my midnight landing was a bit less scenic than the video i had set to post at my flight's arrival time yesterday. gone was the green pleasant city of outdoor cafes with views of snow-capped mountains from last june. in its place was the foggy cold drab city that i encountered last december. the fog was so thick, i couldn't see much at all, even on the ride to the hotel.
this morning i woke up at 6am local time. it was still dark outside and the light switch in my room didn't work. i took a shower by itty bitty book light, before getting dressed in the dark and stumbling down 5 flights of dark stairs because the elevator wasn't working. i had breakfast sans coffee because they could not heat the water. then i wandered around the powerless city in the snow and freezing rain looking for coffee and internet and eventually realizing that the blackout wasn't limited to my hotel.
welcome back to kazakhstan.
