hour somewhere!

We thought we were doing okay getting out of the room yesterday morning at around 9:00am and heading down for some breakfast and hot drinks. But we got into the kitchen, and I saw the kitchen clock... reading 10:00am!

We quickly clued in to the fact that maybe we lost an hour somewhere!

Sure enough, there was an hour time change when we crossed the border from Uzbekistan to Kyrgyzstan.

The Asia time zone map is pretty random!

So sure enough, it was 10:00am. It looks like we'll be in this time zone until December 1st, when we arrive in Thailand and we'll lose another hour. At that point, we'll be exactly 12 hours ahead of EST in North America.

Really nice day yesterday, and we set out to explore the city of Osh.

Yes, we are tired of cities, but due to the season, everything is closed up in the mountains, and it's too far away for a day trip. We're hoping that when we're in the capital of Bishkek next week that we'll be able to get out to do some hiking as their mountains are closer to the city.

Osh has a lot of old Soviet style mosaics.

A closer view.

Huge statue of Lenin.

Another mosaic.

We wandered through this oddball park that had some weird displays.

Looking back up at the Lenin statue.

Me, at the Eiffel Tower!

Closed for the season.

We walked over to a big modern grocery store to do some shopping. Still can't find much in the way of gluten free items for Ruth, but she is surviving. We bought some takeout items from the prepared foods section for lunch. 

Soviet style apartment buildings.

Another mosaic. Tough to get a good view of it on the busy street though.

Notice the small mountain in the background on the left.

We stopped at another old amusement park on the walk back and sat and had our lunch. Yes, they had another ferris wheel, but we didn't think it was big enough to be worth our while! They sure do like their amusement parks in the "stan countries"!

Back at the hostel, I noticed the little things about this place that give it such good reviews. Apparently the owner is a traveler herself, so she knows what people like.

There is a shoe booth at the entrance where you take off your exterior footwear and put it in a compartment labeled with your room number. There, you take the indoor sandals that coincide with that and use them while indoors.

There is fast internet that actually works, and decent kitchen facilities with a laundry machine. We've actually booked another night here.

Speaking of booking, I'm having a hard time booking our flight to Bishkek. The website won't accept either of my credit cards, and I'm guessing it has something to do with the Russian based card processing service and the sanctions against Russia. So we'll have to go to one of the many travel agents here that the locals usually use. Or, to the airport itself to make and pay for the booking. Might have to use cash.

Out for dinner to a local Turkish restaurant. Amazing the difference in the choice of food available here compared to Uzbekistan. Definitely finding it better here.

I had some kind of chicken wok dish.

Ruth had chicken as well.

Total bill including 12% service charge was 1,020 KGS ($15.70 CAD, $11.50 USD) with a pot of non alcohol mulled wine for two.

Today, we are off to book our ongoing flight tickets, and climb the small mountain that is within the city.

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Record low deal on the Echo Show 8 Smart Display.

And in Canada...

Blink Smart Home Security Cameras.