Postcard from Bishkek

  I have written before about the Red Data Book … a list of endangered species … and the work of the ICUN, (The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources), see below. The original Red Data Book, (first published as a book in 1985, running to 136 pages with line drawings and […]

On Wednesday, all the news agencies [*] carried a story about an unwelcome visitor to Kyrgyzstan … an American, as it happens, but more of that later.  All the stories were basically the same … obviously based on the same Press Release or a statement made at a Press Conference.  I presume it was the latter, […]

Yesterday I wrote a postcard about the Chupacabra, the legendary monster first reported in 1996 in Puerto Rico but which, apparently, has appeared or at least been blamed for attacks on livestock in may far flung places … even in the Kochkor region of Kyrgyzstan. As usual with such legendary creatures, the sightings are rare, […]

Who would have thought it … there is day dedicated to Turtles! May 23rd is World Turtle Day and has been since 2000 and was established in order to bring attention to and promote efforts to help protect turtles and tortoises and their disappearing habitats around the world..  Although it is called World Turtle Day and […]

In his first collection of Fairy tales, (published in 1843), the Danish author Hans Christian Anderson included four stories – one of which was the story the Ugly Duckling – a “homely” little bird born in a barnyard who suffers abuse from the others around him until, much to his delight (and to the surprise […]

On the day that the Daily Mail ran a story about a possible new photo of the Loch Ness Monster … this one from space … I came across another interesting story about another “fabled” creature, Chon Maimyl – the big monkey. Although stories of the Loch Ness Monster date back to the sixth century, […]

Yesterday, I saw a post on a trivia site that sent me checking the system date on my computer … I felt sure it had to be an April Fool’s joke. I had already fallen foul of one such premature prank on youtube over the weekend … and Maxim had already tried to pull one […]

There is a story that when he became President of the United States, George Bush, (that is the older – George H. Bush – not his son, George W. Bush), he issued an instruction to the White House staff that Broccoli should never be served: “I do not like broccoli. And I haven’t liked it […]

Although it sometimes doesn’t feel like it, (especially this year when Winter has held on doggedly … refusing to be banished and repeatedly revisiting us with cold spells), Spring is in the Air. Spring and “springtime” refer to the season … and also to the 5 Rs :  Rebirth, Rejuvenation, Renewal, Resurrection and Regrowth.  Apart from the lengthening days and the, (usually), […]

Not long ago I was chatting with a friend who dropped a bombshell on me, (figuratively – not literally), when he told me that Kyrgyzstan was on of the top Cotton producers in the world.  I expressed my surprise … I know that cotton is often listed as one of the country’s main agricultural products […]