Archive sections: ‘From an Expat’
If I am a little late with this week’s postcard, then please bear with me. The reason is simple: John, a consultant from the UK has appeared en route to a new project in Tajikistan and Afghanistan and he brought with him some jars of “Black Gold”, (Marmite), and copies of the Times, the Economist [...]
There’s been a lot of discussion on the internet recently about internet provision in hotels and, in my role as General Director of two hotels, I have been following the discussion with interest. The internet has become an important part of our daily lives, checking emails, and social networking sites, checking the news and following [...]
Whenever we have a spell of cold weather, I am taken to task by my friends and colleagues about why I don’t wear a hat. It isn’t just hats, I tend not to wear a scarf or gloves. The reason is simple, I have a habit of loosing them. I put them down in a [...]
The 2011 Asian Winter Games have come to an end. They were held just over the border in Kazakhstan, or at least some of the 69 events in 11 different sports were held just over the border in Almaty, others were held in the Kazakh capital, Astana.
I received an interesting email yesterday, from a Kyrgyz student studying abroad who has been set an assignment to compare the tourism strategies of two countries: New Zealand and Kyrgyzstan. When I first read that I recalled an essay that I appeared on an examination paper that I once sat, to compare and contrast the [...]
Whilst the attention of the rest of the world has been focused on Egypt, here in Kyrgyzstan we’ve been concentrating on Turkey. There’s a reason for that, of course … this week’s visit to the Kyrgyz Republic of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister of Turkey.
It’s Chinese New Year. They tell me that this year should be good for business, (“after all, it’s the year of the Rabbit”), whereas last year was bound to be difficult one, (“because it was the year of the Tiger”). Hmmm. Funny, that they didn’t tell me the difficulties associated with the Year of the [...]
During the last few days I have been somewhat spoiled with lots of people fussing over me. Everyone has been very kind and attentive and one my neighbours has been preparing jars of compot, (boiled fruit juice), and saucepans of Chicken Soup for me. That’s one of the advantages of being ill, I suppose, but, [...]
I was ten years old, and still at Primary School on January 1st, 1964, when the disc jockey Jimmy Saville presented the very first edition of the United Kingdom’s flagship programme reviewing the pop music charts, Top of the Pops, (TOTP). To be honest, I can’t remember actually watching it, but I am sure that [...]
As I have been sitting nursing a bout of the flu, my mind has turned, (naturally), to medical matters … I have, for example, looked up symptoms and treatments, but I have also been thinking about the medical provision here in Kyrgyzstan. The travel advice for Kyrgyzstan from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office states: [...]
