Archive sections: ‘From an Expat’
It’s certainly been a busy week. I have been running around far more than usual, as well as trying to keep up with all the routine work. I had so inundated with work that I almost missed the fact that I was supposed to be meeting a film crew from New Zealand. I had intended [...]
I am always amazed that I have learned Russian – well, “sort of” learned Russian. I am not particularly proficient in the language, but I know enough to get by. I can understand most of what I hear, and most people can understand me when I talk – although my accent and pronunciation can be [...]
I have just got back from my monthly trip to Naryn. These trips are so much a part of my routine that I don’t normally write a postcard about them, but this one was slightly different, so I thought I would this time.
I expected to spend most of my time this week writing about the election campaign which has now been underway for a week. I am not sure, however, what I can actually write. There are a number of posters and banners lining the streets for this party or that. The loudspeaker vans have been going [...]
There comes a time every year, (it’s usually around February of March), when I surprise everyone by announcing that “I’ve already forgotten about this year – I am thinking about next year already”. To be honest, it’s partly said for effect, (and it is usually successful in that respect), but there is also more than [...]
During the week I had an interesting meeting with representatives of a market research company. They are conducting a “salaries survey” and wanted to know if we would participate.
During our search for Kyrgyzstan related travel sites on the internet, for our portal www.links.kg, we came across an interesting little cameo. It’s from a blog called My Thailand Diary, by someone called Lillian. It is subtitled “This is my journal of living in Thailand”. That’s right, Thailand.
There’s a fascination with statistics here. I know that in the West we also have a fascination with numbers, but it seems to be taken to extreme here. I suppose it is a consequence of the culture of “the plan” which was so prevalent in Soviet times. Everything was done to make sure that you [...]
I wrote last week that we had received a new strategy for the development of tourism in the Kyrgyz Republic until 2015. I know that it is important to plan ahead and it is refreshing to see people thinking on a scale greater than “today … and perhaps tomorrow” and there seems to be something about [...]
There are three letters of the alphabet that seem to dominate the thinking of everyone in tourism here in the autumn: W, T and M. What is WTM? – it’s an acronym for “World Travel Market”, a tourism trade fair and exhibition which is staged annually in London. The organizers claim that it is “the [...]
