Category: Kyrgyzstan
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Why I love beach resorts out of season
There’s a peculiar romance about beachside resorts out of season. Of course, lying on a beach soaking up the sun before plunging into the warm waves, then having a delicious al fresco meal at a beachside cafe is awesome. But the part of me that likes taking long bus journeys to industrial cities also loves the…
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101 places to get coffee in Central Asia
When I first went to Central Asia, moving to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in summer 2003, it was almost impossible to get a good coffee in the entire city. Five years later, when I moved to Almaty, Kazakhstan, coffee lovers used to congregate at CoffeeDelia for the best cappuccinos in town and fast wifi. There weren’t a…
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My first press conference in Central Asia was all about poo
A few days after I started work I’m sent to my first press conference in Bishkek, all about waste water in Kyrgyzstan. The press conference is being given by John E. Johnson, a scientist from the US Environmental Protection Agency, who has just completed a study of Kyrgyzstan’s drinking water supplies. Johnson stands at the…
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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…
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In search of Bishkek’s Soviet past
On my first weekend in Bishkek I decide to check out some museums to explore Bishkek’s Soviet past. This takes me to the History Museum behind the Lenin statue on Ala-Too Square, and the Frunze House Museum. The History Museum is the stone cube on Ala-Too Square that I saw on my first day in…
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First impressions of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
My eventful journey from Almaty ends at the newspaper’s offices in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where I meet the newspaper’s glamorous editorial assistant, who puts me into yet another taxi to my new apartment. The relief of arriving safely allows me, suddenly, to relax and for the first time in 24 hours I feel sleepy and the…
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Lost in Central Asia
The smell in Almaty airport is hard to define – a mix of sweat and cigarettes, fried cabbage and floor polish. Outside, the night is wet and warm. Despite accounts of Central Asia being one of the world’s driest places, rain has fallen and is now evaporating into a thick soupy atmosphere. I’m here on…
Steppe in Style 