Archive sections: ‘Life In Kyrgyzstan’
I don’t normally wear bright clothes – but recently I have been seen sporting a bright red Rugby Shirt. The breast displays two small emblems – on the left is the manufacturer’s trade mark: “Kukri”, and on the right is a small embroidered Kyrgyz flag. It’s the Rugby shirt of the Kyrgyz Rugby Federation and [...]
September 1st is known as Dehn Znanniy, (Knowledge Day or Day of Knowledge), as it is the day when the school year traditionally starts in Russia and many other former Soviet republics, including Kyrgyzstan. Although it is regarded as the first day of autumn, the weather is usually good, and this was no exception – [...]
A couple of weeks ago I got a telephone call from David, another ex-pat, whose mother was visiting him in Bishkek for the first time. He wanted to discuss where he could take her, what he could show her, … and, as I work in tourism, he thought I would be a good person to [...]
I have said elsewhere that I have subscribed to a wide range of newsletters and podcasts – and they help me to keep in touch with news about people and events, discussions in tourism and business, history, mathematics and other topics that interest me. Some arrive daily, others weekly, a few on a monthly basis, [...]
At the moment I am in the middle of a new project … putting together information for a website and publications (leaflet, brochure, booklet …) about the year in Kyrgyzstan. The idea for the project comes from the fact that Kyrgyzstan is not exactly well known for its festivals – in fact one website used [...]
It is said that the British have one subject of conversation: The Weather. I have turned into a joke and when the conversation slows and a silence develops, one of the techniques I use to break the silence is to comment: “What a lot of weather we have been having …”. I’m not sure where [...]
The Kyrgyz economy is basically a cash based economy. There is a banking system … as you might expect in a country that is sometimes called “The Switzerland of Central Asia” and although it is still fairly basic and nearly all transactions in the country are cash based, it is developing rapidly, and this situation [...]
When I first came to Kyrgyzstan back in the 1990′s I was taken to see Lake Issyk Kul by one of my acquaintances, a lawyer. As we drove along the tree lined avenues between the mountains rising to the left and the lake itself stretching out on our right, he pointed out some fields and [...]
As a youngster, I could be quite a philistine at times. Now there’s a pejorative term that gives away part of my background … the term is used to mean someone who is uninterested in intellectual pursuits, someone who is smug and ignorant, indifferent or hostile to artistic and cultural values.
If you were looking for an iconic symbol for Britain then you might well settle upon a steaming cup of tea. Afternoon Tea is an old British tradition for which we are well known throughout the world. In his adventure, the comic hero Asterix the Gaul travels to the island across the Channel to help [...]
