4 Sep 2008, Almaty

It's my eleventh day in Almaty. Gee, I've stayed too long in this expensive city. Office work was the the cause mostly.
For a start, it took me two days for my alien registration. The immigration office was crowded and there was only one officer who spoke English when I went there. She told me to come again in the closing time as it was less crowded. However, their computers were off business at that time. Though she accepted my application and my visa, I had to come again next morning. I would have had to come in the evening if I hadn't pushed her.
The registration might have been unnecessary in the first place. Some travellers told me later that the rule didn't seem to be "must" and officers in charge were in confusion, which was true since I experienced personally. When I went to register in a small town near the border before I came to Almaty, the officers there didn't know what to do with my request and just told me to go to Almaty. There I wasted half a day waiting for their lunch time.
Next. Taking visa of Uzbekistan took me more than a week all together. I couldn't even meet the consul on the first trial after waiting for 3 hours. I succeeded to apply next time after waiting for 5 hours, but had to wait for 6 days till I receive the visa because the period was over Saturday, Sunday, and a holiday. The permission was due to the work of an office in Uzbekistan. The consul couldn't do much, though I would have had to wait one more day if I hadn't begged to him.

Meanwhile I suffered from terrible stomachache with sharp pain. I could hardly move out of bed for a couple of days, went out only to buy fruit juice nearby, didn't eat much even after that. The wrist band of my watch got loose. I felt like I was hospitalized again, for the second time in this year.
Mosquitos annoyed me every night coming in through gaps of windows. I had to sleep in the tent sometimes. Dance music echoed loud from a disco or a night club downstairs. But I still slept a lot. After all, the long break was necessary.
I'm getting better. I will start moving again tomorrow, slowly-slowly.