Postcard from Bishkek

The other day, when I was looking for potential themes for postcards, I came across the fact that today is the birthday of the man whose name is a “legend” and who is considered to have been the best footballer of all time: Pelé. Now, I am not a great football fan, (sorry, Soccer fan […]

Yesterday happened to be the Professional Holiday of commemorating the work of Social Workers … and also of the Trade Unions. It often surprises people that, back in the UK, I was a trade union official – at least a branch official.   My father was the local branch secretary of his trade union, (The […]

There are a number of interesting issues coming up before the Parliament at the moment … for example the controversial bills to: control the work of non-governmental organizations that receive financial support from abroad as “foreign agents” – phrase which is generally taken to be connected here, (and other former Soviet republics),  with espionage … […]

On 7th October, 1974, Bishkek got a new monument – a statue of Toktogul Satyganov. It wasn’t the first monument dedicated to the people’s poet, who in 1933 – one had been planned in 1939, just six years after his death.  The sculptor Olga Manoluva was invited to create a monument and she designed a […]

Last week, a post on the Kloop website looked at Kyrgyz contributions to science. It was in Russian, so here’s a brief summary: Since it was established some 60 years ago, members of the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences have played their part in scientific discover.  Most of these occurred during the Soviet period when funding was made […]

Although the territory that we now know as Kyrgyzstan has a long and colourful history, unfortunately, there are not that many places where it is visibly evident.  The great Silk Road cities have virtually disappeared and all that remains are archaeological excavations.

During my enforced rest and recuperation, I missed out on a number of important events.  One of those was the First World Nomad Games, hosted by Kyrgyzstan up by the shores of Lake Issyk Kul and attracting hundreds of competitors from a wide variety of countries … and not to mention many visitors from around the […]

The Zoological Museum is currently part of the Biological-Soil Institute of the Academy of Sciences. The collection was begun in the 1920′s – and was part of the Central Museum for the Study of Local Lore. Specimens were donated by scientists from various parts of the Soviet Union and were housed in a small single-storey building. In 1943 the […]

Let me say straight away: No, it wasn’t the Batmobile … but when I saw the photographs, that was the first thing that came to mind. It could have been a result of the colour: black.  It could have been the sleek lines or the plush interior.  It could have been the lights on the […]

On my dirst visit to Kyrgyzstan, back in 1994, I was taken up to Lake Issyk Kul where a group of us stayed in one of the large Sanatoria that the Soviets built on the northern shore.  There were five or six of us who planned to stay there for four or five days, but […]