If you are a foreign tourist, this is a good place...

If you are a foreign tourist, this is a good place to buy your local SIM. Come with your registration papers, which are mandatory, and ask to pay in soum, which they are obliged to charge you at official (and heavily suppressed) rates, even though they quote the tariffs in dollars. It is also, we found, the cheapest place to buy mineral water, from their vending machine. Be prepared for a twenty minute wait, though, before your token is called out. The staff are quite helpful once it's your turn.