Postcard from Bishkek

The Komuz is a stringed instrument, which is often likened to a lute, a mandolin, and a banjo … but is made from a single piece of wood (apricot or juniper are the favoured timbers), and only has three strings.   It is a very old instrument – and is mentioned in Chinese Chronicles written over 2000 years ago. […]

  I don’t come from a farming background, but I do value the few days I spent working on a chicken farm in the depths of the Worcestershire countryside.  I was quite happy with the long hours and prepared to cope with the mess of mucking out … but I realized that it wasn’t for […]

Let the festivities commence … Oh, they have already … ee are in the Festival Season here in Kyrgyzstan … Last Month, for example,  saw a large crafts festival up at At Bashi,  Then, last weekend, there was a festival of horse games in the village of Kyzyl Oi, in the Kekemeren Valley otganized by […]

Bread is a basic food and there are many different forms …  from Leypioshka - the traditional flat breads, soldatski – a tin load, rezheniy – a black bread … down to the modern synonym for technological advancement – slices bread. Here is a selection of dough that are often encountered as accompaniments to meals here […]

The Manas Epic is in many ways central to Kyrgyz traditional culture, character, psychology and spirit – and the Manaschi holds a special place of respect in Kyrgyz Culture. Manaschi are the akyns, (traveling bards or wandering minstrels), who specialize in reciting episodes from the epic.  It’s quite an undertaking as Manas is one of the world’s […]

One of the many claims made in order to attract tourists to Kyrgyzstan refers to the traditional hospitality offered by the nomads … Now, this has always struck me as a strange claim … not because I think there’s any doubt about the traditional value placed on hospitality amongst the nomadic Kyrgyz down the ages […]

The yurt is the traditional dwelling of the nomadic peoples of Central Asia – including the Kyrgyz. They are found from Anatolia to Mongolia and it is not possible to say which of the ancient nomadic tribes originally developed the traditional design.  However, it is clearly a very ancient device.

One of the most popular meals during the summer is Shashlik – which is the Russian name for a type of Shish Kebab – pieces of meat on a skewer  … indeed that’s what shish means in Turkish – skewer.  Kebab on the other hand refers to meat that is cooked over or next to […]

There seems to be a universal fascination with celebrating anniversaries … and no less so here than in the West.  All the same, I was somewhat surprised the other day to see a reference to today as the “Birthday of Blue Jeans“. What started out as heavy duty work clothes have also served as a […]

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, […]