Postcard from Bishkek

Djalal-Abad is the administrative, economic and cultural center of Djalal-Abad oblast (province). It lies in the south of the Kugart valley, in the foothills of the Babash Ata mountains to the North. The climate is noted for dry, hot summers, warm and sunny autumns with rare rain bursts and winters are warm with high humidity. […]

As I listened to the Global News podcast from the BBC, I wasn’t sure if I could believe what I was hearing … in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, a Gay Canadian comedian was leading a Ginger Pride Parade as part of the Fringe … it has to be a joke, I thought … but no, even […]

Place names can be very picturesque and convey an image, rightly of wrongly, of the place in question. In Britain, for example, we have Oxford and the city;s coat of arms depict a Ox walking over water – fording a river.  (It’s true that the full crest also has a Black Elephant, a green beaver […]

One of the best known legends of the Kyrgyz is about the hunter Kambar, the Komuz and the first Kyrgyz tune. Kambar was a hunter who lived in the mountains. He was, true to his calling, a brave and strong man – on one occasion encountering a snow leopard whilst on a hunting expedition and overcoming […]

Toru Aigur is a village about 20 kilometres East of Balykchi. It’s a small and seemingly unimposing village which one might easy pass by and miss it, but it is one that I often cite as an example of the fact that there is almost always something of interest to be found wherever you look. […]

October 31st is known as Halloween and every year at about midnight on this night, the star cluster or constellation known as the Pleiades, (or  Seven Sisters), appears almost overhead in the night sky.  For this reason November is known as the Month of the Pleiades. The Pleiades cluster is in the constellation of Taurus […]

  The village of Gulistan is located in the South of Kyrgyzstan, in the region of Ala Bukin of Djalal Abad oblast, at the confluence of the Padsha Ata and Chanach Sai rivers.  It is the home of one of the most important Moslem shrines in Kyrgyzstan - Safed Bulan and the mausoleum of Shah Fazil. It is […]

There is a Kyrgyz legend that tells of the seven mazars, (or shrines – a term often used to refer to the graves of men venerated as Muslim “saints”), which have been built and named for the seven fathers of the Kyrgyz: Baba Ata; Cholpon Ata; Issyk Ata; Jumgal Ata; Kochkor Ata; Suleiman Ata and […]

The Kyrgyz, like all ethnic groups, have a wide variety of legends and folk tales. From ancient times the Kyrgyz have honoured the art of story telling. Folk-lore was passed from ayil to ayil (village to village), from bozoi to bozoi (yurt to yurt). Most Kyrgyz can play a musical instrument and know ballads, legends […]

There are many legends that tell about the origin of Lake Issyk Kul, how it got its name or which address questions about why the waters are salty, and warm.  They often share one or more common elements:  Many of them involve a romance; Others tell of cities which disappeared under the waters of the […]