Postcard from Bishkek

A few years ago I wrote a postcard about Alexander the Great, how he brought his armies to Central Asia and conducted a campaign to subdue the Scythians and other peoples of the region, reaching as far North as Samarkand, and how he sent walnuts back to Macedonia where they became so prominent that they […]

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 […]

Today is the birthday of Dr. Ironfist, the alias used by Vitali Klitshko, when he was a professional boxer … having won World Heavyweight Champion titles recognized by both the WBC and WBO … joining the illustrious ranks of John L. Sullivan, James J. Corbett, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciamo, Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston, […]

I often get asked about things from home that I miss … and what differences I notice between life here and back home. To be honest, having been here for nineteen years, a lot  has changed … both here and there.  Here are some notes I came across a few days ago, for an article […]

The first time I saw the Orto Tokoi Reservoir, we were driving from Balykchy at the Western end of Lake Issyk Kul towards Naryn.  It was a gentle climb through what appeared to be a barren semi desert landscape – sand and rocky outcrops with multi-coloured slopes on the distant hills and just the occasional […]

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, […]

Vladimir Vitalievich Obraztsov was one of the first professional artists in Kyrgzstan, and his name is frequently associated with that of Chuikov. He was born on 10th July 1891 in Vologda, (in European Russia), where he grew up and went to school. Although we know that he arrived in Kyrgyzstan in 1920, we don’t know […]

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 second half of the 1990s saw a number of of monuments which portrayed important people in the history of Kyrgyzstan  - although it also saw the unveiling of a monument dedicated to the two hundredth anniversary of Pushkin. There were, for example, monuments erected to the writer Tokombaev (1996), the Avenue of Statesmen (1996), the Ballerina Bibisara […]

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.