Category: Bishkek
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Dordoi, Central Asia’s largest bazaar
Soviet Frunze has changed back into Bishkek, a stop on the Silk Road. The huge markets – Central Asia’s largest bazaar Dordoi, Osh Bazaar, Alamedin and the others – are flourishing, and the streets and underpasses of the entire city are turning into one great web of commercial activity. On my first day I saw…
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My first taste of Bishkek nightlife involves vodka, hitchhiking and a panzer tank chieftain
On Saturday I get my first taste of Bishkek nightlife. I hadn’t intended to. Constantly going through my head is the information from the “Dangers & Annoyances” section of the Lonely Planet: Bishkek smiles during the day but is neither safe nor well lit after dark. So I’d been intending to spend the evening writing…
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I witnessed Bishkek’s main Lenin statue being torn down
Quite by chance I got to see the removal of Bishkek’s main Lenin statue. Walking down Chui Prospect to Beta Stores one Saturday afternoon, I found lots of people loitering on Ala-Too Square. They had an air of expectancy; they were not simply sitting or standing under the shady cloisters to gain a respite from…
Steppe in Style 