Comments on: Drowning in Democracy http://ianbek.kg/?p=5402 Observations from an expat Sat, 16 Aug 2014 06:45:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.4 By: Guest http://ianbek.kg/?p=5402&cpage=1#comment-748 Sun, 21 Aug 2011 03:07:21 +0000 http://ianbek.kg/?p=5402#comment-748 One of your weekly letters described the estimated income for tourism. My impression is that the country does not sing its own praises loud enough and Mongolia and Butan get a better press. I am not sure the extent to which the government attends the International Tourist/Travel Conferences. All I remember is that Rosa (Otunbaeva) cooperated with a British mountaineering party to put on an evening at the Royal Geographical Society. Rowan (Stewart) has done well with her book (the Odyssey guide to Kyrgyzstan) but I don’t know the extent of her readership. Perhaps I am just ignorant and everything is humming! What do you think? I have made a list of outdoor activities available in the KR which is impressive.

]]> By: Guest http://ianbek.kg/?p=5402&cpage=1#comment-747 Sun, 21 Aug 2011 03:04:20 +0000 http://ianbek.kg/?p=5402#comment-747 Hi Ian,

I always enjoy trawling through your postcard and your account of Kyrgyzstan’s transition towards democracy makes interesting reading.

We are back a month from Nepal. The two countries have much in common politically. With Nepal the worser in my view.

They are also awash with democracy, with a multitude of parties and a
virtual paralysis of the political process. Another very obvious similarity is the number of Nepalese heading outside the country for work. Current estimate is 4million, out of a total population of around 22m. The number of middle-eastern airlines queuing at the Kathmandu airport is astonishing!

And, your current favourite tweet … “Kyrgyzstan is 90% mountains, 100% awesome. Visit Kyrgyzstan”… could equally apply to Nepal.

]]> By: Guest http://ianbek.kg/?p=5402&cpage=1#comment-746 Sun, 21 Aug 2011 03:02:11 +0000 http://ianbek.kg/?p=5402#comment-746 Very interesting and, to me, rather sad. I think Kyrgyzstan needs, and should try harder to find jobs for, as many of its citizens as possible.

]]> By: Guest http://ianbek.kg/?p=5402&cpage=1#comment-745 Sun, 21 Aug 2011 03:01:18 +0000 http://ianbek.kg/?p=5402#comment-745 Well done and many thanks for a very interesting postcard. At first I thought the preamble on Russia 1991 was a bit erroneous but then I see the background to the rest of your thoughts and facts. ‘Tit bits’ is what we used to call them. Maybe you know something I don’t? I’ll consult the Askten website :-)

Keep up the good work.

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