As everywhere in the world, weddings tend to be big and joyous affairs.
National currency: Kyrgyz Som= 100 tyin. Bank notes are in denominations of Som 1000, 500, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10, 5 and 1. And 50, 10 and 1 tyin which hardly can be used. There are no coins in Kyrgyzstan.
Arak (Kyrgyz for Vodka) the most common and popular form of hard alcohol – watch out for Samagonka – home made vodka. When drinking vodka - watch your hosts – Russians tend to drain their glasses – “down in one” – and so do many Kyrgyz – but a lot of Kyrgyz only drink half the glass.