Postcard from Bishkek

In 13th January, 1951, Bishkek opened a brand new era in public transport in the city … the first Trolleybus service was introduced. It is run by the Bishkek Trolleybus Company, an independent legal entity which is owned by the municipality.  The company has two depots: the original one which can house up to 60 […]

Tucked away behind the National Library, in a small square on the corner of Tynystanovna and Funze streets, there is an interesting, albeit anonymous monument. Anonymous, in that it bears no inscription to tell the passers by who the notable worthy is that is depicted rising out of the pink granite plinth. The lack of […]

A few years ago I was asked by a friend where he could take his wife ind in-laws for a weekend away. As it happens, he knows Kyrgyzstan quite well, (his wife is Kyrgyz), and he had already been to many places around Bishkek. He wanted to avoid the obvious places like Ala Archa, which […]

On 28th November, 1820, a young boy was born in the town of Barmen in the Kingdom of Prussia, (today it is known as Wuppertal in Germany), Frederick Engels. Although he was the son of an influential and relatively affluent businessman, (a cotton manufacturer), he developed an interest in revolutionary politics and dropped out of […]

Back in 1972, on 24th November, the Osh oblast was created. Osh is in the Southern part of Kyrgyzstan, bordering China, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan as well as the Kyrgyz oblasts of Batken, Djalal Abad and Naryn. Possibly because we are based in Bishkek, in the North of the country, most of the requests we receive […]

I am sometimes asked about where I get the inspiration for different postcards … and there are different, many different, answers.  Sometimes postcards are prompted by an anniversary or event, others are because I have seen an interesting news article, on occasion people write and make suggestions and, in fact, I have quite a long list […]

At the Eastern end of Lake Issyk Kul, at San Tash, there is what is thought to be a haunting “monument” to the fallen of a war fought long ago between the armies of Tamerlane and the Chinese Empire. Legend has it that Tamerlane ordered his soldiers to each pick up a stone from the […]

On the road from Naryn to Djalal Abad, in the the last main town/village before reaching the oblast border is Baetovo, This remote village lies next to the Naryn river on an outwash plain in the mountains.  As well as the main Naryn-Kazarman road, there is another that goes south over a 3,268m pass to […]

They say that moving house is one of the three most stressful experiences that a person can go through.  On 1st November, 1800 John Adams moved into a new home but he probably had plenty of other stressful things to worry about apart from that … he was, after all, President of the United States […]

At the intersection of Prospects Chui and Molodaya Gvardia, (The Avenue of the Young Guards), in downtown Bishkek, there is a striking memorial depicting two soldiers on a granite pedestal – a young Russian in a Red Army helmet, dressed in an Army coat and boots, holding a rifle in his hands. Next to him […]